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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
https://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/photo.php?fbid=10151365559148948&set=a.252970578947.138710.240152903947&type=1&theater¬if_t=notify_me
Whatabunchofjokersyouare. There is no difference in health, safety or nutrition from gm and non gm. There is zero testing needed to,prove that organic food is organic – zero but about $50m of testing on each gm trait. You are Luddites who are living in the dark ages
Better to be Luddites than poisoned.
What if you are wrong?
Hate to tell you Tony, but you are dead wrong. There are many documented cases where ranchers have lost their stock due to GMO feed.
I, along with my wife, have seen significant health improvements since we ditched GMO.
And here’s a thought, if GMO’s are so safe, and so awesome, and are gonna feed the world, then why doesn’t Monsanto and Dow and the rest want them labeled? If these things are so great, they should want every piece of processed garbage, I mean food, proudly flying the GMO flag.
Also, if they are safe, why haven’t we seen any independent analysis of them?
Wake up man, your life is at stake.
Well good, if you think their so safe then you eat the GMO foods and leave the good stuff for those of us who care about our future health, our children’s and the health of this earth. Watch something other then mainstream media and read something other then the studies funded by the big bias businesses your defending.
Seriously, do you pay ANY attention to the rest of the world? North American researchers have repeatedly been told that any research into the negative effects of GMOs are ‘career enders’, but the rest of the world isn’t owned by Monsanto. In Hungary they burned all the GMO fields, in the rest of Europe labeling is mandatory due to the hormonal changes is causes in the body as well as the chemicals sprayed on them. The Swiss called the independent studies Monsanto tried to throw at them ‘laughable’ because the methods were so flawed and half the time didn’t even apply to the basic questions they asked. Even Indians are beginning to realize that the GMO rice contains less than half the nutrition (check out ‘golden rice’ sometime). It isn’t about rejecting technology. Technology isn’t good or bad, it’s how its used.
Hi Sarah,
I have posted on my website William Dam Seeds a rebuttal to your blog. Could you plese read this and see how checking facts in blogs would be good.
Monsanto is not buying up organic and heirloom companies – this not true
Hot topic Sarah, thanks for sharing.
Something that isn’t stated is the fact that Organic is not guaranteed GMO-Free. Neither is heirloom I would imagine. If you don’t believe me, look at the Non-GMO Project’s verification FAQ (question 2) and do some chatting with your seed company (even privately owned), food supplier, pet food source, dairy, etc. This hit my radar on one of my homesteading forums. Even the organic companies are not required by their standards to test their product if “to their knowledge” the product is not contaminated. This means seed supplier that don’t test could be unknowingly spreading GMO seeds to the public.
http://www.nongmoproject.org/product-verification/faqs/
For the reasons listed above I support seed companies like Baker Creek (rareseeds.com) and High Mowing Seeds (http://www.highmowingseeds.com/). I haven’t talked personally with Seed Savers Exchange and do not know their practices for testing, isolation, etc. The Baker Creek catalog has an article in it by Jeffery Smith as well as an explanation in their corn section as to why they only offer the 11 varieties of corn they have (cliff notes: they test and have been for the last 8 years and it’s harder and harder to find uncontaminated seeds).
Vote with your dollars. And as sad as it is to say, try not to make exceptions. The exceptions keep feeding the corruption. Where big money is involved, follow the money, you will find corruption. That includes seeds, the organic industry and as Sarah has posted on more then one occasion, the food industry. Monsanto is connected to all of these in some form or another as well as the pharmaceutical industry. They have openly threatened to sue the state of Vermont if they pursue GMO labeling. They raised enough money to produce enough marketing in the anti-labeling campaign to “overthrow” the people of the entire state of California with Prop-37 (although there was a huge awakening with that as well).
Again, great info Sarah. I will personally stick to the companies that test their products, hoping the others will catch on and do the same. It’s how I buy my livestock feed. It’s how I purchase anything in the grocery store I can’t grow myself. It’s how I avoid GMO’s in my day to day life. And I do, completely avoid GMO’s. If I can help it, no company with any ties to or any benefit from Monsanto will receive one red cent from me.
This is so helpful!!!! I am trying to learn to garden to help feed my family safe, healthy food, and knowing which seeds are not GMO is so important!
Be careful Jessica, the above article is full of incorrect facts, including the lists. Those seed companies that she is claiming have been devoured by Monsanto are actually independantly owned, some of them family owned for generations, and many of them are also on the safe-seed pledge list.
