The Heritage Project
All plants and seeds produced at The Heritage Seed Farm are organically cultivated, open-pollinated, and hand-processed in Devon, using traditional methods that prioritise soil health, biodiversity, and genetic integrity. Every seed grown is a Heritage variety. This focus is a personal passion, and an attempt to help preserve our food history, the incredible stories, and wonderful variety of produce that come with it.
All plants are grown within diverse, companion-planted, no-dig beds, a system that protects soil structure, increases biological activity, and builds long-term fertility without artificial inputs. Beds are nourished with organic matter only, encouraging healthy plants, resilient seed, and thriving soil life. No synthetic fertilisers, pesticides, herbicides, hybrid seed, or treated plants are ever used.
As heritage seed is open-pollinated, it will grow true to type when saved and replanted under similar conditions. Over time seed will build resilience to local conditions, contributing to better plants overall. Careful isolation, extended flowering periods, and hand selection ensure strong, reliable seed adapted to real garden conditions rather than industrial production.
All seed packets sent out are resealable to encourage you to reuse and save your seed year on year.
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Why is heritage so important?
Over 75 % of plant genetic diversity has been lost as farmers worldwide have left their multiple local varieties and landraces for genetically uniform, high-yielding varieties. Such as F1’s.
Approximately 75% of the world’s food is generated from only 12 plants and five animal species.
Out of more than 250 000 known edible plant species, only 150 to 200 are used by humans. Only three of these - rice, maize and wheat - contribute nearly 60 percent of calories and proteins consumed by humans from plants.
Heritiage plants have longer flowering seasons and are better suited to organic growing methods, helping preserve biodiversity.
These horrifying figures are set to get worse as agri companies increasingly turn to f1 seed, which not only hold the opposite qualities of heritage seed, but can also be patented.
4 seed companies control over 50% of global seed and pesticides. Seed considered ‘intellectual property’ now accounts for 82% of commercial seed market. Thus allowing prices to rise unencumbered, drastically reducing farmers rights, consumer choice and weakening our food security.