Lots of people are looking to buy organic seeds but as a chemist this has never made any sense to me. I started asking people on social media for their reasons for selecting organic seeds over conventional seeds or heirlooms seeds. The answers clearly indicate that people don’t understand why they want organic seeds, but one valid reason did emerge.
In this post I will look at the reasons people give for buying organic seed and discuss the validity of the reasons.
Organic Seeds – What Are They?
What are organic seeds, and how do they differ from conventional seeds or even heirloom seeds?
Organic seed is seed that is produced by organic gardening/farming methods. These are the same procedures used to produce organic food. In order to be be certified organic, they must be produced by a certified organic operation.
Some people claim that organic seed ” has not been exposed to any chemicals throughout the growth in the field”. Rubbish! Organic farmers use organic chemicals and in some cases these are more dangerous than conventional chemicals. Organic chemicals can be used in larger quantities than in conventional farming because they are less effective. Organic seed is not free of chemical contaminates. It’s chemical contaminates are organic chemical contaminates.
Wild collected seed is not considered ‘organic’ because it was not produced by an organic farm. That makes no sense to me! By not introducing wild seed, this practice has people growing a limited gene pool. This goes against the organic principles – but not against organic certification.
Heirloom seeds can be grown in any kind of condition, organic or non-oganic. Heirloom describes the genetics of the seed, and usually refers to older varieties that are stable and field pollinated. They are available as both regular seed and organic seed.
Organic Seeds Are More Robust
Seeds of Change, a pro-organic group, claims “Organically grown seed produces hearty, robust plants already adapted to organic growing conditions” (ref 1).
That’s a silly statement. Seeds and plants do not know they are being grown organically. Seeds are not ‘adapted’ to organic conditions. The genetics of the seed does not change after growing plants organically for a few years. Good quality seeds from organic farms or conventional farms will grow equally well in your soil.
Are organic seeds more hearty, or more robust? Nonsense. The contents of a seed, and how well it grows is determined by it’s genetic makeup, and to a minor extent, how well the mother plant was grown. Small unhealthy plants will produce poor quality seed in both organic and conventional fields. Quality seed companies will only sell quality seed – organic growing conditions have nothing to do with it.
It is quite possible that organic seed is not as good as conventional seed. As pointed out by Seed Testing International growing quality organic seed can be difficult due to extra pest pressures. “Quality standards for some organic seed, especially biennial seed such as onion, carrot and cabbage, has been reduced. ”
“No Stinking GMO Seed”
One of the most common reasons for buying organic seed is that gardeners, and I quote, “don’t want no stinking GMO seed”.
The reality is that a lot of people are against GMO, and most of them have no idea why.
Being against GMO is no reason for buying organic seed because GMO seed is NOT available to home gardeners. Even if you want to get some, you can’t. GMO seed is sold to farmers after they have signed an agreement which controls how they can use the seed. Seed companies will not sign such an agreement with home owners.
Besides the unavailability issue, almost none of the seed types home owners buy are available as GMO seed. Corn is the only exception. This will change over time as new seed types come on the market.
GMO is not a reason to buy organic seed.
Pesticide Contamination of Seed
Conventional farming uses chemicals which are not approved by organic farming. In most cases these are safer than the chemicals used in organic farming, but that is a topic for another post. What happens to these chemicals – organic and non-organic?
Plants are sprayed as they grow. Most of the sprayed pesticide either washes off or degrades over time. By the time seed is harvested, very little of the pesticide remains, but there can be residual amounts of systemic pesticide in the seed. There is a standard for this called the International Maximum Residue Limit, or MRL for short. Wikipedia lists a number of chemicals and their MRL, with limits of 0.05 to 7 mg/kg of seed. I believe this is for seed that we eat as food and not for seed that is used for planting, but it gives us a ball park idea of possible pesticide levels.
Let’s consider this example. Assume some tomato seeds have a chemical residue at the 1mg/kg level – an average of the above range. One Kg of tomato seed contains about 300,000 seeds. If seed contains pesticides at 1mg/kg, a single seed contains 0.000003 mg of pesticide.
What happens to the pesticide in the seed? Most of it will be discharged from the plant, or metabolized in the plant. But lets assume the worst case, and that none of it is lost. Then all of it would be dispersed throughout the plant. As cells grow, some of the pesticide would travel from old cells to new cells.
What does a tomato plant weight? I have seen numbers like 30 pounds but to be conservative lets assume our plant is small and weighs only 10 pounds, including the fruit. When the fruit is ready for harvest, the 0.000003 mg of pesticide will be spread throughout the plant. An average tomato weighs 100gms, so it will contain 0.00000006 mg of pesticides. Compare that to the fact that we eat 1,500 mg of natural pesticides every day.
That is a silly calculation! But not nearly as silly as the belief that the pesticides in seed make a difference.
A self proclaimed organic seed expert: Phil Winteregg (ref 2) says, “we have separate stainless steel equipment dedicated to handling the organic seed, as well as ..untreated, so that the potential of cross-contamination … is nearly impossible.” Clever marketing that makes absolutely no sense for organic seed!
