I witnessed a pretty amazing thing this past week. We were vendors at the Heirloom Expo in Santa Rosa, sponsored by Baker Creek Seed (the “Seed Bank” in Petaluma). People from all over, from all walks of life, from all political, religious, and social persuasions, came together en masse to taste and talk about heirloom vegetables.
Alice Waters was there. Dr. Vandana Shiva was there. And so were hundreds of school kids, college sustainable agriculture students, moms pushing strollers, and old men who remembered (and wanted to share stories of) what a tomato used to taste like.
The message? Heirloom vegetables — those magic things that taste like their beautiful photos, that produce seed that you can save to plant the following year — are under attack. Monsanto, makers of RoundUp and other noxious pesticides, now owns almost 40% of all the vegetable seed in the US, and nearly 100% of all the corn, cotton and soybean seed in the world. In other words, they control our current food system.
The economic impact alone is staggering. Their genetically modified (therefore patentable) seed must be purchased by farmers year in and year out. And they just announced that they are raising the price of their corn seed 5 to 10%. No reason given.
If you care about the ability of farmers and backyard produce growers to plant a seed that is not genetically modified, that can be saved and planted again the following year without having to pay corporate royalties, that is a true representation of its parent in taste and flavor, and that can be sold to consumers as a pure, unadulterated food, then please learn what you can to help control this disaster. If a company can control a seed, they can control our food — it’s that simple.
Here is a list of seed companies that carry seed owned by Monsanto:
* Territorial Seeds
* Totally Tomato
* Vermont Bean Seed Co.
* Burpee
* Cook’s Garden
* Johnny’s Seeds
* Earl May Seed
* Gardens Alive
* Lindenberg Seeds
* Mountain Valley Seed
* Park Seed
* T&T Seeds
* Tomato Growers Supply
* Willhite Seed Co.
* Nichol’s
* Rupp
* Osborne
* Snow
* Stokes
* Jungs
* R.H. Shumway
* The Vermont Bean Seed Company
* Seeds for the World
* Seymour’s Selected Seeds
* HPS
* Roots and Rhizomes
* McClure and Zimmerman Quality Bulb Brokers
* Spring Hill Nurseries
* Breck’s Bulbs
* Audubon Workshop
* Flower of the Month Club
* Wayside Gardens
* Park Bulbs
Park’s Countryside Garden
September 20, 2011 at 6:06 AM
What an interesting post. I too save the seeds from my garden, but on a rather smaller scale ! Our grandparents did this naturally and it’s inspiring to see new generations re-learning to harness this most natural of all processes.
September 26, 2011 at 11:28 AM
I loved your thought-provoking post regarding how Monsanto has ensured that not only it owns the majority of the commodity crops in the US, but they are now on their way to owning a large number of seed companies, that’s pretty scary, and should be a major wake up for the US consumer. Thank you so much for posting this list; I had no idea that Monsanto owned Johnny’s Seeds – I was a customer, but now I’ll buy my seeds from another company not on this list. On a personal note, I was fortunate to also attend the Heirloom Expo last week up in Santa Rosa, what a spectacular event! I am disappointed that somehow I missed your booth display, as I know that it was probably fantastic.
December 19, 2011 at 11:20 PM
wow that’s news to me they bought Johnny’s also. A few years ago that was not the case. sad…
December 20, 2011 at 8:44 AM
I need to clarify this post. Monsanto bought Seminis seed, which all the companies listed above carry. Johnny’s is employee-owned and is making an effort to replace the Seminis seeds in its catalog with seeds from other sources (which may explain why the 2012 catalog has few varieties at higher prices).