What is an Ancestral Seed?
What is an ancestral seed? 
The best definition of an ancestral seed has 4 important points:
1. Open Pollinated
This means that the plants have only been exposed to natural pollination methods, such as insects, birds or wind, and have not been intentionally crossed with other varieties. It also means that when you plant a saved seed of an ancestral plant, it will produce a seed that matches its type. All ancestral plants are open-pollinated, but not all open-pollinated plants are ancestral plants. (Some plants are self-pollinating, but they may fall into this same category).
2. Passed down from generation to generation
Most people agree that to be considered ancestral, a plant must have been around for at least 50 years, although many varieties have been around for much longer. This means they may have been bred and lovingly preserved by someone's great-great-grandmother, or bred as a market variety hundreds of years ago.
3. Not hybrids
Hybrids are plants that have been artificially bred to improve production, color, portability, etc. For example, let's say you have a variety of tomato that produces a nice big fruit, but doesn't produce a big yield. But you also have another variety of tomato that has fantastic yields, but produces smaller fruits. By crossing these two plants, you could create a hybrid that gives you the best of both worlds. However, it would be pointless to save the seeds of your new hybrid plant, as the seeds you save will not faithfully produce the type of either parent. And so, if you are growing hybrids, you will have to buy seeds every year.
4. Not genetically modified
Many people confuse hybrids with genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and it is not the same thing. A GMO is something that has been modified by molecular genetic techniques. You can't do this at home, and you're unlikely to come across many GMO seeds in your garden seed catalogs. It is very expensive to genetically modify something, which is why most companies focus on the process for large-scale industrial crops.
The best definition of an ancestral seed has 4 important points:
1. Open Pollinated
This means that the plants have only been exposed to natural pollination methods, such as insects, birds or wind, and have not been intentionally crossed with other varieties. It also means that when you plant a saved seed of an ancestral plant, it will produce a seed that matches its type. All ancestral plants are open-pollinated, but not all open-pollinated plants are ancestral plants. (Some plants are self-pollinating, but they may fall into this same category).2. Passed down from generation to generation
Most people agree that to be considered ancestral, a plant must have been around for at least 50 years, although many varieties have been around for much longer. This means they may have been bred and lovingly preserved by someone's great-great-grandmother, or bred as a market variety hundreds of years ago.3. Not hybrids
Hybrids are plants that have been artificially bred to improve production, color, portability, etc. For example, let's say you have a variety of tomato that produces a nice big fruit, but doesn't produce a big yield. But you also have another variety of tomato that has fantastic yields, but produces smaller fruits. By crossing these two plants, you could create a hybrid that gives you the best of both worlds. However, it would be pointless to save the seeds of your new hybrid plant, as the seeds you save will not faithfully produce the type of either parent. And so, if you are growing hybrids, you will have to buy seeds every year.4. Not genetically modified
Many people confuse hybrids with genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and it is not the same thing. A GMO is something that has been modified by molecular genetic techniques. You can't do this at home, and you're unlikely to come across many GMO seeds in your garden seed catalogs. It is very expensive to genetically modify something, which is why most companies focus on the process for large-scale industrial crops.
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