Sakata does GMO work? It's the first I've heard about it.

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Here is a link that might be useful: 10 GMO seed companies

If you are trying to avoid it all... you might have to go with multiple small companies, and likely ones that have signed the safe seed pledge. Or do something like join the SSE and only use members that grow their own and can really be sure their seed stock isn't GMO or GMO company based.

And if you are seriously serious about not giving your pennies to GMO based or affiliated companies, you will also have to take a serious look at a lot of gardening supplies too. Like Miracle-Gro is Scotts, Scotts has affiliation with Monsanto through Roundup. There are more affiliations and such than that, I just chose that one as an obvious example.

Also if you are really serious about it, you might want to give up hybrids completely, and get your research on with heirlooms/OPs and which of those are the best producers for your needs- then start saving your own seed stock.

I think I am well past all that advice. I am an organic farmer; I'm not using Miracle Gro! And the Safe Seed Pledge means nothing. I am not talking about avoiding GMO seed but seed supplied by companies who also make GMOs. Seed Savers Exchange is not pure anymore IMO after Amy Goldman took it over and sleeps with Monsanto.

Sakata is a large seed company...they're not a GMO producer.

I think you are right and I am very happy! GMO watch lumped them in together with the other GMO companies.

Here is a link that might be useful: sakata broccoli

little_Minnie, what is your affiliation with Fedco?

Affiliation? Do you mean the reason I buy from them?

I am surprised more people do not care where their seed actually comes from. You do realize that the seed catalog companies just buy it and generally don't produce it?! They are middlemen except for maybe a tiny percentage they may grow. The seed producers are big multinational companies that sometimes also produce GMOs. This bothers me. I don't want to support Monsanto or any of their rivals.

As for myself...I don't buy from Monsanto or anyone affiliated with them..it's a personal choice.
I have pretty much gotten my vegetable varieties whittled down to what grows well here and tastes great, and I have been saving seed for years. I only grow heirlooms. If I do try something new..it's usually from a trade on here that I have asked MANY questions about...in a non-confrontational sort of way...how long have they been growing it..does it have a family history...what part of the state are you in? Last is important to me, because people growing home gardens next door to commercial fields that get sprayed by airplanes, get sprayed, too..even if they don't realize it.
I just prefer to stick with what I have and know...because I know it's grown organically and has been on this earth a lot longer than Monsanto!

You do realize that the seed catalog companies just buy it and generally don't produce it?!
Yes. It's always been that way, all the way back to the first "seedsman".

The seed producers are big multinational companies that sometimes also produce GMOs. This bothers me. I don't want to support Monsanto or any of their rivals.

Doesn't bother me a bit ... if they would release a vine borer resistant squash to the home market, I'd buy it, and the same with a blight-resistant tomato.

I thought this was the organic gardening forum.

Tromboncino squash is a popular choice for those in high-borer pressure areas. It's a bit slower to grow/harvest than more popular summer squashes, though.

"I thought this was the organic gardening forum."

One can support "certain" seed company's non-GMO/hybrid divisions and still go organic.

A vegetarian can still be a vegetarian without boycotting every food manufacturer that produces a meat-based product.

Heck, I work for one of those types of "certain" seed companies.

I don't have a problem with people not wanting to send money their way, or to companies that choose to sell seed from those companies. It's a great way to directly vote with your wallet as well as support companies that choose to take the risk of excluding those products from their offerings.

I love fedco seeds. I go there first every year. I trust fedco, and their descriptions are excellent. I don't really follow seed politics, I just buy what I like.

Little Minnie it's supposed to be an organic forum. A handful of conventional faithfuls come here and forget to leave their conventionalist tips at the door.

I've been reading the Baker Creek catalog, I'd highly recommend them.

Quite frankly, I draw a line between how a new variety is developed and how I grow it.

If I hold a developer of a new variety to the same standard I grow my own food, can I also hold a chef to the same standard?

There is a promise held in GMO work, a promise not yet realized. There is a potato, developed by a large grower in the States, that is caught in this quandary. A potato developed to be cut in slices and fried in oil, while remaining healthier for the eater. Bravo, people of the New World Order, Defenders of the Store Shelves and the Restaurant Plates.

There is a line spoken by the wise Agent K, recruiting a new employee:
"Why the big secret? People are smart, they can handle it."
"The person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals, and you know it.
"1500 years ago, everybody KNEW the earth was the center of the Universe. 500 years ago, everybody KNEW the earth was flat. ...Imagine what you will KNOW tomorrow."

Baker Creek is a nice catalog to browse, looking at the glossy pictures. If you read the exposition, check your brain at the cover, because he assumes you don't have one.

Kind of a silly question here, but what makes a GMO non organic? I thought organic was based on how you grow the plant, not how the parent plant came to be. If they genetically modified an organically grown plant's seed, wouldn't it still be organic? let's say the genetic modification is completed by isolating DNA (from an organically grown plant) and injecting it into another organically grown plant's genome. This is a 100% organic procedure as no chemicals have been used and only natural ingredients were used. Nothing gets more organic than DNA. Why is this a big issue for an "organic" gardener? Lastly, what is it specifically that worries one about GMO's? I am not trying to take a side of pro GMO. In fact I have no GMO's in my garden, I am just trying to understand the facts before I make my own judgement.

It's generally accepted that a GMO transformed product isn't going to be in the organic product pipeline.

Natural mutations, even forced, generally don't fall under the "non-organic" tag, though. You'll find a lot of ornamental flowers out there with forced chemical mutations (usually to form bigger flower heads).

Some people want to get all weird about it and extend "non-organic" to stuff like CMS breeding, which is very short sighted and ultimately way too radical or a definition for most people.

So yeah...it's just something somewhat arbitrarily decided on based on popular consensus...and some people want to take it even further (such as the anti-CMS people). I don't think anyone has an issue with classifying GMOs as non-organic no matter how "organically" they are grown once they're put into the ground.

For those who don't care about growing organically, there is another forum called "vegetable gardening".

little minnie, was that directed at me for asking a question? If I was not interested in Organic gardening I would not be in the forum asking questions would I? You should be less confrontational if you want other people to take part in the "organic way" and be open to discussions about your views. I am just trying to form an opinion on GMO's and I want to hear the side of opposition. Can you explain why you boycott company's that have GMO's?

Jeff it was not directed at you.

Ok sorry! I think i woke up on the wrong side of the bed that day! Please don't take offense.

There is no need to explain that a gmo derived plant is unacceptable to those who seek certification. The question is why.

Yet I know the answer. Because of the biggest, most visible player in the game, and an inherent lack of understanding of the nature of intellectual property law.

If the original dialogue had been built around a papaya, we may not be in the current state of the discussion may be quite different. Or maybe not. And again, a thorough understanding of labeling kinda makes a mockery of the whole process.

I've taken courses in plant breeding and genetics. I can tell you that what we know about plant breeding and where we are with conventional breeding, that what we call gmo and therefore bad is just a little baby step from what we consider okay. It's the next, natural, logical progression, if you are involved in plant breeding.

I have family members who work for seed companies that sell the seed to farmers. Corn, sunflowers, sugar beets, alfalfa, that kind of stuff. And I have family members who quit, because the growing emphasis on technology in seeds was bothering them. For the record, this was before the patent for glyphosate was applied for.

At the end of the day, I grow a crop. I select the best varieties I can, and yes, I select varieties I can make money growing. And yes, that includes deciding whether or not I pursue organic classification, even if doing so makes me a hypocrite.

And then I remember the most important thing, which usually causes me to delete most potential posts: People really, really don't like any opinion that does not match their own.