Blogger Erin at "garden now -- think later!" just posted a link to this list of seeds owned by Seminis/Monsanto, which includes everything from beans to watermelon. Every gardener, farmer and eater needs to know about this list.Monsanto, the world's largest seed and biotechnology company, has a long evil history of terrorizing food growers and seed savers in the company's effort to control the global seed market.*
Whoever controls the seeds, controls the food. Our food.
So before you order your spring seeds, check out this list. Then source from seed companies that sell only Monsanto-free seeds and stay away from these varieties. Seeds should be the building blocks for a robust and healthy food system, not profit-making corporate commodities.
Sourcing heirloom and open-pollinating varieties of seeds is a simple but powerful way to challenge food dictators and biopirates and reclaim food democracy. Put your money where your mouth is. Source, grow and save patent-free, chemical-free, GE-free seeds. Join this grassroots revolution and just say "no" to Monsanto.
"It is not inevitable that corporations will control our lives and rule the world.
We have a real possibility to shape our own futures.
We have an ecological and social duty to ensure that the food that nourishes us is not a stolen harvest."
We have a real possibility to shape our own futures.
We have an ecological and social duty to ensure that the food that nourishes us is not a stolen harvest."
~ Vandana Shiva, author of "Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking of the Global Food Supply"
* For a great read on why to keep Monsanto out of your veggie patch, visit "A Garden for the House" here.
6 comments:
Many thanks for helping to get this so, so important word out, Fiona.
Im right there with you! I am a computer programmer right now (it pays the bills and helps get the homestead running) and several years ago I worked for a consulting firm here in St. Louis. They wanted to send me to Monsanto for a job interview and I don't right told them NO. I would not work for or in that company, period, the end! They were shocked but when I told them why they just sent me on to a different site and all was well. I like heirloom seeds better anyway - I like to think that my ancesters (in this country or over in Europe) were planing these seeds long long ago (in a land far far away) - it gives me a connection to them and the past. :)
@ Mama Pea -- thanks! And thanks to Erin for bringing it to my attention!
@ jilly-bear -- kudos to you for sticking to your convictions... especially with a potential job on the line! I, too, love the connection to the past that heirloom seeds offer. They each have a story, ones rooted in hard work and care, not corporate greed.
Amen, sista! I think if every person just worried about sourcing their own stuff for their gardens responsibly, the larger stuff will follow. This common sense is with you permanently once you start, from noticing Monsanto sourced seed racks at hardware stores and choosing not to shop there to other problems such as noticing all the out of season produce being offered at your "local farmer's market". The insanity has to stop and I hope that if we don't see the fruit of our efforts, then at least we are raising kids that think it's unnatural right from the get-go and that they can make responsible decisions and influence the industry.
Fiona, I couldn't agree more with you on the Monsanto seed take over. As you know I live in the heart of the United States. The livelihood of my state of Nebraska is agriculture. I have watched in my life time the slow transition to GMO seeds that will only grow once. The harvest can not be planted the next year. The total control of the agriculture seeds has put our country in a desperate state. Depending on the big companies like Monsanto for our food is a dangerous situation in my humble opinion. Even if their intentions are good, and I would hope they are, the system all depends on transportation. If some kind of glitch or global happening comes upon us, the food system would be shut down. Just the logistics of bringing out of season food from far away places is eventually destined to fail. In my humble opinion, being able to get any kind of food at any time of the year takes away from the anticipation of the coming seasonal food. Don't get me started on how much energy it takes to bring a salad from the fields of California to New York City. It's insane when you think about it.
Long live the heirloom seeds. Have a great day.
@ Erin -- I sometimes get really down about the state of the world we live in and I wonder what difference am I really making? But then I remember that my #1 job right now is raising my two kids, and if I can help them thinking differently about the world that they're going to inherit, then maybe that's enough... for right now!
@ Dave -- thanks for your thoughtful comment. I agree that when you take a step back and look at the state of our food system, and agriculture in general, it is insane. It's crazy that these practices have become 'normal' when there is nothing normal about them. So much of our food system is premised on cheap oil, which regardless of when you think it'll peak is a finite resource. Our food system is like a house of cards -- it can only grow so big before it tumbles to the ground. Scary, that...
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