Posted on by Patrick

Avoiding Seeds from Monsanto

I’ve recently published some posts pointing out a very high percentage of garden seeds come from the ‘big six’ seed companies, and how it’s very important to buy your seeds from a trustworthy source or you won’t know where they come from.  Retailers that sell any seeds from large seed companies are almost always required to enter into very extensive marketing agreements.  These usually make it impossible to label the origin or F1/OP status of any seeds they sell.

You can be sure any company that sells seeds from Monsanto will be bound by such an agreement, as it’s a well publicized tactic of Monsanto to hire private investigators to track down and sue, or even just threaten to sue, farmers and others who Monsanto suspects are using their seeds in violation of these agreements.

Remember too this is the company that prevented the retail labelling of dairy products containing their rGBH hormone, and their GMO products.

Do you think Monsanto wants their garden seeds labelled for what they are?!

So how do you know what seed companies can be trusted to sell you seeds that don’t come from the agricultural giants?  In the case of Monsanto, most of their garden seeds in North America are sold through a subsidiary called Seminis.  The Seminis web page has a useful list of seed companies that retail their seeds:

http://us.seminis.com/products/hg_dealer.asp  (sorry no link, cut and paste into your browser)

As of the time of making this post the list included the following (with some very familiar names!):

Burpee, W Atlee
Warminster, PA 18974

Dege Garden Center
St Paul, MN 55119

E & R Seed Co.
Monroe, IN 46772

Earl May Seed
Shenandoah, IA 51603

Garden Trends
Rochester, NY 14624

Gardens Alive
Lawrenceberg, IN 47025

Germania Seed Co.
Chicago, IL 60631

Johnnys Selected Seeds
Winslow, ME 04901

J.W. Jung Seed Co.
Randolph, WI 53956

Lindenberg Seeds
Brandon, Manitoba

Mountain Valley Seed
Salt Lake City, UT 84115

Nichols Garden Nursery
Albany, OR 97321

Park Seed
Greenwood, SC 29647

Rocky Mountain Seed Co.
Denver, CO 80229

T & T Seeds, Ltd.
Winnipeg, Manitoba

Tomato Growers Supply
Fort Myers, FL 33902

Willhite Seed Co.
Poolville, TX 76487

When you buy garden seeds, and you want to save and regrow them, it’s very important to buy them from somewhere that doesn’t sell any F1s at all, because otherwise they won’t be honestly labelled for what they are!

Likewise, if you want to buy garden seeds that don’t come from the large seed companies like Monsanto, Dow, Syngenta, etc., it’s very important to buy your seeds from some place that doesn’t sell any seeds from these companies, because they won’t honestly label them for what they are!

29 Replies to “Avoiding Seeds from Monsanto”

  1. Park Seed does not buy GM seed from Seminis. We do not carry any GM products at all. Park Seed also does not carry treated or fungicide coated seed. We, like most of our competitors, do buy a few select types of hybrid vegetable seed from Seminis just as we have for years before they were purchased my Monsanto. For years, they have been known for producing superior quality hybrid vegetable seeds. We, like you, feel that there is a purity and tradition in gardening from seed and we do not support anything that threatens that rich pastime.

  2. I am deliberately searching out bug-free potatoes, squash, cabbage, carrots, beets, onions, turnips, cumbers, parsnips, peas, beans, sweet-potatoes, broccoli, peppers, tomatoes, corn, cauliflower, – for my Shanty-Town survival garden. I can no longer afford chemical fertilizers and have resorted to composting and humanure, I have poor, drought prone, stony, soil and little running water for irrigation, so drought resistance is also important. A bit of frost resistance might help too, as spring nights shorten season here. If, by some magic, things could be made to grow a little faster than usual, and a little bigger than normal, I will have more to eat and preserve for the colder months. I see no harm in paying a little more for these improvements in seeds. In this great republican depression we must take all the help we can just to get by! Once I am able to find work again, I will buy at the supermarket like other folks, for now, this is my plight. Please advertise, let me and my fellow survivors (I am not alone!) where to get the new miracle seeds in packets we can afford – we need them just to eat each day!

  3. Hi Uncle B,

    I realize there are a lot of people in the same situation as you around these days. I wish you all the best with your garden.

