Jesus on how seeds germinate Jesus tells us in John 12:24 that 


  unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.


Today the process of germination is explained in a different way and certainly seeds do not have to 'die'.

Does Jesus use the word die in a different context?
Remember who he was talking to.  This was certainly not intended to be understood in the context of modern science, which hadn't been invented yet, but to be understood as his listeners understood it.  When the seed is still part of the living plant, it is alive, but when it is detached from the living plant (to fall into the ground) it is no longer connected to the life-giving roots, and therefore is thought of as being without life.