The Orange Farm community celebrated the opening of a Seed Bank. The event saw hundreds of seeds, seedlings and herbs being donated to the community.

 

Seed banks are a vital tool in preserving the natural state of produce in the world. Industrial agriculture has made crops less genetically diverse, which means that crops are potentially more susceptible to disease, blight, and pests.

Another positive factor to having a diverse seed bank is that it gives farmers a chance to diversify their crops by having access to alternative types of produce.

Orange Farm is a small community based outside of Johannesburg. They started the seed bank to allow for small-scale farmers to have access to different seeds as well as access useful knowledge regarding how to cultivate seeds.

“Orange Farm Community seed bank launch was a huge success. Plenty of seeds, seedlings and herbs were donated and exchanged. Indigenous knowledge about seed saving, storage, grading, sorting, cleaning and harvesting were shared by farmers. The biggest surprise was when a 75yrs old farmer brought seeds that she has saved for the past 25yrs.”

The Slavbard Global Seed Vault is the biggest seed bank in the world and it stores seeds for almost every country in the world! They have confirmed that some of the benefits of creating a seed bank include protection from climate change, protection from natural disasters and protection from man-made disasters like war.

The local seed bank is a massive success in terms of agricultural sustainability in smaller towns. It is a great idea for every small farming community to start one and to trade and swap seeds.

Congratulations to all involved! Keeping it local, keeping heritage seeds alive! Great work! You are growing from strength to strength!” – Stephan Barrow

seed bank


Sources: Facebook
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About the Author

Tyler Leigh Vivier is a writer for Good Things Guy.

Her passion is to spread good news across South Africa with a big focus on environmental issues, animal welfare and social upliftment. Outside of Good Things Guy, she is an avid reader and lover of tea.

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