Sowing the seeds of Syria: farming group rescues plant species threatened by war | Environment | The Guardian
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Taylor is part of the Experimental Farm Network, a New Jersey-based group that connects farmers and gardeners to exchange rare and threatened varieties of plants, including those from a Syria upended by war. The network is concerned with plummeting biodiversity, and encourages collaborators to develop new types of fruits and vegetables in a kind of democratization of rare genetic material.
Taylor’s project is to produce rare seeds, including a half-dozen Syrian varieties, in enough quantity to sell to the general public through seed companies.
“Then the seeds become that much less endangered,” he said. “The more people have access to these seeds, the more likely they’ll make it into the future.”
This year, he became especially interested in Syrian seeds. Most of us don’t think about agriculture as one of the losses of war. We think of the loss of human life, the rubbled cities and the looted archaeological sites.