Saturday, December 5, 2009

Suprises in our seed catalouges...

This year we are noticing an interesting trend in our seed catalogs.

In our more commercial ones we are noticing quite a few little stars next to certain veggies (particularly summer squash.) Why are those stars there? Are they really good?

They look really good, without exception these seeds have amazing descriptions, diseases resistances, tolerance to bugs, and overall amazing qualities! But wait? These stared seeds cannot be shipped to Vermont, Maine, or Canada.

Want to venture a guess why?

In 2005 Vermont passed a bill that holds seed manufacturers liable for the impacts of genetically modified genes.

If the seed manufacturers felt that GMO seeds were really harmless than what would be the problem? The problem is that we don't know what they will do in 100 years or 200 years? We don't even know what they are doing now!

I guess the point is be sure your farmer knows what varieties they are buying. It used to be that most GMOs were corn, soybean, canola, and (most recently) sugar beets. But now more and more veggie seeds are GMO.

Know your farmer so you can know your food. And remember there is no requirement to label GMO food, so if it is important you need to know your food.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

If the seed manufacturers felt that GMO seeds were really harmless than what would be the problem?

If I ran a seed company that produced GMO seeds and thought that they were completely harmless, I still wouldn't ship to states like Vermont. Why? Because laws such as those in Vermont are an invitation for lawsuits against my company. The cost of defending even one such (possibly meritless) lawsuit would probably exceed the sum of all profits that the company might ever make selling GMO seed in Vermont. So, a decision not to sell is not necessarily an admission that GMO seeds are unsafe.

That said, I'm agnostic on GMO seeds. I do think, however, that GMO seeds should be properly identified so that each grower can make his/her own decisions.