I thought this was an important article and one I didn't want to lose! Make the right choice when it comes to buying seed. I'll have to think twice about buying from Territorial next year...
Seed Companies & their Relationships w/Monsanto
by Home Grown Edible Landscapes on Friday, March 12, 2010 at 8:17am
Since the article from Organic Seed Alliance was written in 2005 which was posted earlier on HGEL, more of the original seed companies listed in that article as selling Monsanto/Seminis seeds have discontinued them or will tell you which Monsanto seeds they do carry (see the “safe” list below from mothering.com).
Cautionary Note: As with all things “cyber”, the list below should only serve as a guide. It hasn’t been updated since 8/09 so it is possible that more companies have joined their ranks since then. I strongly urge you to call your seed company if it does not appear on this list to check whether or not they still carry the Monsanto/Seminis or any GMO seeds. If they do, it’ll be a perfect opportunity to persuade them to do otherwise! Seed Companies Safe from Monsanto/Seminis GMO seeds (source of original list: mothering.com forum discussion) Updated August 12, 2009 with few updates added by HGEL. The companies listed in red are some of my personal favorites.
Abundant Life Seeds
Amishland Seeds
Baker Creek Seed Co.
Berlin Seeds – no known website
Botanical Interests
Bountiful Gardens
Burpee Seeds (hybrid pepper and tomato seeds are provided by Monsanto)
The Cook’s Garden (owned by Burpee – see above)
Diane’s Flower Seeds (she has veggies now, too)
Fedco Seed Co. – FANS OF FEDCO – YOU MUST READ THIS! http://www.fedcoseeds.com/seeds/monsanto.htm
Garden City Seeds
Heirloom Acres Seeds
Heirlooms Evermore Seeds
Heirloom Seeds
High Mowing Seeds
Horizon Herbs
Irish-Eyes
Kitchen Garden Seeds
Lake Valley Seeds
Livingston Seeds
Local Harvest
Mountain Rose Herbs
Organica Seed
Peaceful Valley Farm Supply
Pinetree (no GMO seeds but did have a long relationship with Seminis before being bought by Monsanto. They have promised to send me a list of those seeds so that consumers can avoid them if they desired.) *PineTree (Superseeds) just sent me the list of seeds they buy from Seminis. Please see below for the full list)
Renee’s Garden
Richters Herbs
Sand Hill Preservation Center
Seed Saver’s Exchange
Seeds of Change
Southern Exposure
Survivalist Seed
Territorial Seed Company - *Tom Johns, the pres. of Territorial posted in the comments on my blog about Seminis being owned by Monsanto, and said customer service will provide a list of seeds they buy from Seminis, so you can avoid them. He also said that Seminis is providing less varieties every year (typical of Monsanto) and they are finding suitable replacements. So, don’t count them out completely. I’ve just sent him an email 12/30 to get an update.*
Tiny Seeds
Tomato Fest
Underwood Garden Seeds
Uprising Seeds
Victory Seeds
Wildseed Farms
Wood Prairie Farm
OK…SO IT’S REALLY UP TO YOU TO MAKE THAT CALL. If your inquiry reveals that they do carry Monsanto/Seminis seeds, be sure to speak up and request they terminate their relationship with Monsanto/Seminis, as well as expressing support for them as a company you’d continue to buy seeds from in the future. Obviously this is a personal decision. However, to ensure food security, and the ongoing availability of good, local, organic produce, it is extremely important to do whatever we can to prevent Monsanto from colonizing our primary sources of seed.
I’ve got 2 companies that I’ll be contacting. How ’bout you?
