Field of Science

Organic seeds - save your money

TPP went to his favorite garden shoppe to buy a few packs of seeds, some lettuce & spinach to put in his cold frame for some early season salad. And there, prominently displayed, was an entire rack of "organic" seeds. Now other than the absurdity of the name (the alternative is inorganic?) this is nothing but pure green-washing, marketing for the sake of making money from people who don't know much but want to do the right thing. There is not one single biologically relevant difference between organic lettuce seed and "inorganic" lettuce seed. The one real reason for considering foods produced by organic gardening is to reduce pesticides in the environment and their residues in your food. This is a real and valid concern, but mostly the danger is greatly exaggerated, but still, OK, go with organic if you choose. It is better for the environment, and without question pesticides are overused and many times needless. If you think fertilizer is the issue, and again it is overused, plants don't know or care where than nitrate ion came from. If you think organic foods are more nutritious then you are among the gullible who just might pay more for organic seeds even though this will have no impact what so ever on your raising and eating of these crops. You don't need organic seed to garden organically. The only meaningful argument is again organic farming is better for the environment, and this is quite small segment of agriculture when measured against the whole, and a reasonable cost-benefit analysis is that they aren't worth the difference in price, which may not be justified at all by differences in the cost of production. So then who is pocketing that difference in price? Yes, by all means, do the right thing, but no reason to be a sucker in the process. Oh, yes, over there are the organic tobacco cigarettes.

6 comments:

Diane said...

Organic garden seeds may seem trivial but the environment isn't the only consideration. Farm workers are the most directly harmed by pesticides and have the least power to protect themselves. Also, don't excess applications of nitrogen cause problems downstream? Not sure if organic sources are as likely to wash off fields.

The Phytophactor said...

Diane makes a couple of decent points. Pesticides and fertilizers are used to excess and that's just bad, bad, bad. Pesticides can be used at specific times when they generate the greatest protection for the crops and the least exposure for workers and consumers. But seed crops generate less exposure at critical times in the field, and essentially no exposure for seed purchasers. Nitrates are highly soluble and thus easily washed away. Actually good soil fertility is the best solution because it maximizes water retention, and minimizes runoff.

Ellen said...

I used to think that the organic seed industry was just taking advantage of the uninformed gardener who thinks that seed obtained from conventionally grown plants could pose a significant environmental threat in and of themselves. I learned that organic growers must use organically grown seed if they want to get and keep their organic farm certification.
Personally, if it's a choice between buying from one of the big seed suppliers vs. an independent, if I can find what I need from the independent seed house, I'm willing to support them. David and Goliath and all. I save money by saving seed whenever I can.

The Phytophactor said...

Requiring organic seed to be a certified organic farm is just silly since it matters not a wit to the outcome. But this was a well-known seed company that had expanded to organic seeds. Saving seed can work if you're growing true breeding varieties, but it's way more trouble than it's worth for small gardeners. When that lettuce starts to bolt, it's gone; the space is needed for later crops.

nycguy said...

Is it possible that organic seed is intended to mean not-genetically-modified (at least, not modified by chemical means)?

The Phytophactor said...

"Organic" would not be non-GMO seed; technically GMO seed could be raised organically.