Seed drill China, and later a seed drill by Jethro Tull that was influential in the growth of farming technology in recent centuries. Even for a century after Tull, hand sowing of grain remained common. In older methods of planting, a field is initially prepared with a plow to a series of linear cuts known as "furrows". The field is then seeded by throwing the seeds over the field, a method known as "manual broadcasting". The seeds may not be sown to the right depth nor the proper distance from one another. Seeds that land in the furrows have better protection from
The Seed Savers' Network peasants who have the skills and knowledge of its utilisation. Seeds with proprietary rights – plant variety rights – are not suitable for home seed saving as it is illegal to propagate from patented seed. Since its establishment in 1986, The Seed Savers' Network has collected and conserved local varieties within a network of gardeners who save and swap locally adapted seeds. From 1986 to 2008 it had a seed bank that received seed samples from around Australia. Over the space of eight years, culminating in 2008, that seed flow has been decentralised out to sub-groups, Local Seed Networks. These