For thousands of years, it has been common practice for farmers to keep the best seeds from their fields for the next growing season. This has allowed them to develop breeds of high quality, high yields and nurture those adapted to the local conditions. Trading seeds with other farmers is also a secular tradition that is important for maintaining a diverse genetic background within a field. So when Percy Schmeiser, a 59 year old Saskatchewan farmer, inadvertently found that some of his canola plants that boarded a local road, were resistant to a herbicide purchased to get rid of the…