Heirloom vs. Hybrid Vegetables: The Debate Over Which Are Better

As we move into gardening season, many will be buying seeds to start at home or plants from the garden center.  Gardeners have many options including a choice of "heirloom" and hybrid varieties.  There has been a vigorous debate over the merits of each raging for a number of years.  In this posting, I outline the basic arguments of the debate and provide my opinion on this matter.

Heirlooms

The definition of what constitutes an "heirloom" vegetable is a bit vague, but heirloom varieties are always open pollinated and have been in existence for 30 years or more.  The classic definition is that they are open pollinated seeds that are over 50 years old.  Open pollinated means that seeds taken from one generation will produce a plant and fruit that is essentially the same in future generations. 

Gardeners who advocate for heirloom plants claim they taste better, foster genetic diversity, and are more economical because seeds from open pollinated plants can be replanted in subsequent seasons.

Hybrids

In contrast, a "hybrid" is a cross between two different varieties.  Hybrids seeds can produce plants that bring positive attributes from both parents, but the seeds from these plants will not yield the exact same type of plant when grown in subsequent seasons.  To reliably grow a hybrid, a gardener needs to purchase seeds produced by the cross of both parents each year. 

Advocates for hybrid plants argue that new varieties bring improvements over older ones in the same way that a new computer is better than one available 10 years ago.  They also point out that all heirloom varieties were first creatied by hybridizing two parents and then genetically stabilizing the cross over time.  In fact, farmers have been hybridizing for thousands of years and all improvements in agriculture have been achieved through hybridization.

My Opinion on the Matter

I do think that modern hybrids offer advantages to home gardeners and that we should be open to using them.  Having said that, I have to admit that almost everything I grow is an heirloom.  I like the diversity and quirkiness of heirloom varieties and I also like growing things with a link to the past. But I am not so stiff-necked as to exclude all hybrid varieties from my garden.  For example, I have serious problems growing squash due to a disease that afflicts this plant called powdery mildew.  In 2011, I will be growing hybrid squash varieties because they offer resistence to this disease.

My biggest concern with hybrids is really about their use in commercial agriculture and commercial agriculture in general.  Large scale agricultural enterprises require vegetable varieties that have long shelf lives, can be shipped without damage, and produce high yields.  In optimizing for these traits, plant breeders have created hybrids that meet the demands of commercial agriculture, but trade off attributes like taste and texture.  That's one of the reasons why produce purchased at the supermarket is less tasty than that grown at home from plants that were bred for attributes such as sweetness, acidity or texture. 

Furthermore, commercial growers tend to plant a very limited number of varieties because it's easier to sell one or two varieties than dozens.  Again, thinking of the grocery store experience;  you can only purchase a few varieties of tomatoes at the market, but there are thousands of known varieties in existence.  Thus, commercial agriculture has resulted in a dramatic decline in varieties in production.   The hybridized varieties produced by commercial agriculture may be more vulnerable changes in temperature, moisture, or even specific diseases than their heirloom cousins.  Reliance on just a few, hybrid varieties potentially puts the worlds food supply at risk, particularly as the climate changes.

One of the reasons I grow heirlooms is because I feel it helps maintain genetic diversity by acting as a counterbalance to commercial practice.  I grow as many varieties as I can, even if this is just one plant of each variety.  For example, in 2011, I'll have 15 types of tomatoes in my garden.

New York Times Article

For additional information on this subject, here is a link to a recent New York Times article, Heirloom Seeds or Flinty Hybrids.

Comments

[Faerie Goatmother]

I appreciate your desire to act as a counterbalance to commercial agriculture. I find that much of what I do as a raw dairy advocate serves the same purpose.

One thing that I have been discovering about shelf life is just how long things must sit around before making it to our shelves. Just as an illustration, if I make a batch of chevre for myself, I do not pasteurize the milk --I believe that pasteurization kills the good as well as the bad -- and yet that batch of chevre can remain perfectly edible in my fridge for up to a month! Similarly, raw milk can sit in my fridge unspoiled for two weeks or more. That's fantastic shelf life, I'd say! I've had store bought pasteurized milk and cheeses go bad on me in a week.

I think it would be such an improvement if we could move back toward buying or trading food that is super local, super fresh, super diverse in variety. It saddens me how the corporitized, government micro-managed food supply is choking the life (literally) from our food. Maybe it's time for an underground market in Palo Alto...