Seed Companies Safe from Monsanto Ties - Page 2

[Owen'nZoe]

No idea on the companies you mentioned, jessaries.

Cathy - I have a bit more info on Fedco to complicate matters. I just looked in their catalog, and the info there conflicts with what is on their website. The catalog says that they do still carry some Seminis varieties, but are in the process of completely phasing them out. Anything from Seminis is apparently marked with a little 6 next to the description, so you know whether the seeds you are buying are from Seminis or not. I did not have a chance to look super carefully, but as I browsed the catalog, I didn't find any Seminis varieties at all, so I'm guessing there aren't too many of them.

I don't know where it belongs, given that info...

[FarmerCathy]

I did some research on ferry-morse. I'm not sure whether they are associated with Monsanto or not, but they are part of the seed monopoly. From articles I looked up they are put on a list high up there with monopolized seed companies. That's all I could find. http://www.non-gm-farmers.com/news_print.asp?ID=2549
I'll see if I can find some more out on them.

I think that with the effort Fedco is doing with eliminating thier semini seeds that I think we can put them on our good list. If you think about it, it would be hard to totally eliminate those seeds without having a replacement right away. So, that is probably why it has taken them so long to phase them out. What do you all think.

[tammyswanson]

What about Territorial seed company? They claim on their catalog that they don't sell GM seeds. I think Horizonherbs.com is also not on the Monsanto bandwagon either.

[FarmerCathy]

Territorial buy from Seminis which is owned by Monsanto. I put horizon herbs on the good list.

[Owen'nZoe]

Originally Posted by FarmerCathy

I think that with the effort Fedco is doing with eliminating thier semini seeds that I think we can put them on our good list. If you think about it, it would be hard to totally eliminate those seeds without having a replacement right away. So, that is probably why it has taken them so long to phase them out. What do you all think.

I'm in total agreement! Just wanted to throw that out there.

[RadUnschooler]

seeds

How about Bentley co. and the Page co.? I got these seeds from our dollar store.

[jessaries]

I googled the company that owns ferry-morse and found this http://www.saveseeds.org/biography/ferry/index.html. It says they are the largest 'breeder produced' company. Not sure what that means, they are French. Ferry-morse is a subsidary of one of the 'big guys' it seems (even if we haven't heard of Limagrain), they have readily avalible organic seeds at big box stores for under $2.
I really don't know if this makes them totally bad, it's not Monsanto, but it's a rival, even if it is down the list a bit. Why so confusing?
edit, "In 1997, Limagrain became the majority partner in the creation of Biogemma, which focused on the development of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Despite the European restrictions on the use of GMOs, the creation of Biogemma was seen as a necessity in order to guarantee Limagrain's competitiveness in the future. The company also entered the development of plants for pharmaceutical uses, creating Meristem in 1997. One of that subsidiary's first patents, however, was revealed to be a means of creating a so-called "terminator" gene sequence that prevented seeds from germinating after harvest."
grr, throw 'em in the banned pile!

Originally Posted by FarmerCathy

I did some research on ferry-morse. I'm not sure whether they are associated with Monsanto or not, but they are part of the seed monopoly. From articles I looked up they are put on a list high up there with monopolized seed companies. That's all I could find. http://www.non-gm-farmers.com/news_print.asp?ID=2549
I'll see if I can find some more out on them.

I think that with the effort Fedco is doing with eliminating thier semini seeds that I think we can put them on our good list. If you think about it, it would be hard to totally eliminate those seeds without having a replacement right away. So, that is probably why it has taken them so long to phase them out. What do you all think.

[RadUnschooler]

so that's why my pepper seeds that i took out of a pepper are not sprouting?

[FarmerCathy]

So, Monsanto is the only company really out in the open about GM seeds. Other companies are doing it too, but not as publicly. Wow! That's really scary! Sneaky almost.

[jessaries]

It's like the X-files or something.

Originally Posted by FarmerCathy

So, Monsanto is the only company really out in the open about GM seeds. Other companies are doing it too, but not as publicly. Wow! That's really scary! Sneaky almost.

[Manonash]

so that's why my pepper seeds that i took out of a pepper are not sprouting?

They may just be too cool. Pepper seeds need it pretty warm to germinate. My Seed-to-Seed book says 75 - 95 degrees. I planted some pepper seeds two years in a row and I never got a single one to come up and now I know why. I thought I had just gotten some bum seed, but I think it was just too cool for them in our greenhouse.

As far as I know, no GM seeds are on the market for the home gardener, they are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too expensive for that right now. (Hopefully they will never make it and will be banned from the market altogether.) And, Monsanto makes the farmers who buy the seed sign contracts. You aren't going to find terminator seeds in your store bought package. Yet, anyway. That's why I find it important to support the small seed companies that have no seed ties to Monsanto, or the other GM guys. I'm also partial to heirlooms to keep up the genetic diversity.

[FarmerCathy]

The scary thing is though that they could slip in terminator seeds into inventory with no one being the wiser. They just scare me.:

[Manonash]

I guess that's true. No reason to tell us or anything since they are safe after all. I'm not much of a conspiracy theorist or anything, but I'm starting to be with this GM stuff.

[musicmamma]

WOW!!! I had no idea I needed to be so careful with the seeds I buy!!! So, then, is there a thread somewhere about where to buy live plants? I'd love to start everything from seed, but I'm not sure I'll be up for that this year. Now I'm concerned about finding plants that are good, from good companies, good seeds. Anyone know where to go? Thanks in advance!!!

[radish]

does anyone know anything about http://www.reimerseeds.com

thanks!

[FarmerCathy]

: Anyone?

[GoldBerry]

Just wanted to say thanks for this list!

[nattybo]

Originally Posted by radish

does anyone know anything about http://www.reimerseeds.com

thanks!

I just went to that site. Right on their home page they say they just added some sort of MiracleGrow product so it already looked bad from the start. It looks like they have a mix of everything (b/c they are trying to capitalize on the "new" idea of heirlooms and want a piece of that pie too).

I specifically saught out the white onion "Candy" a known Monsanto linked variety that Fedco seeds dropped years ago despite it's HUGE popularity. Reimers has it...so a big fat NO! for them, from me.

Can you tell I am passionate about my food?

[radish]

LOL, great! thanks for pointing that out.

do y'all ever email these companies to ask about ties to monsanto/GM seeds etc??

i wonder if they know people care?!

[gottaknit]

Ahhh man.... I love those Candy onions. None of those long day/short day worries, and they taste awesome.