previously, i mentioned that i struggled with my seed order this year. here was my dilemma. a few years, ago monsanto bought a company called seminis. this company controlled 40% of the u.s. vegetable seed market... supplying the genetics for 55 percent of lettuce sold, 75 percent of the tomatoes and 85 percent of the peppers and had a hold on beans, cucumbers, squash, melons, broccoli, cabbage, spinach and peas. i found this background information from an article the New Farm electronic newsletter. seminis supplied seed companies with many well known and well liked varieties for both organic and conventional vegetable farmers. seed companies such as johnny's selected seeds, fedco and territorial seed company all sold the seminis varieties. under these new circumstances, some seed companies had to make decisions whether or not to continue carrying these seeds now owned by monsanto. well, it is a long complicated story so i will make it short and sweet.... monsanto is BAD for so so so so many reasons. i am sure there are blogs completely devoted to convincing people of how bad the "advanced" monsanto chemical technologies are. i found this quote from the fedco (a maine based seed company that is run as a cooperative) website which i think sums up the core of this issue:
We have chosen to use Monsanto’s buyout of Seminis as a wake-up call. We do so because Monsanto epitomizes the road down which we no longer choose to go…the road that leads to our complete surrender of control of our seed and therefore of control of our food system.
http://www.fedcoseeds.com/seeds/monsanto.htm
i have been a little out of the loop. last year i didn't buy seeds because we were relocating our farm from the intervale to east middlebury and we had a baby. the year before that, this buyout was new and i don't think the seed catalogues were making the issue known yet. it is a reality for us this year. i support fedco's position. their catalogue educates their customers by explaining the issue, taking a stand and listing all of the vegetable varieties they have dropped because they were previous seminis varieties. reading this list broke my heart. i love packman broccoli, mars onions, fat'n sassy peppers and more. i can still buy these seeds from many catalogues, it isn't hard. but do we want to support monsanto? no, we don't. i had to say good bye and let go of the beautiful and delicious varieties that i came to depend on.
like fedco, i also feel like this buyout is a wake up call for us. and this excites me. as young farmers, our vision is always evolving. our values and passion shape the direction we are moving with our business. this is an opportunity to use more heirloom seeds, discover new varieties and learn more about saving our own seed.
so, i would like to end with a thank you to fedco and to high mowing seeds. thank you fedco for making this issue so well known to me and also for your amazing catalogue. it is more than a seed catalogue, it is a novel. well done. and thank you high mowing for having your business here in vermont, your dedication to sell all organic seed and your presence at all of the local conferences. we support both of these companies with pride!
one more note about "LET'S GET POLITICAL," it is town meeting day in just 2 days here in vermont. don't forget to vote!
We have chosen to use Monsanto’s buyout of Seminis as a wake-up call. We do so because Monsanto epitomizes the road down which we no longer choose to go…the road that leads to our complete surrender of control of our seed and therefore of control of our food system.
http://www.fedcoseeds.com/seeds/monsanto.htm
i have been a little out of the loop. last year i didn't buy seeds because we were relocating our farm from the intervale to east middlebury and we had a baby. the year before that, this buyout was new and i don't think the seed catalogues were making the issue known yet. it is a reality for us this year. i support fedco's position. their catalogue educates their customers by explaining the issue, taking a stand and listing all of the vegetable varieties they have dropped because they were previous seminis varieties. reading this list broke my heart. i love packman broccoli, mars onions, fat'n sassy peppers and more. i can still buy these seeds from many catalogues, it isn't hard. but do we want to support monsanto? no, we don't. i had to say good bye and let go of the beautiful and delicious varieties that i came to depend on.
like fedco, i also feel like this buyout is a wake up call for us. and this excites me. as young farmers, our vision is always evolving. our values and passion shape the direction we are moving with our business. this is an opportunity to use more heirloom seeds, discover new varieties and learn more about saving our own seed.
so, i would like to end with a thank you to fedco and to high mowing seeds. thank you fedco for making this issue so well known to me and also for your amazing catalogue. it is more than a seed catalogue, it is a novel. well done. and thank you high mowing for having your business here in vermont, your dedication to sell all organic seed and your presence at all of the local conferences. we support both of these companies with pride!
one more note about "LET'S GET POLITICAL," it is town meeting day in just 2 days here in vermont. don't forget to vote!
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