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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Four Steps Required to Keep Monsanto OUT of Your Garden
http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/the-four-steps-required-to-keep-monsanto-out-of-your-garden/With one fell swoop in 2005, Monsanto grabbed approximately 40% of the US vegetable seed market with its acquisition of Seminis.
This means that a home gardener could unknowingly be supporting the development and proliferation of genetically modified crops if the seeds used are from Seminis. In addition, Monsanto now apparently owns many of the names of the seed varieties themselves!
/snip
Just in time for seedlings.
LiberalEsto
(22,845 posts)I hate MonSatan
Marrah_G
(28,581 posts)Fire Walk With Me
(38,893 posts)Cha
(297,655 posts)This article lists the seed varieties to avoid: http://www.occupymonsanto360.org/2012/03/17/monsanto-owned-seednames/
nc4bo
(17,651 posts)Tuesday Afternoon
(56,912 posts)WillyT
(72,631 posts)Bookmarked for future gardening.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)vlyons
(10,252 posts)All that's left for the family farm is to do gthe labor and pay the taxes.
I got my heirloom seeds from Baker's Creek.
Mojorabbit
(16,020 posts)4_TN_TITANS
(2,977 posts)Lots of heirloom varieties guaranteed non-GMO, and many that we would never have bought and tried except that they came in the variety canister. My wife loves the Chinese noodle beans and they have the best carrots I've ever tasted.
Highly, highly recommend Baker's Creek for anyone looking for a great seed source !
http://rareseeds.com/
HiPointDem
(20,729 posts)or seed companies they don't own outright.
so everytime you buy the product, someone is paying royalties to monsanto, regardless of whether monstanto owns the seed or brand.
patenting of life in order to extract rents is sick.
NickB79
(19,258 posts)If you have the patience, you can breed your own personal heirlooms from hybrids by simply saving seeds and replanting for a few years, selecting the best of each generation every season.
I'm in the process of developing a watermelon heirloom of my own by crossing two heirlooms (Moon and Stars with Sugar Baby). Out of a few dozen melons from the F1 generation, I had a few that had the "stars" of the Moon and Stars on personal-size melons like Sugar Baby usually produces: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151200370266847&set=a.10151200370091847.428142.574696846&type=3&theater
The flavor wasn't the best, but that might be due to the drought we had last summer. I'm going to try growing a few dozen more plants this summer from seed I saved from last year's hybrids. After a few more years, I should have a stable germline to work with.
spanone
(135,873 posts)NickB79
(19,258 posts)A simply amazing organization dedicated to saving rare, valuable heirlooms.
arikara
(5,562 posts)I despise monsatano.