09/05/2026
CORN SEASON is now underway. Not all corn is created the same. Maybe it's time to wake up to what's happening with our corn.
We've been taught to look at the ear of corn in front of us. But maybe we should be looking at the seed behind it and how it is grown. Most people don't realize how dramatically corn has been transformed through modern breeding.
Today's conventional sweet corn is often bred for uniformity, high sugar-enhanced sweetness, appearance, yield and shelf life. Most varieties are GMO, others are not.
Then there is open-pollinated corn seed-seed that is not engineered, seed that can be saved, selected, replanted and adapted over generations. THAT DIFFERENCE MATTERS!
Because you can save your own seed, you are not completely dependent on someone else to provide the next generation of your food. A farmer grows the crop. The best plants are selected. The seed is saved and the following year it goes back in the ground to regrow.
Organic open pollinated varieties take that philosophy even further by combining seed diversity with organic growing practices.
This post isn't about demonizing conventional farmers. It's about waking up to the system.
When our food becomes increasingly standardized, patented, engineered, packaged, shipped and disconnected from the seed that produced it...we lose something.
We lose diversity.
We lose knowledge
We lose choice.
Eventually, we can lose the ability to grow food on our terms.
So the next time you bite into a sweet corn, don't just ask: is it Organic? ASK:
What variety is it?
Where did the seed originate?
Can the seed be saved?
Why was this variety bred?
Was it genetically engineered?
What type of agricultural system am I supporting?
It's about seeds, soil, flavour, biodiversity and ultimately, it's about who controls the genetics of what we grow.
KNOW YOUR SEED. KNOW YOUR FARMER. KNOW YOUR FOOD.
Lovin this rain I can rest. See you when the weather clears And Soil Organic Farmstead.
