5 ms·

is this for all farms or just very large ones? i can imagine small time farmers perhaps not having such super seeds / plants?

stevehawk 7y ago
It's pretty much all farms in the US, since most farms in the US are hard corn or soy farms. It's large and small. Bank owned and family owned. Everyone buys their seed every year. It's not some conspiracy, it's just better business for the farmer.
- kls 7y ago
  Heirloom and organic farmers tend to reseed from heritage crops. I will give you they are a small subset of farming but the cross germination is having an effect on them.
philipov 7y ago
The case of hybrid vigor I'm familiar with is from camels during the middle ages. One hump camels are adapted to hot desert climates, while two hump camels are adapted to cold steppe climates. This created a divide between central asia and the middle east where you would have to switch camels as you traveled. There were people who learned to crossbread the camels to create a hybrid that was stronger than either and could survive in both climates, and they began to dominate trade routes in the area. The catch was that the hybrid vigor only lasted a single generation, and if you tried to breed them again you'd get runts.
- tempguy9999 7y ago
  Aside: I grew normal and F1 hybrid courgettes (american = zucchini) as a kid and can confirm the hybrids were proper little triffids compared to the pure-strain plants. Regarding the camels, can you dig up a link, am curious. Thanks.
  - philipov 7y ago
    I learned about hybrid camels from the work of Dr. Richard Bulliet, particularly this lecture: https://youtu.be/ublh9JkbeuM?t=2350 https://youtu.be/ublh9JkbeuM?t=2350 I linked to the start of the section where he begins discussing the migration of the Turks into Iran (39:10). Discussion about hybrid camels is from around 45:26 onwards. Amazon link to his book: Cotton, Climate, Camels. https://www.amazon.com/Cotton-Climate-Camels-Early-Islamic-dp-0231148372/dp/0231148372/ref=mt_paperback https://www.amazon.com/Cotton-Climate-Camels-Early-Islamic-d... Here is the entire playlist of his 46 lectures on World History, of which the first link is lecture 13. His lectures are not just him retelling the material in the textbook, but rather gives criticism about how the textbook was constructed (He is the lead editor), and stories from his own research: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXxM47ZxXvkaODXkQBO5RrUJQh5mA0N6l https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXxM47ZxXvkaODXkQBO5R...
    - tempguy9999 7y ago
      Thanks, will follow up.
mlrtime 7y ago
Smaller farmers have consultants that come out and help plan for seed/herbicide/pesticide. Farming is very complicated now and many farmers just run the equipment.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

stevehawk 7y ago

It's pretty much all farms in the US, since most farms in the US are hard corn or soy farms. It's large and small. Bank owned and family owned. Everyone buys their seed every year. It's not some conspiracy, it's just better business for the farmer.

kls 7y ago
Heirloom and organic farmers tend to reseed from heritage crops. I will give you they are a small subset of farming but the cross germination is having an effect on them.

philipov 7y ago

The case of hybrid vigor I'm familiar with is from camels during the middle ages. One hump camels are adapted to hot desert climates, while two hump camels are adapted to cold steppe climates. This created a divide between central asia and the middle east where you would have to switch camels as you traveled. There were people who learned to crossbread the camels to create a hybrid that was stronger than either and could survive in both climates, and they began to dominate trade routes in the area. The catch was that the hybrid vigor only lasted a single generation, and if you tried to breed them again you'd get runts.

tempguy9999 7y ago
Aside: I grew normal and F1 hybrid courgettes (american = zucchini) as a kid and can confirm the hybrids were proper little triffids compared to the pure-strain plants. Regarding the camels, can you dig up a link, am curious. Thanks.
- philipov 7y ago
  I learned about hybrid camels from the work of Dr. Richard Bulliet, particularly this lecture: https://youtu.be/ublh9JkbeuM?t=2350 https://youtu.be/ublh9JkbeuM?t=2350 I linked to the start of the section where he begins discussing the migration of the Turks into Iran (39:10). Discussion about hybrid camels is from around 45:26 onwards. Amazon link to his book: Cotton, Climate, Camels. https://www.amazon.com/Cotton-Climate-Camels-Early-Islamic-dp-0231148372/dp/0231148372/ref=mt_paperback https://www.amazon.com/Cotton-Climate-Camels-Early-Islamic-d... Here is the entire playlist of his 46 lectures on World History, of which the first link is lecture 13. His lectures are not just him retelling the material in the textbook, but rather gives criticism about how the textbook was constructed (He is the lead editor), and stories from his own research: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXxM47ZxXvkaODXkQBO5RrUJQh5mA0N6l https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXxM47ZxXvkaODXkQBO5R...
  - tempguy9999 7y ago
    Thanks, will follow up.

mlrtime 7y ago

Smaller farmers have consultants that come out and help plan for seed/herbicide/pesticide. Farming is very complicated now and many farmers just run the equipment.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]