***UPDATE 9/14/12***
It has come to my attention that some of the companies listed below have ceased selling Monsanto seed. This blog was originally written in 2011, and I have not revisited this issue since then. It is not my intention to mislead readers, so I encourage you to contact the companies directly to learn more about their seed policies. Buy with care, and if you do find companies listed on this blog who no longer sell Monstanto seed (and who state as much on their websites), please post a comment with a link to the page on their site that shows them “Monsanto-free” and I will remove them from this list. Thank you!
Original post:
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The seed company Seminis was purchased by Monsanto in 2005. They are a wholly-owned subsidiary of Monsanto. Seminis was and still is one of the largest producers of vegetable seed. Their website states, “Seminis is the largest developer, grower and marketer of vegetable seeds in the world. Our hybrids improve nutrition, boost crop yields, limit spoilage and reduce the need of chemicals.”
I copied and pasted this list of Seminis seed dealers directly from the Seminis website. (click here to view this page on the Seminis website)
Burpee, W Atlee
300 Park Ave.
Warminster, PA 18974
Ph: (215)674-4900
Fax: (215)674-0838
Dege Garden Center
831 N Century Ave.
St Paul, MN 55119
Ph: (651) 739-8314
Fax: (651) 739-8326
E & R Seed Co.
1356 E. 200 S.
Monroe, IN 46772
Earl May Seed
208 N. Elm St.
Shenandoah, IA 51603
Ph:(712) 246-1020
Fax:(712) 246-1760
Garden Trends
355 Paul Rd.
Rochester, NY 14624
Ph: (716) 295-3600
Fax: (716) 295-3609
Gardens Alive
5100 Schenley Place
Lawrenceberg, IN 47025
Ph: (812) 537-8650
Fax: (812) 537-5108
Germania Seed Co.
5978 N. Northwest Hwy
Chicago, IL 60631
Ph: (773) 631-6631
Fax: (773) 631-4449
Johnny’s Selected Seeds
955 Benton Ave.
Winslow, ME 04901
Ph: (207) 861-3900
Fax: (207) 861-8381
J.W. Jung Seed Co.
335 S. High St.
Randolph, WI 53956
Ph:(920) 326-3121
Fax:(920) 326-5769
Lindenberg Seeds
803 Princess Ave.
Brandon, Manitoba
Canada R7A 0P5
Ph: (204) 727-0575
Fax: (204) 727-2832
Mountain Valley Seed
1800 South West Temple #600
Salt Lake City, UT 84115
Ph: (801) 486-0480
Fax: (801) 467-5730
Otis S. Twilley Seed Co.
121 Gary Road
Hodges, SC 29653
Ph: (864) 227-5115
Park Seed
Hwy 254 N.
Greenwood, SC 29647
Ph:(864) 223-8555
Fax:(864) 941-4206
Rocky Mountain Seed Co.
6541 N. Washington
Denver, CO 80229
Ph: 303-623-6223
Fax: 303-623-6254
T & T Seeds, Ltd.
Box 1710
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Canada R3C 3P6
Ph: (204) 895-9964
Fax: (204-895-9967
Tomato Growers Supply
P.O. Box 720
Fort Myers, FL 33902
Ph:(941) 768-1119
Fax:(941) 768-3476
Willhite Seed Co.
PO Box 23
Poolville, TX 76487
Ph: (817) 599-8656
Fax: (817) 599-5843
I repeat: this list was taken DIRECTLY from the Seminis website. Today. It’s not an old list.
Does this mean that these seed dealers sell GMO seed? No. It only means that they sell Seminis seed. Each seed dealer has different policies regarding the sale of engineered and conventional seed, and it is incumbent upon you as a consumer to contact the dealer directly and ask questions.
Does this mean that these seed dealers ONLY sell Seminis seed? No. Most seed dealers carry a variety of products from different seed companies. Again, contact the dealer and ask questions.
Does this mean that these seed dealers don’t sell organic seed? No. Many of these companies offer organic seeds for sale alongside their conventional and GE products.
Does this mean you should never buy seeds from any of these dealers? No. It’s up to you as the consumer to make your own decisions.
So what DOES this list mean?
