Seed catalogs are starting to arrive in mailboxes across the Northern Hemisphere with home gardeners everywhere starting to plan which seeds they will sow in their spring gardens.
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 seed companies faster than a caterpillar can munch a tomato plant!
This means that a home gardener could purchase organic and/or heirloom seeds and unknowingly be supporting the development and proliferation of genetically modified crops because Monsanto now owns many of the names of the seeds themselves!
Planting a sustainable home garden is much more than just choosing certified organic seeds and seedlings because Monsanto has cleverly positioned itself to make money off the home gardening trend whenever and wherever the seeds whose names they own are purchased.
Does this mean that even if you buy organic or heirloom seeds from a completely independent company but Monsanto owns the name of that seed, some of your purchase is going into the pockets of the bad guys?
Yes, it does.
Surprise!
In addition, Monsanto has quietly been gobbling up many of the organic seed companies so 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.
My friend Beth in Minnesota, an avid food researcher, has been digging around to figure out the best ways to buy seeds and seedlings for your home garden without one red cent going to Monsanto.
Buying Organic or Heirloom Seeds Without Supporting Monsanto
Beth has done her very best to make sure the information she has uncovered is current and pertinent with updated listings for the 2013 growing season. Here are the steps she recommends for those who want to truly strike a blow for sustainability in every way with their home gardens:
Avoid buying from the seed companies Monsanto has devoured. Here’s a list of the seed companies they bought out:
www.seminis.com/global/us/products/Pages/Home-Garden.aspx
Buy from this list of companies Monsanto HASN’T bought:
www.occupymonsanto360.org/2012/03/06/mon...free-seed-companies/
Avoid certain heirloom varieties because Monsanto now owns the names of these seeds. A short article explaining this issue:
www.occupymonsanto360.org/2012/03/17/monsanto-owned-seednames/
Ask seed companies if they have taken the Safe Seed Pledge. Here’s a list of companies that have done so:
www.councilforresponsiblegenetics.org/ViewPage.aspx?pageId=261
More 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:
www.agardenforthehouse.com/2012/02/forew...s-owned-by-monsanto/
www.agardenforthehouse.com/2012/02/keep-...f-your-veggie-patch/
www.treehugger.com/green-food/keep-monsa...den-this-spring.html
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 published, the CEO of a large 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.
