TOMATO By the end of the 2007 growing season, McMurray had grown and frozen (a new technique for him) the seeds of more than 400 tomato varieties from his collection. LOVE In that year alone, he grew and saved the seeds of 122 varieties. Yes, that is a lot of tomatoes.

BY BRIAN BELL

Canadian Dan McMurray is at the leading edge of the international groundswell of “tomatophiles” seeking to preserve tomato seed varieties and protect plant diversity.

“If we don’t grow them and swap seeds around, they’re going to disappear,” he says.

Since 2002, this former lighthouse keeper has collected and cataloged 1,500 heirloom and open-pollinated (stable) tomato seed varieties, including 400 that are classified as rare, at his home in Wynndel in the Creston Valley area of southeastern British Columbia.

He gets the seeds by swapping with like-minded souls around the world. Occasionally, he and his wife, Val, just give seeds away. “After you grow yours out, you save seed from it and pass it on to somebody else. Then you’ve paid me back,” he says.

The couple wants to ensure that future generations experience the taste of as many of the estimated 5,000 to 10,000 tomato varieties as possible. “Probably the most sought-after taste is what everybody refers to as the ‘old tomato’ taste,” says McMurray.

Dan McMurray tends to one of his hundreds of tomato plants.