Seed saving

In agriculture and gardening, seed saving (sometimes known as brown bagging)[1] is the practice of saving seeds or other reproductive material (e.g. tubers, scions, cuttings) from vegetables, grain, herbs, and flowers for use from year to year for annuals and nuts, tree fruits, and berries for perennials and trees.

Many commercial varieties exhibit high degrees of hybrid vigour, and will generally outperform any saved seed in a commercial context; as such vigour is the result of specific and careful genetic research and modification by humans, those desirable traits are almost always diminished in future generations.

[8] To be successful at seed saving, new skills need to be developed to ensure that desired characteristics are retained in the landraces of the plant variety.

Care must be taken, as training materials regarding seed production, cleaning, storage, and maintenance often focus on making landraces more uniform, distinct and stable (usually for commercial application) which can result in the loss of valuable adaptive traits unique to local varieties.

In the upper northern hemisphere, and lower southern, one sees a seasonal change in terms of a cooler winter.

This was the beginning of a culture where people could control how the food system was created, altered and distributed to the public for consumption, and yields.

Ag Supply v. Pioneer established that valid utility patents could be issued on sexually reproduced plants, such as seed crops (e.g., corn).

[15] Activists also draw attention to the cultural importance of seed saving practices, especially their role in maintaining traditional plant varieties.