May 14

Farmers’ connections to their land in Iowa is striking. When land is passed down from generation to generation, and is nearly impossible to acquire without inheritance, the ground becomes so much more valuable than the economic returns it engenders. As the Seed Savers orchard manager and leading decision maker for orchard land use, Dan seemed to empathize with this connection and obligation to the land and its intrinsic values. He reminded us of the historical values of the apple varieties that the land produces and the survival of a surprising number of species through time. His anecdote about one species that his orchard barely salvaged paralleled stories of charismatic megafauna like the elephant and giant panda that are facing the same fates.

Beyond the historical and aesthetic values of these limited species is the importance of biodiversity to the resilience of earth’s flora and fauna and the ecosystems in which they thrive. Dan told us that the varieties planted in the orchard were naturally resistant to disease, perhaps a testament to the enhanced resilience of natural systems with higher genetic diversity. Educating the public on the existence of rare and delicious apples (as is the goal of the Seed Savers orchard) is a good first step in the process of improving the viability and longevity of the species and others around the globe.

The next step in this process is to get biodiversity into the market. As Dan told us, the majority of apples grown in the US are limited to only a few varieties, a result of public demand and knowledge of only those few varieties. Mechanization of agriculture limits our ability to maintain large orchards with mixed apple varieties. But perhaps we could use the natural tolerance of these ancient varieties to create large, diverse orchards without needing chemical inputs. While it would be a slow fade to transition to a system with diversity as the dominant characteristic of orchards, the orchard at Seed Savers serves as a promising educational tool for promoting the historical, cultural and environmental values of biodiversity.