The paradox of food

It all starts with a seed.

Julius Barcelona is like a fruit not falling far from the tree, as he was born into a family business that markets seeds, farm equipment, greenhouses and anything you could possibly need to start a garden or farm.

While he wanted to be a doctor, he is now like a doctor to plants, studying pathogens and other diseases that can affect plants. I recently interviewed Julius for my podcast and as the vice president of the National Seed Industry Council (NSIC), he had a lot to share about open pollinated varieties (OPV), hybrid seeds and transgenic seeds.

OPV can be heirloom or pureline. And sometimes heirloom can mean a small fruit, rather than what we now see after hybridization. Julius gives the example of a tomato which may have started as a tiny fruit many decades or hundreds of years back, and slowly morphed by cross breeding to what tomatoes are today.

Hybrids or F1s are produced from combining good qualities of various samples to make better seeds. This is done by seed breeders. Example: native papaya vs red lady which is a hybrid. The red lady is much sweeter now after seed breeders got the good genetic expressions from different papaya fruits.

Transgenics – this may be what we call genetically-modified (GM), where scientists remove the qualities that are not good and retain the good genetic expressions of a species. Examples of these are your Bangkok giant mangoes, the giant cherimoya or atis without seeds, the apples that do not turn brown when exposed to air or the apples that never go bad even after months of storage.

Although Julius was very careful in answering my incisive questions about seeds, he clarified to us how the right seeds can be used by commercial producers and which is recommended for use by backyard and home growers, who usually grow vegetables just for personal consumption.

When we buy seeds, we must make sure they are not expired; even if you buy them online, you have to get from reputable merchants as seeds also sometimes will not germinate past a certain period since they were prepared.

He further explains the paradox of food. While there is overproduction of food, still many are hungry or malnourished. Almost 1/3 of food produced is wasted, because of distribution issues, conflict and poverty.

“Farmers need to make money, but food has to be cheap.” This is the paradox of food.

Why do people grow their own food?  Sometimes it is to ensure safety, especially of vegetables. Take kangkong or swamp cabbage, for example. You want to be sure where your kangkong comes from because kangkong grows in water. With polluted canals and swamps, the variety of kangkong that is safe to eat is the upland kangkong variety which grows in soil. No longer the swampy vegetable of our forefathers.

If you want to try your hand at growing vegetables, start with OPVs. The hybrids and transgenics are really for commercial production, and though Julius did not mention it, I think they need petroleum-based fertilizers to grow to their promised volume. POVs, in our experience, grow naturally with natural organic compost as fertilizer.

In our Slow Food meet ups, we also do exchanges of seeds to promote biodiversity – and we prefer the OPV. That way, no matter if it is smaller than transgenics, we are sure we can preserve these strains that continue to feed the farmer. Hybrids often cannot be planted again and again. You need to buy a new set of seeds. What we prefer is that farmers are able to replant seeds from their own harvests, just like in the past. No one is beholden to any producer or seed manufacturer. Rather, you continuously plant what you harvest, the way Nature intended it to be.

And we Filipinos are not eating enough vegetables. I think we consume only 123 grams/person/day and even after a few years, still we only consume 126 grams a day, which he says is equivalent to one regular size tomato. We ought to be consuming at least 250 grams of vegetables to be a healthier nation. Japan consumes 400 grams/day/person. This is why we need to understand how vegetables grow and take part in consuming what our farmers produce.

Julius and I also discussed hydroponics, as this has been touted as the solution to food security by large corporations. It involves a lot of investment and may be best left to those who can wait for the return on capital.

Even coffee is best grown from seed, as we have been practicing in our technology center for coffee. We simply get the fruits from the most productive trees and they will produce the same qualities or genetic expressions, to borrow a term from Julius. So far, so good. This is why we must know where our seeds or seedlings come from. There also are systems where you have to plant seedlings of different types so they cross pollinate for best results. In our farm, we use bees as pollinators and they do a pretty good job. 

And while we think about what seeds to plant, be mindful of the food paradox. It really calls for sustainable solutions that feed the people while sustaining the planet. We have to rethink how we produce food – because we can produce plenty but to the degradation of the soil. We may have ultra-processed easy-to-access food, but to the detriment of health and nutrient deficiency.

And it starts with the seed. I prefer to get OPV seeds, let Nature take its course and wait for what fruits or vegetables it will produce. I do not wish to tamper with what naturally is available. This is why I also do not like to get excited with sweeter coconuts from Bangkok, bigger mangoes or atis without seeds, apples that do not rot, because someway, somehow, someone altered its natural genetic makeup, and we may pay the price sooner or later.

Originally Published: FOOD FOR THOUGHT - Chit U. Juan - The Philippine Star, August 9, 2025