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Seed catalogs for the upcoming growing season are arriving in mailboxes across the Northern Hemisphere with home growers everywhere starting to plan which seeds they will sow in freshly composted garden. A positive trend in recent years is the growing number of gardening enthusiasts choosing to plant gardens using organic and/or heirloom seeds.
What most of these home gardeners don’t realize is that corporate behemoth and GMO titan Monsanto has been gobbling up the seed market faster than a caterpillar can munch a tomato plant! With one fell swoop in 2005, Monsanto grabbed approximately 40% of the US vegetable seed market with its acquisition of Seminis.
This means that a home gardener could unknowingly be supporting the development and proliferation of genetically modified crops if the seeds used are from Seminis. In addition, Monsanto now apparently owns the trademark for many of the names of the heirloom seed varieties themselves!
Planting a sustainable home garden is much more than just choosing certified organic seeds and seedlings, eschewing pesticides/herbicides and using organic compost. This is because Monsanto has cleverly positioned itself to make money off the home gardening trend.
Does this mean that even if you buy organic or heirloom seeds from a completely independent company some of your purchase might be supporting the bad guys?
Yes, it does.
Surprise!
Home gardeners would do well to bone up on where to purchase their seeds so they aren’t inadvertently doing business with companies that maintain a working relationship with Monsanto-Seminis or were acquired by them.
Buying Organic or Heirloom Seeds Without Supporting Monsanto
Here are the recommended steps for the 2014 growing season for those who want to truly strike a blow for sustainability in every way with their home gardens:
Avoid buying from the seed companies affiliated with Monsanto. Here’s a list of these seed companies by location (enter you zipcode for a list of dealers to avoid).
- Buy from companies Monsanto HASN’T bought and are not affiliated or do business with Seminis: The graphic above indicates numerous companies that are worthy of your patronage as compiled by the International Seed Saving Institute. Please note that this many not be a complete list. If your seed company does not appear, just be sure to clarify with the owner about any potential affiliation with Monsanto-Seminis before buying from them.
- Avoid buying heirloom varieties for which Monsanto owns the trademark.
- Ask seed companies if they have taken the Safe Seed Pledge. Here’s a list of companies that have taken the Safe Seed Pledge and believe in responsible plant genetics. These are good companies to buy from.
Background on Monsanto’s Quest for World Seed Domination
Monsanto’s corporate quest is clearly to make money on each and every one of us whether we choose to eat supermarket frankenfoods produced with abominable, patented GM crops or carefully plant and tend an organic garden at home. Here’s some background information on the subject you may find interesting as well as enlightening:
If you are a home gardener and have information to contribute regarding these steps, please add to the discussion in the comments section. Also, please spread the word via gardening forums you may participate in that folks need to be very careful when seed sourcing for their spring gardens this year else they might be unknowingly supporting Monsanto.
Let’s make this the year when Monsanto’s grip on the worldwide seed market loosens and the movement to seed sustainability gains momentum!
Update
The day after this article was originally published in 2013, the CEO of a large GMO soybean seed company in the Midwest emailed me complaining that the article was short-sighted and insisting that Monsanto is helping feed the starving people of the world. He even went so far as to say that GMO crops are “proven safe”. Click here for the text of this CEO’s entire email plus my written reply.
I have also received email complaints from two other seed companies, one in Canada and one in Arkansas, that do business with Monsanto-Seminis and were offended by what they viewed as inaccuracies in the post. In response, I have adjusted the text slightly and moved linked sources to within the text rather than only listed at the end to make the message of the post as clear and precise as possible so as to not result in any consumer confusion over the information.
I have received no complaints about this article from seed companies completely independent of any affiliation or ties to Monsanto-Seminis.
More Information
Why I Avoid Organic Hydroponic Produce
The Hydroponic Invasion of USDA Organic
Heirloom vs Hybrid Produce
Photography Credit
seeds of change was actually bought 🙁 no longer the original company.
Be careful what you say so that there is no miscommunication. Seeds of Change has signed the Safe Seed Pledge. After seeing your comment here, I went to their website to check it out. Here is the quote from their website:
WHAT GUARANTEES DO YOU GET FROM YOUR FARMS THAT YOUR SEEDS DO NOT CONTAIN GMOS?
