Who Owns Your Seeds: Disclosing the Johnny's/Monsanto Connection

Seed sovereignty and seed saving have long been important issues to farmers, so we were somewhat concerned when we recently heard a rumor linking Johnny's Seeds, a favorite amongst organic growers, with Monsanto, a company many organic growers try to avoid. We set out to investigate and discovered that some of the seeds Johnny's carries come from Seminis, a seed company that was bought by Monsanto. Johnny's has been very transparent in addressing these rumors, and discuss it on their website. I recommend reading their statement here. They are phasing out all varieties they get from Seminis, and at this point are down to about 18 of them. We sent them an e-mail asking for a list of which varieties, and they quickly responded. While they are putting together the most up-to-date list for me, here is a list as of January 2010:

THE BELOW LIST IS OF SEED VARIETIES SOLD BY JOHNNY'S SEEDS WHICH THEY HAVE GOTTEN FROM SEMINIS, NOW A SUBSIDIARY OF MONSANTO.

103 SIERRA BLANCA onion

224 FREMONT cauliflower

240 HANSEL eggplan

241 GRETEL eggplant

568 BISCAYNE pepper

642 DULCE pepper

733 CELEBRITY tomatoes

2038 KING ARTHUR pepper

2063 BIG BEEF tomatoes

2212 PRIZEWINNER pumpkin

2260 FAIRY TALE eggplant

2309 X3R RED KNIGHT pepper

2365 ORANGE SMOOTHIE pumpkin

2368 PATTY GREEN TINT summer squash

2894 SERRANO DEL SOL pepper

2954 CHEDDAR cauliflower

2991 CANDY onion

122 BEAUFORT tomatoes

2794 GERONIMO tomatoes

2700 MAXIFORT tomatoes

2373 TRUST tomatoes

Given this information, how do those who do not want to support Monsanto respond? I think the easiest response is to not buy these varieties. But what if you already did? Do you plant the seeds and pledge to not again purchase them? Or do you chose to not grow them on principle, so that you do not encourage the consumption of varieties linked to Monsanto? We'd love to hear your thoughts.

For another blog discussing this topic, check out:

http://eatclosetohome.wordpress.com/2009/12/29/monsanto-and-johnnys-seeds/

For more on seed sovereignty and seed saving, check out Seed Savers Exchange and Navdanya. I highly recommend the book Stolen Harvest, by Vandava Shiva, a compelling argument for seed sovereignty.