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Stewardship story
Tater Mater Seeds
Before Tom Wagner ever started breeding the now - pop ‘ Green Zebra ’ tomato in 1958 , he learned the note value of deliver seeds by shelling edible bean around the farm table with his extended family . “ It was n’t piece of work , it was fun ! ” he call in . “ Talking to your grandparents about [ life ] , it was the primal part of germ economy ! ”
At 10 yr honest-to-goodness , Tom was entrusted with keep his maternal granny ’s sept heirloom , the ‘ Suess Becker ’ dome .
Tom ’s paternal great - grandparents carried the ‘ Suess Becker ’ dome to Nebraska when they emigrated from Germany in the belated eighties . “ When they amount from Germany to America , they had to have fresh produce , and green beans were one of their favorite things ! ” contemplate Tom . “ Those were a real important wintertime harvest … They ’d have literally 100 of pounds of juiceless beans put by . ”
Tom Wagner presenting at the Seed Savers Exchange Conference and Campout. Tom has donated over 30 varieties to the Seed Savers collection.
Today , some 50 years after he was given the bean by his grandparent , Tom extend to grow the edible bean in the hopes of buy the farm it on to his grandchild .
After all these years , Tom is still actively at work , run Tater Mater Seeds . Although some of the varieties that Tom bred as a teenager remove their intake from pranks ( for example a tomato that never ripens , fittingly named ‘ Never Will ’ ) , much of his current focus has shifted to nutrition .
Tom explains that many tomatoes presently on the grocery store are high in sugars . Inspired , he has spent the last four years breed love apple with higher protein level and depleted sugar content to aid people manage diabetes . “ I ’m try out to make certain that in the futurity , tomatoes will have a better track platter ! ”
Tom’s grandmother, Emma (Becker) Kaighin, who entrusted Tom with her parents’ bean seeds. Photo courtesy of Tom Wagner.
Seed Savers Exchange has direct the heirloom seeded player movement since 1975 , inspiring a genesis of seed companies to specialise in rare , regionally adapted , delicious , and irreplaceable open - pollinate diverseness . Many of these companies were founded by our own Seed Savers Exchange member . Rather than allowing heirloom and historic change to vaporize or go unnoticed , these members launch an uncoordinated , constitutive , and persistent electric resistance to the disappearance of heirloom seeds . This first wave of heirloom seed company did not extend seed catalogs in response to consumer demand . or else , they create it .
This is the story of one of nine small semen company and a few of the varieties they have preserved . While each and every one of their background is as unique and bold as the diversity they partake in , they all have one thing in common : the passion for deal seminal fluid .
Bios spell , interview , and balance by Kelly Loud with help from Sara Straate .
Tom Wagner’s great-grandparents, August and Wilhelmina (Suess) Becker in front of their 1889 log cabin near Shubert, Nebraska. Photo courtesy of Tom Wagner.
especial thanks to the following people : Alan and Linda Kapuler , Suzanne Ashworth , Craig Dremann , Steve Sando , Mike and Denise Dunton , Tom Wagner , Joanne Ranck - Dirks , Sue Ellen Majer , Bill McDorman , andGlenn Drowns .
3094 North Winn RoadDecorah , Iowa 52101(563 ) 382 - 5990
right of first publication © 2025 Seed Savers Exchange . Images on this site are protected by right of first publication — unauthorized use is not permitted .
Seed Savers Exchange is a tax - exempt 501(c)3 non-profit-making formation dedicated to the saving of heirloom seeds .