Our trusted network of certified organic farmers takes great care to produce seed crops in areas that are as isolated as possible. In cases where there could be potential pollen migration (e.g. from commercially-grown corn, beets, chard) DNA testing is conducted to ensure the absence of any GMO material in any of our seed crops. To provide high quality 100% Certified Organic seeds, we follow the best practices available in the industry, specifically:
An internationally recognized independent laboratory tests samples of all of our seed lots of corn, soybeans, beets and chard at the time of production to ensure the absence of any GMO material.
Our seed production locations are sufficiently isolated from fields of conventional crops that could be a potential source of GMO contamination. For example, our corn seed is produced in the western U.S., not in the midwest where the majority of conventionally-grown corn is produced.
We are also signers of the SAFE SEED PLEDGE.
I understand that they are striving for GMO free seeds but the fact that the company that purchased them is green washing doesn’t change the fact that it still puts profit in the hands of a company that largely supports Monsanto and in turn also lines their pockets. I’d prefer to continue doing business with any of the hundreds of companies that are locally owned and operated without corporate giants purchasing them up.
Seeds of Change was purchased by Mars which donated almost 400k to defeat Prop 37 in California. They donated more money than most of us earn in several years to make sure the people of California didn’t have the ability to know whether Monsanto’s toxic crap ended up in our food.
http://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Campaign/Committees/Detail.aspx?id=1344135&session=2011&view=late1
http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/California_Proposition_37,_Mandatory_Labeling_of_Genetically_Engineered_Food_%282012%29
So no, I don’t believe for a second that Seeds of Change believes in our cause. I think they’re “green washing”, it’s actually a huge problem for me that they were allowed to sign the Safe Seed Pledge given their ownership. Their parent company is just as in bed with Monsanto as Pepsi and Kraft Foods.
Sad to learn that Seeds of Change was bought out. I used their seeds for many years in the past. (This years is Baker’s Heirloom Seeds.)
Corporations are people (in case you didn’t know). The human being who work for Seeds of Change may disagree with The Corp, yet their profits still benefit Monsanto.
ANYONE can fill out that safe seed pledge. Considering Johnny’s Seed’s affiliation with Seminis, people need to remember, if you don’t want to support Monsanto, you can’t do business with any company who does any business with them, not just the seeds. I mean no equipment, no supplies, no fertilizer, NOTHING. Otherwise, you are wasting your time boycotting the seeds. Every penny they get makes them bigger and more powerful.
So that begs the question, while Seeds of Change signed the safe seed pledge, how much business do they give monsanto? After all, look at the link to all the heirloom, non-gmo seeds Monsanto now owns. Just look. Signing the safe seed pledge means nothing in regards to slowing down monsanto’s control over our gardens and our lives.
Heather do you know what seeds to buy
Thanks, saved me some effort on researching that company, as the company I work for started carrying their seeds this year.
Please not that Osbourne Seed Company (Mount Vernon, Washington) is listed in both a list of “do not buy”s and another list of purportedly “safe” seeds.
Seeds of Change was bought by Mars Co but if you look into Mars co, they are one of the largest still FAMILY OWNED companies out there. Just because they’re very successful doesn’t mean they’re evil. 🙂 If they are I don’t want to know, I already boycott SO many companies, I need candy!!!
Are you sure it isn’t the soil, you might want to get the soil tested. They spray Chemtrails by jets, to put barium aluminum and other bad gasses in the air for the sake of only being able to grow monsato seeds only. I do not remember what the website was but it was a warning to people about gardening this year and last! Inform yourself on the chemtrals and HAARP. Can have a lot to do with your soil.
Thanks Sarah for posting this. I JUST recieved my heirloom seeds from Baker Creek seeds. So excited!!! I shared on Facebook too, but my farmer friends probably will turn their nose up at this. Oh, well, truth is TRUTH!!
You can buy heirloom seeds from (lets use Baker Creek as an example) and not support monsanto/seminis. Just because a seed company also sells a variety that monsanto owns the name of the variety, does not mean they are buying seed from monsanto/seminis. Many of the heirloom companies also have their own garden plots for growing their own seed.