  4. Good information, but I want to reinforce the above comment about Park Seeds. Your post lead me to believe that the retailers you listed sell mostly Monsanto seeds. I think it’s important not to unfairly paint vendors with that brush if they don’t deserve it. People might come here and boycott these companies even though they have little to do with Monsanto.

  5. Rick (and Holly),

    Park Seeds and the others can certainly label the origin of their seeds if they care to, so customers can make an informed choice.

    If anyone wants to avoid buying seeds from Monsanto, they know Park Seeds carries seeds from Seminis but don’t know which varieties they are, what other choice so they have but buy their seeds from someplace else?

    There are lots of good places to buy seeds, and of course someone trying to avoid seeds from Monsanto should look elsewhere!

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  7. Thanks for the information.

    Have you run across any similar information for Europe, including the UK? I live in Britain, and I’m struggling to figure out who owns our seed companies.

  8. Hi Carol,

    Pinetree-De Ruiter and Semenis are the two main Monsanto companies operating in the UK supplying garden seeds. Unfortunately, I don’t see the same information about places to buy their seeds on their website, as I do for the US.

    The general answer to your question is unfortunately Monsanto owns or controls most of the UK seed companies. The only true independent seed company in the UK that I’m aware of, is Real Seeds. Beyond that, the Heritage Seed Library (but not Garden Organic) is a good place to look for seeds. As far as I’m aware, Garden Organic has been completely outsourced, and has little to do with the HSL anymore. Kokopelli seeds also has an English language website where you can purchase seeds, and they are worth considering.

    I know this isn’t a full answer to your question, but I hope it helps.

    I haven’t updated it in a while, but if you click on Links on the front page of this blog, then scroll down to the bottom, there is a list of seed companies I in some way have had personal contact with, and I think they are all independently owned.

  9. Are you saying that you want hybrid (F1) seed to be labeled as such so people will know that they can’t save seed and expect equivalent offspring? I’ve never held the expectation that seeds I buy from a commercial grower (e.g. Burpee) will be appropriate to save seed from and I’d be surprised if the average person felt differently. Is this what you mean?

  10. Hi Matt,

    Somehow I missed this comment before. It is US federal law that F1 hybrid seeds must be labelled as such. I’m with you this is nothing you can count on. You would be surprised at the range of opinions on this. Any seeds I purchase for panting and resaving I always buy from from someplace that doesn’t sell any F1 hybrids.

    While I don’t buy a lot of F1s, those I do would be purchased separately from another retailer.

  11. I came across your list of seed companies to avoid here and couldnt help but make a comment that the best place to get seeds is FEDCO, they are the only company that can really be trusted anymore to not have GM seed or anything esle you wont feed your kids. They also sell fruit trees and bushes, bulbs and flowers. Thank you for great info.

  12. I have a small family farm that sells nothing but organic heirloom tomato,pepper and unusual seed.I do not like chemicals or GM foods but that is just my way of living.I don’t put down others for any reason.if they choose to use them ,that’s up to them.I just would rather not.Just my two cents worth for anyone who cares.

  14. One of the most important reasons I can see for not using any GMO seed AT ALL, is to prevent or reduce the contamination of non GMO foods. It has been established that corn pollen from a GMO crop infested a non GMO crop, and the poor farmer was sued by Monsanto for infringement of their ‘intellectual property’. While Monsanto won’t be knocking on you door (this year) to see if you are seed saving, or if your plants contain their markers, your neighbors may be growing their gardens from GMO seeds. What is going to stop the pollen from crossing into your yard and contaminating your non GMO garden? Help spread the word, help educate others. Watch Food Inc. and encourage others to watch it too. By all meand buy your seeds and plants from trusted sources, but don’t be fooled for one minute that that is enough. We need to let our representatives know how we feel about safeguarding our food supply. We want to know where our seeds are coming from and if they have been altered in any way. Support legislation to lable Non GMO’s and GMO’s as such.
    Thank you for letting me rant!

  16. Thank you for this information. However, in addition to Park, Nichols (Oregon) is listed, and they do not sell GMO seeds – they signed the “safe seed pledge”…..here is the statement from their webpage: We are an original signer of the Safe Seed Pledge and offer no genetically modified seeds or plants. Nichols does not sell or offer treated seed.

