noun
seed collecting; seed raising; news gathering
Used for collecting seeds from plants for cultivation, or metaphorically for gathering material or news. The 'news gathering' sense is less common and may be context-dependent.
来年のためにトマトの種取りをした。
I collected tomato seeds for next year.
記者は記事の種取りに奔走している。
The reporter is busy gathering material for an article.
Compound of 種 (たね, 'seed') and 取り (とり, 'taking'), the nominalized form of 取る (とる, 'to take').