You can also try saving your own seed and swapping with others. There is a good book on seed saving on the Baker Creek site, rareseeds.com It is worth buying. I found it to contain a lot of helpful hints and suggestions as well as being easy to follow. Their cookbook isn’t bad either.
Here is a site that has a good list of seed companies–not owned by monsanto or seminis–but carry seed and or products from those two companies.
http://www.garden-of-eatin.com/how-to-avoid-monsanto/
Thank you for this information. I had no idea Monsanto has bought organic/heirloom seed companies. Wow.
If your crops get contaminated by GMOs, sue Monsanto,
Dow Chemical, Bayer, Syngenta, Dupont, and BASF. It’s not only Monsanto out there, for some reason we’ve all been focusing on only one of Lernaean Hydra’s heads.
Sue them, or they will sue you. The more of us that sue, the better for everyone.
A farmer in Calgary did just that. His, I believe canola, became contaminated by a near-by field and Monsanto came after him for not paying for their fine product. He counter-sued on the grounds that their contaminated pollen trespassed on his property. He won that case BUT, the following year he planted seeds saved from the previous year’s harvest KNOWING the seed was now GMO. Monsanto sued and WON because he infringed on their patent by knowing planting seeds that were now Round-up resistant. BUT what scares me is, there is no way to prevent the cross-pollenation if there are Monsanto crops growing nearby!
Hmmm… maybe this is how/why the honeybees are “mysteriously” disappearing…
Warning to my fellow gardeners and seed savers.
Last year a somebody had sowed GMO Canola upwind from my isolated garden (surrounded by evergreen forest except for a public dirt road that cuts through the bottom 1/3 of property). I will be now busy pulling GMO WEED Plants instead of garden tending. I am a victim of DRIVE BY SOWING.
So be on alert for this on and around the farm/ homestead. These bastard plants can and will destroy your hard work. I also lost 75% of my wild & domestic bee population around mid-summer last year (suspicious event). These are evil people and corporations and are well talented Bio-Terrorists. They also own/control a huge % of North American governments also. This time period will go down in history as the beginning of the ‘ Great War on all Biological Lifeforms’.
Trying to sue them individually is like trying to sue the Nazis during Hitler’s rien of terror. They are the government and the government is them. May God help us to save this garden we call Earth.
It’s possible that migratory birds could be responsible for the sowing of the gmo seed. In this video a farmer has the same problem. GMO Canola ended up in his field.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEX654gN3c4
Robert you are so right! I was just talking to my husband about this today! Do you happen to know the one person who is the mastermind or is it compiled of many?
I raise bees, Debbie and I definitely think this is part of the equation in our declining bee population. We live out in the country on 10 acres. We are surrounded by 10 acre plots. Unfortunately, though we strive to not use chemicals (honestly, there are SO many safe options to use – many of them are easy to make yourself!) ALL of our neighbors use chemicals! The farmer who farms all the land around us uses chemicals (it is not “profitable” to use natural fertilizers, etc….we would get 1/2 the crops…etc….) So frustrating….
there is no maybe about it. That’s exactly why the bees and butterfly’s are dying.
If you’re going to plant heirloom seeds, you may as well learn how to make the most of your garden!
I love this! So informative! If the common man only knew what Monsanto was doing to jeopardize our agriculture! Can’t wait for my garden this year!
What do you know about Jung?
I order from Jung. They had a note on an e-mail recently that they are NOT owned by Monsanto.
Dick Zondag,
President & Owner of
J. W. Jung Seed Co.
Dear Lisa Brinker ,
It has come to my attention that there have been blogs and websites stating that J. W. Jung Seed Company is owned by Monsanto. This is not true. We are being confused with a farm seed company by the name of Jung Seed Genetics that is owned by Monsanto, but there is no affiliation between us.
A little company history may be helpful in clearing up the confusion. J. W. Jung Seed Company and its garden centers are still family owned and operated. My name is Dick Zondag and my grandfather, J. W. Jung, started the business here in Randolph over 106 years ago. For a number of years the Jung family operated both a home garden company known as J. W. Jung Seed Company and a farm seed company called Jung Farms. Over 15 years ago, the 2 companies split, with the Seed Company becoming solely owned by the Zondag family (my mother was J. W. Jung’s daughter). Jung Farms became solely owned by my uncle and cousin, the name was changed to Jung Seed Genetics and several years ago they sold this farm seed company to Monsanto.