It simply means that Monsanto owns Seminis, and Seminis sells their seeds to these dealers. The phone numbers are there, so call up the dealers and find out exactly which of their products are Seminis.
Maybe the seeds are conventional (non-GMO) Seminis seeds. If that’s the case, why should you worry about them? I mean, they’re not GMOs! If they’re not engineered, then who cares which company makes them, right?
WRONG.
Every Seminis seed you buy puts money in Monsanto’s pocket. And who’s to say that Monsanto doesn’t plan to engineer more seeds in the future? And patent those GE seeds? Or buy up and/or put other seed companies out of business so they can monopolize the market. According to the Monsanto website, their last applicable patent on RoundUp Ready Soybeans is set to expire in 2014. They have to find other ways to make money somehow. Why not vegetables, too?
I don’t know about you, but putting one more dollar in Monsanto’s pocket makes me sick.
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In addition to calling my list into question, the reader who initially brought this seed company issue to my attention also wanted to know why I was so focused on Monsanto. Here’s my answer:
Yes, other companies are engaged in the genetic engineering of plants and animals. However, Monsanto is by far the largest company, they spend exponentially more money on lobbying than their competition, and they have the most former employees placed in governmental positions of power. If we force Monsanto to be accountable, then the rest of the industry will follow suit.
Make sense?
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Seminis brags on their website, “If you’ve eaten a salad, you’ve had a Seminis product.”
It is estimated that Seminis controls 40% of the U.S. vegetable seed market and 20% ( or more) of the world market — supplying the genetics for 55% of the lettuce on U.S. supermarket shelves, 75% of the tomatoes, and 85% of the peppers, with strong holdings in beans, cucumbers, squash, melons, broccoli, cabbage, spinach and peas.
Here is a list of commercial vegetable seed companies that Monsanto has created or acquired over the years. (click here to view this page on the Seminis website)
Peotec
De Ruiter
Western Seed
Poloni Semences
International Seed Group
Seminis
Hungnong
Choong Ang
Sementes Agreceres SA
Petoseed
Royal Sluis
Asgrow
Bruinsma
Genecorp
Horticeres
As we’ve seen in the commodity crop news, Monsanto is pretty good at constructing monopolies and dominating their competition. I will even go so far as to speculate that a few companies could eventually control our entire food supply from seed to table.
Unless we do something about it.
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So what is a backyard gardener supposed to do?
Homework, that’s what. Just because a dealer sells Seminis seeds, that doesn’t arbitrarily make it a bad company. They might be family- or employee-owned, and they might have a strong commitment to stewardship and environmentalism. They also might be a company who answers to shareholders and is only concerned about their bottom line. You have to find out for yourself.
The only way to be a responsible gardener is to get involved and contact your seed dealer directly. Find out which of their products are Seminis/Monsanto and which aren’t. Find out which seeds are GE and which aren’t. Let them know you won’t buy Seminis. Let them know you won’t buy GE seed, regardless of the company of origin. Vote with your dollars. Seed dealers are like any other business… they respond to their customer’s needs. If there is no demand for Seminis seeds, then dealers will stop carrying them.
I’ll leave you with my favorite quote about consumer activism:
“The irony is that the average consumer does not feel very powerful. They think they are the recipient of whatever industry has put out there for them to consume. Trust me, it’s the exact opposite. When we run an item past the supermarket scanner, we’re voting for local or not, organic or not.”
–Gary Hirschberg, CEO of Stonyfield Farms
You have a voice. Use it.
Visit my Fight It page to learn how to contact your elected officials. Get informed. Blog or tweet about it. Tell your neighbors. Join the Organic Consumers Association’s Millions Against Monsanto campaign. Just do something.
Here are a few links to articles about Seminis/Monsanto and the vegetable seed industry:
And We Have the Seeds: Monsanto Purchases World’s Largest Vegetable Seed Company
Background on Monsanto’s Seminis Takeover
Monsanto Buys Seminis
The Boycotting of Monsanto-Seminis Seeds
Thanks for the list….very informative and kinda scary at the same time.
I am really into Sow True Seed, small local seed company here in Asheville NC. They’re doing great stuff. (I bought all my seed from them this spring and am enjoying watching my cool-weather plants coming up, and my later starts indoors.)
