{"id":13826,"date":"2016-11-02T11:03:37","date_gmt":"2016-11-02T18:03:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/?post_type=films&p=13826"},"modified":"2025-05-20T11:12:36","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T18:12:36","slug":"seed-the-untold-story","status":"publish","type":"films","link":"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/documentaries\/seed-the-untold-story\/","title":{"rendered":"SEED: The Untold Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

Worshiped and treasured since the dawn of humankind, few things on Earth are as miraculous and vital as seeds. <\/span>SEED: The Untold Story<\/i><\/b> follows passionate seed keepers intent on protecting our 12,000 year-old food legacy.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the last century, 94% of our seed varieties have disappeared. This once abundant seed diversity \u2014 painstakingly created by ancient farmers and gardeners over countless millennia \u2014 has been drastically winnowed down to a handful of mass-produced varieties. Under the spell of industrial “progress” and corporate profits, family farmsteads have given way to mechanized agribusinesses sowing genetically identical crops on a massive scale. But without seed diversity, crop diseases rise and empires fall.<\/span><\/p>\n

More than a cautionary tale of “man against nature,”\u00a0<\/span>SEED <\/span><\/i>reveals the work of farmers, scientists, lawyers, and indigenous seed keepers who are fighting a David versus Goliath battle to defend the future of our food. In a story both harrowing and heartening, we meet a wide variety of reluctant heroes working to rekindle a lost connection to our most treasured resource, from the pueblos of New Mexico to a seed bunker in Norway, from India to America\u2019s heartland, from Peru to Hawaii. Among the dozens of people featured are Will Bonsall of the Scatterseed Project, Dr. Jane Goodall, environmental lawyer Claire Hope Cummings, ethnobotanist Gary Paul Nabhan, botanical explorer Joseph Simcox,<\/span> Andrew Kimbrell of the Center for Food Safety, and physicist\/activist Dr. Vandana Shiva. <\/span><\/p>\n

SEED<\/span><\/i> explores the hidden fabric of our food and the people that painstakingly and meticulously curate its diversity, in an era of climate uncertainty and immense corporate power. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Worshiped and treasured since the dawn of humankind, few things on Earth are as miraculous and vital as seeds. SEED: The Untold Story follows passionate seed keepers intent on protecting our 12,000 year-old food legacy. In the last century, 94% of our seed varieties have disappeared. This once abundant seed diversity \u2014 painstakingly created by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":14841,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"topic":[1255,1219],"class_list":["post-13826","films","type-films","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","topic-food","topic-health-and-environment"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSEED: The Untold Story | Documentary About Importance of Seed Keeping | Independent Lens | PBS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"SEED: The Untold Story follows passionate seed-keepers protecting our 12,000-year-old food legacy, seeds.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/documentaries\/seed-the-untold-story\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SEED: The Untold Story | Documentary About Importance of Seed Keeping | Independent Lens | PBS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"SEED: The Untold Story follows passionate seed-keepers protecting our 12,000-year-old food legacy, seeds.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/documentaries\/seed-the-untold-story\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Independent Lens\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-20T18:12:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/seed-bonsall-signature.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/documentaries\/seed-the-untold-story\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/documentaries\/seed-the-untold-story\/\",\"name\":\"SEED: The Untold Story | Documentary About Importance of Seed Keeping | Independent Lens | PBS\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/documentaries\/seed-the-untold-story\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/documentaries\/seed-the-untold-story\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/seed-bonsall-signature.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-11-02T18:03:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-05-20T18:12:36+00:00\",\"description\":\"SEED: The Untold Story follows passionate seed-keepers protecting our 12,000-year-old food legacy, seeds.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/documentaries\/seed-the-untold-story\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/documentaries\/seed-the-untold-story\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/documentaries\/seed-the-untold-story\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/seed-bonsall-signature.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/seed-bonsall-signature.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1280,\"caption\":\"Will Bonsall, seed saver and organic farmer holds endangered corn seeds on his farm and seed bank in Industry, Maine.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/documentaries\/seed-the-untold-story\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"SEED: The Untold Story\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/\",\"name\":\"Independent Lens\",\"description\":\"Independent Documentary Films\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"SEED: The Untold Story | Documentary About Importance of Seed Keeping | Independent Lens | PBS","description":"SEED: The Untold Story follows passionate seed-keepers protecting our 12,000-year-old food legacy, seeds.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/documentaries\/seed-the-untold-story\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"SEED: The Untold Story | Documentary About Importance of Seed Keeping | Independent Lens | PBS","og_description":"SEED: The Untold Story follows passionate seed-keepers protecting our 12,000-year-old food legacy, seeds.","og_url":"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/documentaries\/seed-the-untold-story\/","og_site_name":"Independent Lens","article_modified_time":"2025-05-20T18:12:36+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1280,"url":"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/seed-bonsall-signature.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/documentaries\/seed-the-untold-story\/","url":"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/documentaries\/seed-the-untold-story\/","name":"SEED: The Untold Story | Documentary About Importance of Seed Keeping | Independent Lens | PBS","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/documentaries\/seed-the-untold-story\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/documentaries\/seed-the-untold-story\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/seed-bonsall-signature.jpg","datePublished":"2016-11-02T18:03:37+00:00","dateModified":"2025-05-20T18:12:36+00:00","description":"SEED: The Untold Story follows passionate seed-keepers protecting our 12,000-year-old food legacy, seeds.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/documentaries\/seed-the-untold-story\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/documentaries\/seed-the-untold-story\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/documentaries\/seed-the-untold-story\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/seed-bonsall-signature.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/seed-bonsall-signature.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"caption":"Will Bonsall, seed saver and organic farmer holds endangered corn seeds on his farm and seed bank in Industry, Maine."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/documentaries\/seed-the-untold-story\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"SEED: The Untold Story"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/#website","url":"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/","name":"Independent Lens","description":"Independent Documentary Films","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/films\/13826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/films"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/films"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13826"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/films\/13826\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31857,"href":"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/films\/13826\/revisions\/31857"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=13826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}