1-800-247-5864
M-F 7:30am-5:30pm CST
Please add [email protected] to your address book or safe senders list. If you wish to unsubscribe, please follow the link at the top or bottom of this email.
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J. W. Jung Seed Company has been independent and family owned and operated since its beginnings in 1907. There is no desire to sell it to another company. In fact, my son Nathan has been working here for the last 5 years and is in training to take over upon my retirement, but I have no desire to sell the company my grandfather started in his mother’s kitchen. We have added additional niche-type catalog titles over the years to expand the home-garden business. We also own and operate 5 successful garden centers in Wisconsin which were started under my dad’s direction.
Another source of confusion is that under the Monsanto umbrella is a very small home-garden division called Seminis Gardens that produces and sells some well-known, time-proven, non-GMO varieties, including many varieties that are All-America Selections Winners. These were developed and introduced long before Monsanto owned Seminis and were originally sold under the Petoseed brand. Many of our customers have grown to love these vegetables and would be very disappointed if we no longer offered them. We recognize there are strong anti-Monsanto sentiments by some consumers, so we will publish a list of Seminis varieties we offer on our website in the event they wish to avoid purchasing them.
It’s my wish that bloggers and journalists would do more fact checking before they publish untruths so that letters like this are not necessary. But instead, they hide behind the anonymity of the internet and spread their vicious untruths. If any of you wish to speak with me directly regarding this matter, please call. If I am not available, leave your phone number and I will contact you with the correct facts.
Sincerely,
Dick Zondag, President and Owner of J. W. Jung Seed Company
and Grandson of the founder
Nice of Mr. Zondag to want to please his customers, but I choose NOT to buy from any company that does business with Monsanto/Seminis in any way. And I am not hiding “behind the anonymity of the Internet” nor am I spreading “vicious untruths.” Buying anything from J.W. Jung Seed Company (or any company that does business with Seminis) inadvertently supports Monsanto/Seminis which is exactly what this article is TRUTHFULLY reporting.
G’ma – do you purchase any groceries from grocery stores? Do you realize that a very large percentage of the products they carry contain gmo corn which has direct links to Monsanto and companies that purchase from Monsanto? Sometimes you have to balance personal philosophy with common sense and instead of boycotting local and regional businesses that contribute to the local economy, just choose to be more selective in your purchases and buy local, organic, and non-gmo varieties that you know are from sustainable sources.
Better yet, do both. Be careful what you buy in the store and also do not buy seed from any company that doesn’t guarantee it’s non-GMO.
Yes Gary, I am fully aware of GMOs in foods on the shelves of grocery stores and no I do not purchase them. Although I get your point and do still purchase some things there, you must admit we have a purer choice when it comes to seed companies. If a dozen grocers were lined up in front of me (like seed catalogs) you bet I would be “boycotting” the ones with GMOs.
The misunderstanding here though is that the list of seed companies that the author recommends to boycott are NOT selling GMO seeds. They simply purchase some wholesale non-gmo seeds from Seminas which now happens to be owned by Monsanto. Therefore, buying from a regional or locally owned family seed company on that list is no different than buying groceries from any grocery store – large or small – all of which are guaranteed to also sell products produced from Monsanto – owned companies or from cereal crops grown from Monsanto seed.
Gary, if a seed company has no product from Monsanto/Seminis I choose them over those who do and if I could find a grocer that had no GMO product on their shelves I would choose them over those that do. No misunderstanding about that.
I am well aware that even health food companies can be owned by Monsanto, and yes, I boycott them all. I buy food locally or grow my own, don’t like to eat in restaurants, and do not buy anything from any company that has anything to do with Monsanto
Mr. Zondag had my interest and understanding right up to his last paragraph. I would have thought as a reputable businessman that he would have been happy to (once again) set the record straight letting a wider group of consumers know the facts between his company and his relatives’ now-Monsanto-owned counterpart. So sorry to see his true feelings come out in the end. I am more than glad for the many other non-GMO, non-Monsanto/Seminis companies out there. This is a very helpful article. Thanks, Lisa, for sharing Mr. Zondag’s letter.
