According to Cornell University the pathogen does not enter the fruit and therefore it can be safely eaten. Nor does the pathogen remain in the soil or the seeds; therefore, it does not effect rotation or the saving of seeds for next year. All diseased leaves and plants should be bagged and put in the trash.

I think most, if not all heirloom varieties will survive no matter what Mother Nature throws at us. There are many, many gardeners dedicated to growing wholesome, delicious tasting food and we have many skills and knowledge to keep that going.

“so the hybrid tomatoes of the 20th century as well as those of the early 21st century will be the saving grace of tomato lovers everywhere.” Yes, if you like cardboard.

My tomatoes are from seed that I save every year from my own plants. I have seeds from 2005 thru 2008. I squeeze seeds from healthy tomatoes onto newspaper, let them dry and store them, attached to the newspaper. When planting indoors in March or April, I tear the newspaper from around each seed and plant the seed still attached to a small piece of the paper. I get 90% germination and transplant seedlings twice before putting them outside in early May.

Sometimes I will buy seeds from prior years at local hardware stores, on sale.

I have not had any trouble with cucumbers, lettuce, garlic, green squash or butternut squash.

I am an organic gardener and use no chemicals or fertilizer. I compost everything that is organic and I can obtain grass clippings, leaves and horse manure for free.

You observed that hybrid varieties of tomatoes at Fordhook Farms fared better than open pollinated or heirloom varieties. Aren’t hybrids a cross breeding between two pure strains of open pollinated varieties? Won’t those parent varieties succumb to the blight, eliminating at least a years worth of hybrid seed?

My own concerns with “the monolithic food industry, Big Agriculture, ‘bioengineering’, and ‘industrial farms’” is that more and more of the planet’s seed stocks are in the hands of fewer and fewer people. Most people do not realize (although I am sure you are well aware of it) that Monsanto has a virtual monopoly on the soybean market in the US, and that all the soybean seed they sell is genetically modified so that it can survive being sprayed with glyphosate, a weed killer. Monsanto bought Seminis, a company that is responsible for almost half of the seeds sold to home gardeners. Burpee retails many Seminis varieties. I am sure that since Monsanto is primarily concerned with maximizing profits and sees no need to preserve genetic diversity, that many of the Seminis varieties, including hybrids that many market farmers have come to depend on, will disappear as not being profitable enough.

What do you do if your livelihood depends on the produce you sell to restaurants, at farmers markets or even to local grocery stores and your dependable hybrid, disease and/or pest resistant varieties disappear without warning? Those market farmers will have to spend two or three years trialing different varieties to see if they are suitable. With open pollinated varieties, that is much less of an issue.

Your essay pointed out the need for plant breeding and genetic diversity, but most big agricultural corporations do not want and do not support genetic diversity. Today, instead of breeding and trialing varieties within a species of plant, scientists are splicing in genes from other organisms, heedless of the possible ramifications if those genes escape into the wild, which has already happened. There are weed stocks now that contain Monsanto’s RoundUp Ready patented gene.

I hope that Burpee and Heronswood continue the fine tradition of plant breeding and trialing, in defiance of the big business, profit-at-any-cost modus operandi. Burpee has a long history of breeding top quality varieties that suited a wide range of growers. I would hate to see that excellent practice restricted or terminated.