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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
Thank you for posting.
Very frightening! I hadn’t thought about Monsanto buying organic and heirloom seed companies!
I want to do a vegetable garden this summer, but I feel kind of lost. I’ve done a little bit of gardening in the past, but not with a great amount of success. I want to do it right this time. Does anyone have any blogs or books you recommend for beginner organic home gardening? I’m in Michigan, if you have any recommendations for this particular region. Thanks!
Rachel, I used Mel Bartholomew’s Square Foot Gardening book last year and did 1 plot. I am notorious for having a “black thumb”, but Mel’s instructions were so easy to follow. Using a special mix of compost, peat moss and coarse vermiuculite, the plot thrived. We had such a harvest out of 1 4′ x 4′ plot. I still have food that I canned out of that garden. And so easy to take care of. I want to do 3 more squares this summer. Good luck & happy gardening.
Thanks for your book selection, Lisa. I have a black thumb, too….and with the hundreds of gardening books out there, which one? Now I know – thanks!
Be careful using vermiculite. I heard it was a dangerous material.
Robert,
Vermiculite is mica, heated until it pops. Vermiculite serves the purpose of holding water and nutrients and then releasing them into the soil. There was one vermiculite mine several years ago that was found to contain asbestos. The mine was closed and vermiculite is now sold with the label “asbestos free”. I only use vermiculite when starting a Square Foot Garden (it only needs to be added at the time of creation) and for seed starting.
Thanks for that info. I loved starting seeds with vermiculite in my square foot garden. Now, I can use it again. Thanks again.
As a Garden Coach and Landscape Consultant I help people learn to grow their own food. I am also a Certified Square Foot Garden instructor and I would agree that it is a great way to garden especially for beginning gardeners.
I see lots of people wondering how to garden, not having a lot of success and spending hours and hours in the garden for small results. I found this film and have been using their methods – and it works great! If you’re wondering how to spend fewer hours in the garden, organically without pesticides and without all the weeding, etc. check out this video. You can purchase it if you like, but I just watched the online version and I’m using wood chips – SO easy anyone can do it! http://backtoedenfilm.com/
And here is a link of the heirloom types that monsanto/seminis own. They only own the name and can not force anyone who keeps their own seed to pay them for it. At least for now.
Beth already posted that above. There used to be a purse size copy of it so you could take it with you if you wanted to avoid those types altogether. Anyone know where that is?
I would avoid any of the big box stores–wally world, Menards, Home Depot, local Groceries, etc. To find good heirloom seeds you will have to either find smaller companies or ones like Baker Creek who have taken a strong stand against Monsanto and GMO’s.
Actually, if the CATCH you using your saved seeds from plants they own the rights to, they most certainly CAN make you pay for them. There is case law that has been supported in court again and again that says so. The only reason they haven’t gone after anyone doing this is they are doing it on such a small scale that it would be next to impossible to catch you at it (unless you are dumb enough to put it on your blog or FaceBook page) and it’s not cost-effective for them to pursue it. You can be sure that, should it become cost effective, they will sue and sue and sue to prevent anyone from saving seeds from “their” plant varieties.
Only if you are saving their patented and created seeds. They can’t sue for a seed that’s not patented.
I remember my grandfather saving his seeds out of his garden every year. I remember getting in trouble for touchin his drying okra pods.
Monsanto’s company motto is: “Nothing will be grown that isn’t our own” and they mean it. They want to destroy everything including bee colonies. 🙁
Love Baker Creek, just got the new catalog and had to wrestle my teens for it! Biggest problem is that we want to order every variety though we have nowhere near the money or space for that lol.
while its important not to support monsanto its also important to make it clear that just because you have seeds or buy seeds from monsanto you are still casting a vote that you want “organic” and your seeds that are “organic” will not be GMO seeds and not produce GMO plants even if they come form a branched of company owned by monsanto. some of those companies are trying to branch away from monsanto but everything takes money and time.
Okay, are you crazy? You can not buy seeds from any compnay that is owned by Mansanto! THEY DO NOT CARE IF YOU WANT ORGANIC OR NON-ORGANIC. They will sell you what you want and tell you they are organic and they aren’t. Please don’t get me wroing, but you need to view a few of the youtubes and documentaries about MANSANTO. Please, please, please do so. See what they have done to Hawaii. Please see what they have done to the family farmer. Please just please do your homework on this. The small family business selling GMO free seeds take pride in their product, and they won’t steer you wrong.
I live Hawai’i.
Please, do you have a video or other site you can turn us on to about this problem?
This is such an important concept as I said before. And time is an important element in this discussion. What if you were a small family farmer who wanted to sell organic seeds to the public and years ago you found that there was a great company, call it, “Juliet Co.” that encouraged and worked with small growers of organic vegetable seed so they could sell to this great “Juliet Co.who in turn by selling organic seed from many small growers could reach a larger market especially since “organic’ was such a small portion of the total market and it was hard for an organic seed producing farm to succeed selling only to local buyers. For years you happily build your family business, working through Juliet Co., watching the market for organic seed slowly increase year by year. More and more seed companies with their own customer base or seed catalogues and garden centers etc. went to Juliet Co. as one of the best sources for the most varied, quality, organic and heirloom seeds. Life was looking pretty decent and your family was thriving.
Then one day you find that a huge company, let’s call it Monsanto, with a horrible reputation has bought Juliet Co. Everything continues as before. You sell that year’s crop of seeds to Juliet Co. But then the information about the sale to Monsanto starts spreading among the public including those who buy organic seed and grow organic vegetables and they stop buying any seed that was sourced originally from Juliet Co., now owned by Monsanto. You actually do not have a relationship with Baker Creek or Burpee or Monsanto or Johnnies Seeds or anybody except a lifelong relationship with Juliet Co. which had originally helped to build the country wide market for organic and heirloom seed by finding and developing the kind of growers who wanted to grow these very special crops. (This is pretty much a description of Semanis.)
Then, some time later Juliet Co. has to tell you that next year they will not be buying nearly as much of your organic seed because there is no longer a market for organic or heirloom seeds sold by Juliet Co. You realize why this has happened. You don’t like what Monsanto is doing either. But you now have less than a growing season to find another company that wants to bother with organic seed to buy yours and it takes time to find and establish a relationship with a trusted company like that. Maybe you can’t find one and you make little to no money that year. You are, after all, a small family farm/business. One year could very possibly put you under. Or you may give up producing organic seed in order to grow other things that are easier, more secure and more profitable. Slowly, many of your fellow organic seed growers give up as well because it was a difficult calling anyway and now you must all try to find and develop other companies to take the place of Juliet Co. These are not necessarily common and take years to establish. You don’t have years. You need to pay for your kid’s college educations. Tah Dah, Monsanto wins.
Monsanto has just killed an industry and a movement without developing one GMO vegetable. Do you really think they don’t know what they are doing? The Sustainable Food Movement is diametrically opposed to everything Monsanto stands for. Monsanto has a pretty good idea that it is the only movement that might close them down and destroy their approach of ripping off the public in order to make large profits for their investors. Yes, we should aim to stop buying from Semantis as soon as we can also avoid damaging the growers. We need to find ways we can find out directly from these farmers how they are effected and what they are trying to do to protect their own businesses. Growers and buyers should communicate and possibly organize together, sharing information. That is the only way we will be able to take Monsanto down. They are smart and if we are not smarter, we will lose.
excellent comment-esp last paragraph. how to contact growers directly?
maybe it could be like dating sites where growers and individual buyers could find each other…
Thank you for another fantastic article.