  17. This website is a wonderful resource for those who want to spread the word about GM seeds from Monsanto and find reliable seed bank resources. keep up the good work guys & gals! 🙂

  19. I stumbled upon this site while searching for a particular company.Just a thought here, we seem to be been between the proverbial rock and a hard place.You advocate not using F1 hybrids,Unfortunately,the truth is plants and diseases are always at war.A plant develops a defense against a disease through a natural mutation then the disease finds a way to overcome it with a mutation.Here comes the raw truth,this process takes a long time and with the worlds population growing as fast as it is with out our help nature its self would not be able to feed the mass of people on this earth right now.This is a fact,if you got rid of every f1 hybrid out there millions would starve to death! A f1 hybrid is not a GMO. A f1 hybrid just means man chose the parents and transferred the pollen not a bee.

  20. One more thing, instead of telling folks f1 hybrids are bad, which is wrong and a big waste of good time, we might be better off as Terese above suggests in writing our representatives and urging them to stop companies from unfair practices.As long as politicians have to go to Big Business for campaign contributions they will NOT Legislate against them!We should be spending our time demanding campaign finance reform.

  21. Hi DM,

    Thanks for your comments!

    Indeed here I’m talking specifically about F1s that are sold by stores for home gardeners. This are nearly always useless for plant breeding or seed saving, and most importantly a store that sells any of these is generally a store that specializes in these kinds of seeds, and nowadays generally sells mostly seeds from Monsanto too.

    If you want to avoid seeds from Monsanto, this is the kind of seed company to avoid.

    Indeed there is nothing wrong with F1 hybrids in general, and those you make yourself in your own garden or get from an independent plant breeder can be very interesting and exciting seeds. In addition I didn’t mean to discourage anyone who wanted to try to do plant breeding with commercial F1 varieties, if they were interested in trying. There are some plant breeders that specialize in this.

  22. Be aware that F1 hybrids are being sold in UK which are Genetically Modified. Dahlimama’s comment is worryingly inaccurate -“A f1 hybrid is not a GMO”.
    GM “CMS hybrids” ARE on sale in the UK which is the hidden and silent way by which GM is being slipped in through the back door. Mostly they are F1 cabbage family seeds but there are others. Tozer sell GM F1 cabbage and cauliflower. See http://www.biodynamic.org.uk/farming-amp-gardening/seeds/cms-hybrids-are-prohibited.html
    Peace
    (and heads up on the hidden GM seed threat)

  23. Hi Edi,

    Yes, you are partly right. It is not so much all CMS hybrids, but rather CMS-Protoplast hybrids. Protoplast fusion is a technique that is a type of genetic engineering.

    Certified organic F1 hybrid seeds are not allowed to be CMS-Protoplast. Since certified organic vegetables are mostly grown from certified organic seeds, these are not usually grown from CMS-protoplast seeds. It can happen that certified organic seeds are not available, and in this case an organic grower may instead use CMS-protoplast seeds. They are not supposed to knowingly do this, but these seeds are not labelled, so it can happen.

    It’s very clear, this is yet another legal loophole where GM food can find it’s way into Europe.

    Here’s a good paper on the subject:

    http://www.saveourseeds.org/fileadmin/files/protoplastfusion.pdf

    Thanks for your comment!

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  25. hi, i was just wondering if anyone has any information about specific brands of non-gmo seeds sold in canada? also, i was wondering if a product is called “organic” but does not have a certified organic label, can i trust that it is in fact organic? One more thing, im a complete novice, so bear with me, do i have to buy organic soil to grow an organic garden? and if so, any credible canadian brands?

  27. Your list is not correct. When I went to the http://us.seminis.com/ they did not list many of the companies you listed here.

    E&R Seeds do not sell Seminis seed.

    Plus many others.

  28. Hi Candace,

    Thanks for the comment, and for telling us about E&R. I made this post more than 3 years ago, and for sure lots of things have changed in the meantime. It was never really the purpose of this post to provide a definitive or up to date list of Monsanto seed companies, but rather give people ideas on how to research it themselves. I cut and pasted the list from the Monsanto website, so there would be a sort of historical reference, in case for example the list was later removed.

    Just because a seed company is not listed on the Seminis website is no guarantee they don’t sell seeds from Monsanto!

    If you or anyone else have a list you think is more current or maybe a list you got from somewhere else, you are welcome to use this comment space to share it with everyone else. I can see in my website statistics that this is still a very frequently read article, and a topic important to a number of people.

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