Gardening is a wonderful skill to learn, enjoy your journey, I love my gardens.
Be careful Judy! Those seed companies that retail from the wholesaler Seminis are actually inadvertently supporting Monsanto. How are some people missing the whole point of this article? If you spend your dollars with a seed company that spends their dollars with Seminis, you are inadvertently spending your dollars with Monsanto. Period.
I do think some editing of this article would be wise. More accurate information would be helpful to consumers. As it stands now the correct information tends to be discounted because of what is not accurate.
For example the statement: “maintain a working relationship with Monsanto-Seminis or were acquired by them.” Then item #1 says “Avoid buying from the seed companies Monsanto has devoured. Here’s a list of the seed companies they bought out: ”
Item number 1 should make clear that this it not a list of Monsanto owned companies but a list of companies which buy from Seminis.
Another issue with the linked-to article on “heirloom” varieties that have been purchased by Monsanto/Seminis is that a number of the listed varieties are not heirloom (or even open-pollinated) varieties–they are F1 hybrids. I have noticed in my Pinetree catalog this year that those listed (in the article as bought by Monsanto) varieties they have carried for years are marked “last chance,” which seems to indicate they are divesting themselves of the bought-up varieties. That’s good, but if the buying trend continues, what varieties will be left for small, independent, and family-owned seed companies to sell? Well, that is where we all come in. Plant selection/seed saving/storing is an incredibly important skill, and it’s not difficult to do on a beginner level.
With open-pollinated & heirloom varieties, you can buy these seeds and save them yourself. A good resource for learning about this is Suzanne Ashworth’s book Seed to Seed (and there are other resources, too–this is my favorite). Another possibility is to buy a quantity of the F1 hybrid seed (even if Monsanto owns the name) and spend a few years selecting & stabilizing the variety yourself if it’s one you really like. Seed is alive–take “their” seed and make it yours.
” Personally, I don’t like Walmart, but when I need a particular product that they carry — I still will go and purchase it there — as I’m sure many of you do. ”
As always…assuming gets you into trouble. I don’t shop at Wal-Mart. Never have, never will. Can you guarantee the seeds you are selling from Seminas are not GMO’s? If so, state it. If not, well, the 5% will get their seeds elsewhere. Freedom of choice…but it’s a choice I demand they give us!
Yes – we do guarantee that the Seminas seeds we sell are not genetically modified and we state this in our catalogue and on our website. Walmart aside, do you purchase groceries from any grocery store – large or small? That same store also sells food products containing ingredients ultimately derived from Monsanto-owned seed – primarily corn. They also sell food products that are grown on farms that grow gmo seed, produce gmo food and do not use sustainable and environmental-friendly practices. Instead of boycotting that store for selling those products, common sense says to be more selective in your purchases and choose products that you know are grown locally, organically, and on a farm with good sustainable practices… and in doing so, you make an educated choice in addition to supporting your local and regional community.
I buy my food at a co-op and the farmer’s market…where they sell only non gmo and organic….as for meat (yes, I eat meat) I buy from local farmers who also avoid gmo products.
Unless those farmers are certified organic, they are quite possibly feeding their cattle gmo feed… how do you know that they are avoiding gmo’s in their operation? Face it folks, like it or not, gmo food is rampant in our food supply and you are most likely consuming food everyday that contains gmo’s. Without mandatory labelling you just don’t know it.
Wow…guess you never heard of grass-fed beef, huh. And, btw, as a retired farmer….I know the people I buy from personally and yes, they are all certified organic farmers.
Gary, even “Certified Organic” can contain GMO. There are loopholes which allow farmers to use GMO feed if it’s cost prohibitive to obtain non-gmo feed, or if non-organic feed does not exist.
I could care less about some useless USDA certification (which is run by ex-MOnsanto execs) and more about who I am buying from. If I can verify how they do business, then I’m a customer.
Not only that, but GMO aside, organic beef just means they are feeding them corn and soy and a few other fillers. Cows don’t eat that stuff – it makes them sick. Cows eat grass, so I buy grass fed beef.
We need to rethink how much importance we put on a term that’s already been hijacked by the gov’t and Big Farma.
This is exactly the information that I have been looking for, but can’t seem to pinpoint as it all comes back to the lists of seeds/seed companies, which isn’t very helpful to me – so ANY help would be GREATLY appreciate: Is there a detailed (or even overview) list of all the food products being sold that are produced from GMO seeds/technology that the average person can reference?? Also, how do we know if our meat sources weren’t fed GMO food?
Thank you for any help!!