Thanks for the read! It’s really hard to know what you’re buying sometimes, and I hope this list helps consumers make informed choices.
I found you through Jennifer’s blog at Not Easy to be Green. Mneh! My seed supplier, T&T from Manitoba, is on the list! I had no idea. Monsanto is just so pervasive! I guess I will have to call them, to see if any of the seeds I am using are Monsanto derived. I hope not! Thanks for the info, it is very helpful!
Thanks for stopping by! The customer service folks at T&T should be able to provide you with all the information you need.
I contacted Johnny’s, and out of their entire seed catalog, only 18 are Seminis, and they said they were looking for replacement seeds for those 18 products. I haven’t spoken to anyone at T&T yet, so please let me know what you find out.
Have a great day!
What about Syngenta, Pioneer HiBred (Dupont) or Dow and the vegetable seeds they sell? Should we avoid those to since these company produce GMO?
To find clean, safe seed, you have to do your homework. Your best bet is to contact seed dealers directly and ask questions. Dealers sell seeds from a variety of producers, and each dealer has their own policy in regard to whether or not they carry GMO/nonGMO seeds, as well as how much information they provide to their customers about the seed lines. If you aren’t satisfied with one dealer, contact others until you find a dealer you trust.
Of course Monsanto isn’t the only company producing GMO seed, but they are the largest, and that’s why they are often the focus of articles and blogs (including mine).
Thank you for the information. One thing that either isn’t real clear or maybe you didn’t know. J.W. Jung Seed and its subsidiaries (Totally Tomatoes, Vermont Bean, R.H. SHumway, Horticulture Products and Services, Edmunds Roses, McClure and Zimmerman, Seymour’s Select Seeds, Roots and Rhizomes, and Plants of Distinction) is owned by Monsanto. When you email them about this, they don’t respond to your emails and if you call they tell you that it’s none of your business. However, if you look them up by their corporate overhead name, Jung Seed Genetics, you find out that they are a part of Monsanto. I live about an hour from Randolph where they headquarters are and it is common knowledge that Monsanto is a large part of it. They try to keep the ‘mystery’ by having different addresses for the company based on where they different warehouses are, but it’s really all just Monsanto.
Word in the area recently is that they Zondag family (run Jung Seed for Monsanto) is planning on adding Park Seed or the US side of Thompson and Morgan to the company.
Also, don’t know if you have seen this article, but it is a good one:
http://horticulturetalk.wordpress.com/2011/09/24/who-owns-who-where-and-how-monsanto-has-their-sticky-little-fingers-in-the-home-garden-seed-industry-3/
I found your website while trying to find out if The Page Seed Company had ties to Monsanto. They were clearing out their seeds at Menards the other day for 11 packets for 99cents. I couldn’t pass it up and bought a bunch of their “heirloom variety” to pass around. I should have known better. And when I started searching, I should have gone straight to their website. It didn’t take very long to come up with their “Pro Landscape and Garden catalog” (http://www.pageseed.com/pdf/2012ProLandscapeGardenCatalog.pdf) and see that they’re selling Roundup Ready Soybeans. I was planning to send them out with copies of my new zine to encourage people to grow their own food, but now I’m going to have to put a little disclaimer about how I need to be more careful about what seeds I buy. I was already planning to write about Monsanto, now I’ll probably be including a similar piece about how to avoid buying Monsanto seeds.
Hey,
I’m looking at the Seminis site and several of the seed companies you have listed here have pulled from Seminis. Please update your list…. companies were caught up in the lurch after Monsanto purchased Seminis and some really good companies, like Johnny’s Seeds, have been working diligently since the takeover to find suitable replacements for any seeds they were selling from Seminis. A lot of people do not do their own research and don’t look any further after reading lists like this and that seems a little unfair to the companies who have stopped purchasing Seminis/Monsanto seed.
Thank you for your comment. I have not revisited this issue this summer because I had to scrap my garden plans due to travel and time constraints. I will investigate further and post an update.
Judy,
I put a disclaimer at the top of this blog post to inform people that companies may no longer be selling Monsanto seed. Thanks again for your comment, and I will look into this in the future.
Good answers in return of this issue with solid arguments
and telling all about that.