Grandfather-grandson duo saves 250 native seeds; farmers in US, Canada also grow them

In 2022, Amrinder Pal Singh, a farmer from California, sowed red corn and a range of winter and summer vegetable seeds on 2.5 acres of land. The seeds had travelled thousands of kilometres from Punjab. The crops performed well, the vegetables were robust, and he began selling directly from his farm.

Since then, Amrinder has continued sourcing native seeds from a grandfather-grandson duo in Chaina village, Punjab, as he is now confident that desi Indian vegetables and grains can thrive even overseas.

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In his neighbouring country, Canada’s Ontario province, farmer Lalli Dhanoa began ordering bitter gourd, pumpkin and other vegetable seeds from the same family in 2023. He raises seedlings and sells the produce locally. Despite Canada’s shorter growing window, the crops have adapted well.

Why Indian seeds grow well overseas

Lalli and Amrinder buy native seeds from Senior Seeds, a startup founded by Amarjeet Sharma Chaina and his grandson Ravi. The duo is conserving, propagating and promoting desi seeds of over 250 types of vegetables, wheat, millets and pulses. 

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The seeds are sold across India and in other countries, including the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

“Many vegetables used in India, like potatoes, tomatoes, green chillies, and cauliflower, were introduced from other countries, mostly from South America and Central America. Just as they have adapted well to India, these seeds can adapt in other places under the right soil and climatic conditions,” explains Amarjeet, now 68.

Ravi says while in California, farmers grow summer and winter vegetables in the two seasons, like in India, it is different in Canada. “From now (February) till July, when the weather is pleasant, they plant both summer and winter crops together. The harvests have been outstanding,” says Ravi, who joined his grandfather on the farm after completing his schooling.

Seed sovereignty

Ravi represents the latest generation of his farming family in Punjab. “We have been into farming for many generations,” he says. The turning point came in 2005, when his grandfather, Amarjeet, began reading about how farmers were steadily losing seed sovereignty and soil fertility was declining due to the rising use of pesticides.

Also Read: Puducherry farmer saves 800 varieties of native vegetable seeds; sells across India

“He used to read books and realised that going forward, even vegetable seeds would become hybrid like wheat and paddy (following the Green Revolution). Farmers would need more pesticides each year. It would become impossible to do native or organic farming,” Ravi says.

Determined to preserve traditional varieties, Amarjeet began saving seeds. He travelled to exhibitions, met farmers and slowly built a collection. What started as an effort to save seeds for personal use soon grew into a seed bank.

The family had a small grocery shop. In 2008, they converted it into a seed bank. “We were not selling seeds initially. We were giving them to farmers for free to use and save. Now they are available for Rs 20 per packet,” says Ravi.

The difficult organic transition

In 2005, after Amarjeet learned about organic farming, the family shifted all four acres of their land to organic cultivation. At the time, organic farming was rare in Punjab. “Most models were based on South India’s rainfed experience. Here, it was different,” Amarjeet explains.

The family faced significant financial strain. Earlier, under pesticide-based farming of wheat and cotton, Amarjeet had saved Rs 7 to 8 lakh due to high production. Those savings sustained the family over the next seven to eight years, when organic farming often meant only breaking even.

“Till 2015, we were not saving much money,” Ravi says.

But persistence paid off. Between 2015 and 2017, they began expanding their vegetable varieties and understanding organic markets better. “Earlier, some organisations would buy their seeds cheaply and sell it at higher prices. After completing my schooling, I decided to help my grandfather in selling directly,” he says.

The grandson scales up

In 2018, Ravi joined his grandfather full-time. By 2021, he decided to focus intensively on native seed collection and multiplication.

Earlier, they cultivated around 40 varieties each season (summer and winter), totalling about 80 vegetable varieties annually. Ravi expanded this to over 100 varieties a year. 

Today, they conserve around 250 seed varieties and grow nearly 150 types of vegetables.

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He also turned to social media in 2021, sharing updates and connecting directly with farmers and home gardeners. The response was strong. 

“We now work with over 50 organic farmers who grow native vegetables, millets and other crops using our seeds. They return seeds after harvest, strengthening the conservation cycle,” he says.

On four acres, they now cultivate crops only to save seeds. The crops are dried or fermented for seed extraction, depending on the variety. Seeds are priced at Rs 20 per pouch, and they also offer curated kits. “We guarantee seed quality, but not production quantity because yield depends on how farmers manage their crops,” Ravi says.

From Chaina to the world

Their work has drawn international attention. A visitor from the United States once travelled to his home in Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan, and visited their fields. He later began vegetable farming on four acres in Sri Ganganagar, including chickpeas, vegetables, mustard and wheat with good results. “He continues farming even now,” Ravi says.

Today, they ship heirloom seeds in small and large quantities to farmers and gardeners in Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the US. In Wellington, Auckland, a home gardener named Mamta Nayyar regularly buys vegetable seeds for her kitchen garden, growing a wide variety of Indian vegetables overseas.

Traditional varieties of indigenous seeds like chappan tinda (a type of summer squash), lobia, tori, chitala kaddu and chappan kaddu are among their popular offerings. “These are old varieties. Their taste is different and rustic,” Ravi says.

Looking ahead, Ravi and Amarjeet are preparing a one-acre model farm that will demonstrate how a family can grow all its vegetables naturally on a single acre. “I want to show that anyone with one acre can grow enough for their family, save seeds, and remain independent,” Ravi adds.

(Rashmi Pratap is a Mumbai-based journalist specialising in financial, business and socio-economic reporting.)

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