I agree exactly with you mpbusyb–he had me right up to the last paragraph as well. Completely unnecessary and wrecked the whole message by revealing his true feelings and motivation.
Give the guy a break! First he had customers giving him a hard time and then he found his company wrongfully blacklisted as a company that is owned by Monsanto. Did it ever occur to you all that this kind of hard feelings and in-fighting is exactly what Monsanto might have in mind? Not to mention having the small individually owned seed growers go out of business because we suddenly stop buying their seeds?
Rather than blacklist the very people who are selling and/or growing healthy, organic, and/or heirloom vegetables, we should be working to understand the complexity of the business, the problems and the market and even help these smaller, individually owned businesses that never chose to find their business profiting Monsanto. They weren’t in on the sale of Seminis. Why would they ever think Monsanto would want to have anything to do with organic or heirloom vegetables?
If Mister Zontag quits supporting these small individually owned growers by not buying their seed from a company (Seminis) that is owned by Monsanto, these small independent growers might give up growing our organic and/or heirloom vegetable seeds. They must make a living and if they can’t find another buyer like Seminis by next year or the year after will they stay in business? How long will it take for them to give up growing for us if they can’t find a different buyer? Is there a different seed buyer/distributer?
Just how many companies will buy specialty seeds like organic or heirloom? These are a very small percentage of the home seed market. These small seed growers need a way to get their product to the marketplace THIS year so we the public can buy it and they can support their families. Or Monsanto wins.
Your easy answer to the Monsanto problem, “Don’t buy any seed from any company having anything to do with Monsanto,” might just be the easiest way for Monsanto to do away with their competition, healthy, organic and/or heirloom seed companies. We need more detailed information before we put our friends out of business, the small, individually owned, healthy seed growing companies that are NOT owned by Monsanto.
g,ma get a grip !
That is just another shining example of misdirection from the companies. I am downright insulted by his hateful little ending paragraph. Nobody was “hiding” on the internet. Not one penny of my money will go to ANY company who does business, directly or indirectly with Monsanto. I make nearly everything we eat in my house from scratch and I will round that out soon with the remainder of what we eat so that even the grocery store will NOT get to accidentally give anything to them. No support for Monsanto!
He was upset and for good reason. I didn’t think he was that horrible. Considering that the lists said his company was owned by Monsanto. Remember, when you just read the words without seeing a person’s body language it is easy to get their tone wrong. I believe I have read that 70% of what we communicate is NOT in words, it is from our gestures and vocal tone as well. He stood the possiblility of losing customer goodwill from someone printing something that was not correct about his business and family. He didn’t cuss, he didn’t insult, he didn’t imply anything. He did say a person is anonymous when on line and in a way that is true. We forget that the things we say online could detrimentally effect a decent and real person, not just a big corporation that really is faceless. I have heard there are studies that show we are less careful online. This man’s business has lasted since 1907. They must be a respected family and must be good to their customers. I think he had reason to be upset. I would have been also.
The purpose of this page to keep Monsanto out of our gardens. It is understandable that people are wary of “respectable families” that walk hand in hand with the devil. I like your point about over boycotting, but you can’t blame people for not wanting to feed the beast. There are better ways of distancing one’s self from Monsanto than writing a note, or shaking one’s hips. Many consumers do not care where there seeds come from, and others do. It seems difficult to pander to both types of gardeners. Sometimes anonymity causes bullying/slander, but it also can protect the population from fear of Inquisition, and allow more honest open discussions.
Mr. Zondag would do better to realize he is communicating with potential buyers. The fact that he is giving any support at all to Monsanto is disappointing and his last paragraph lost my business.
Jung is owned by ASI which is owned by Monsanto.
We LOVE http://www.rareseeds.com 🙂
By far the best Heirloom seed company around!
I have had bad luck with their seeds this year and last. probably wont use them again
I had a 98% germination rate from all of my seeds from them this year. My guess is they corrected problems, because I am going to have a bumper crop if I can figure out where to plants all there plants! LOVE rareseeds.com
Lol – 98% germination rate? Did you conduct your own germination study or do you work for Baker?
He planted 100 seeds, 98 grew……duhhh