Seeds: Nature's Microchips

By George Ball

Once introduced, Americans in­ variably inquire what business you're in. While foreigners find the question a bit crass, it's second nature to us. The question reflects our work ethic on the one hand, and our democracy on the other: It's not who you are but what 'you do that defines you. We mean business.

Wall Street high-fliers-invest­ ment bankers, brokers and hedge fund profiteers, elaborately uphol­ stered all-tend to regard my busi­ ness as impossibly outmoded and ar­ cane. Seeds? Plants? Do I, perhaps, belong to the Flat Earth Society as well?

When I'm at a social function, I invariably find myself chatting with a Wall Street tribe member. Jared, let's call him, since that's always his name, is a player. A pink-cheeked master of the universe fluent in junk bonds, zero-coupon bonds, REITs and interest rate swaps; he knows what business is all about. His world is one where funds appear from some­ where, most of them go somewhere else, and he pockets the difference.

Seeds have no place in Jared's business cosmology. They aren't styl-' ish, prestigious or luxury things. They make a humble showing in the land of high-end bling, although in some traditional cultures they're used as money, and in others these "botanical eggs" are collected rather like jewels.

Jared hauls over his pal Nick and says, "Nick, this is George. He's in seeds." They look me up and down, as if I were an exhibit in a natural history museum, their expressions a blend of amusement and disdain.

. I look them over in turn. I ex­ plain that seeds are God's micro­ chips: miniature devices pro­ grammed with information and algorithms to generate life. This be­ fuddles them for a moment. Are

they missing the next big thing? Or am I playing the players?

I spot a friend across the room.

"Fellows," I say momentously, as I ready to take my leave. "The future belongs to seeds." Their pink faces flush crimson; they whoop with laughter.

Jared and Nick were first-string players in the New Economy, a play­ ground fueled by easy credit, specu­ lation and other people's money.

Home gardeners reap huge returns as the Old Economy is new again.

Seeds rightly appeared to them as the barter of another era. And it's true, the seed business has changed little in the last 500 years. The major shift in the last century has been the transition of the home garden from a necessity-how you feed the fam­ ily-to a hobby for some, a passion for others.

A few steps into the 21st century, the role of the home garden has once again changed. Standing in my gar­ den, I can almost hear the stampede of new and rededicated American gardeners. Outfitted in jeans, baseball caps and Wellingtons, clutching their trowels, Americans pioneer their new

. frontier-their backyard garden.

Converging on the home garden is an extraordinary array of trends in tastes, health awareness, lifestyle and demographics-a phenomenon I call a "perfect storm of tipping points." The Old Economy is new again. .

The major catalyst is the econ­ omy's downward spiral. Americans are getting wise to the extraordinary savings they can reap, along with tl:).eir tomatoes, peppers, green bearis and squash. A home garden delivers reliable and extraordinary returns on

your investment, a hundred dollars in seeds producing a harvest that would cost you $2,500 at your supermarket. A 25-to-1 return? Snap my striped suspenders!

In the last 10 years, Americans have grown exquisitely attuned to is­ sues of nutrition and food safety. Their increasing insistence on food quality-optimally nutritious, fresh, flavorful and safe-is well-founded.

The vegetables and fruit bought at the supermarket are picked prema­ turely, spend weeks in trucks and warehouses exposed to carbon mon­ oxide and other contaminants, and are frequently gassed to boost their colors. To purchase supermarket pro­ duce is to compromise on flavor, nu­ trition, texture and safety-while get­ ting a swift kick in the budget.

The local food movement has built upon this kind of new awareness, and farmer's markets are sprouting across the country. But why go to the farmer's market when a few steps away is a garden bursting with fresh tomatoes, string beans and watermel­ ons? It doesn't get more local-or fresher-than this.

And in this world of iPhones, PCs, Twitter, 200 cable channels and over the top home entertainment centers, the garden suddenly appears as something new and delightful: a mul­ tidimensional, interactive realm of flavor, nourishment, fragrance, plea­ sure, beauty, recreation, sanctuary and self-realization .

At first, we are smitten with our glittering new techno-toys, only to relearn that these clever machines cannot provide what we really want-a sense of connection and au­ thenticity. Welcome to the garden: It doesn't get more real or connected than this.

Mr. Ball is chairman of the W.

Atlee Burpee & Co. and past presi­ dent of the American Horticultural Society.