Treated Seed vs Organic Seed
What is treated seed? Some seed, like peas and beans have a tendency to rot in wet soil. Treated seed has a coating of anti-fungal and anti-bacterial chemicals that reduce the chance of rotting. In a few cases the seed may be coated with an insecticide but these are usually not available to home gardeners.
This is a different situation from the previous section. Treated seed has the chemical coated right on the seed, and you can easily see it. If you handle the seed, the pesticide powder does end up on your hands.
How safe are treated seed? You should not eat them, and it is wise to wash your hands after handling them. Most of the coating on seeds will wash off with rain or be degraded by soil microbes. Any that is absorbed by the seed will be in very low levels in the food you harvest. Calculations are similar to the ones above, except you do start out with a higher amount of pesticide. Food produced from treated seed is perfectly safe to eat.
Lets say you decide you don’t want treated seed. Do you need to buy organic seed? No. Most seed that is available to home gardeners is not treated. Treating seed costs money, and if seeds have been treated, companies advertise the fact so that they can charge more for the seed. In most countries, the labeling laws require seed producers to identify treated seed right on the seed package.
I checked Burpee Seeds and they do not sell treated seed. Stokes does sell some but the selection is very limited and the treated seeds are clearly marked in their catalog.
If you don’t want the chemicals found on treated seed, just buy regular seed. You do not need to be organic seed.
Support Organic Farmers
That leaves me with one valid reason for buying organic seed – to support organic farmers. If you feel growing organically is important for the environment and you want to support organic farmers, then buy organic seed. It does support the organic movement.
Buying organic seed, does not produce healthier food, does not make plants grow better and they do not reduce your exposure to chemicals. They don’t even produce better tasting food. If you are going to buy them, you should at least understand why you are buying them – you are supporting organic farming.
Selection is limited for organic seed. Most of the new disease resistant vegetable cultivars are not available as organic seed, and neither are most ornamental flowers.
Personally, I would not go out of my way to buy organic seed when non-organic is just as good. I’d much rather have newer disease resistant tomatoes.
Seed Videos:
References:
- FAQ – Organic Seeds and Gardening: http://www.seedsofchange.com/faq.aspx
- Self Proclaimed Organic Seed Expert Phil Winteregg: http://www.organicitsworthit.org/experts/learn/phil-winteregg
- Challenges for The Production of High Quality Organic Seeds:
- Photo Source: Mike Mozart
Thank you! I just wanted to get an idea of how much pesticide could still reside in non-organic seeds, so thank you for answering that!
That depends on the pesticide. But remember, that is not the important question to ask. The important one is how much ends up in the fruit or leaves that we eat. That will be tiny, tiny amount of a tiny fraction.
Its a non-issue.
What about home sprouting? Should I buy organic seeds for them? Much more expensive than the conventional one. Please answer, is it worthy it? thanx
No – there is no value.
Hello Robert, I specialise in growing potted herbs in ireland. I do not use chemicals but I am not a registered organic grower – my mantra is I grow my plants naturally. I utilise very very old fashioned methods learnt from my father who was a big tomato grower before the oil crisis hit the business in the 70s..I do not get het up over organic seeds and I agree fully with what you say. I grow about a 100 varieties and many of those are not available anyway as organic seed. I always tell my customers that they have the option to grow on my plants organically if they wish – or to follow whatever practice they desire. I have been a horticulturist for 50 years and so many people who lecture on the value of organic growing and produce are clueless!
Exactly my thoughts when I first heard about “Organic seeds”. Did not make any sense to me as organic farming is actually the practice to grow plants. Thanks for sharing these details. Very helpful.
I value information from both sides of the arena. I “take in” information from both sides and formulate my own opinion. In this case, I have to lean towards Certified Org. Seed and its practices.
1. Certified Org farmers can only use a minimal amount of listed chemicals. Most Certified Org farmers tend to shy away from big box brand chemicals and go with more of a holistic version of pesticides.
2. Monsanto would not be trying to pass a bill in Congress, which would make it illegal to grow your own garden or crops without using their seed. They’ve already gone after farmers that have farms next to their fields. The farmer harvests the crop with his seed product that has had Monsanto corn pollen drift over and pollinate his crop. So Monsanto sued the farmer. The farmer should sue Monsanto for contaminating his crop.
3. Chemicals tend to build up in your kidneys and liver. Why eat something that is chemically treated for years down the road. People and nations in Africa will not except Monsanto grown crops. They’re starving to death and they won’t take it. Hmmm!
4. I’ve read numerous articles about people being sick with acid reflux and other illness’. They figured out that the GMO food such as corn, green beans, lettuce, etc. was making them sick. How’d they know? They switched to Certified Org foods.
5. GMO Iceberg lettuce was genetically modified to produce a huge head, disease and pest resistant. The lettuce has absolutely no nutritional value. Your body treats it like a peace of plastic.
6. Most GMO plants produce seeds, but most of the seed is not viable to plant next planting season and/or store.
Thanks.
“Monsanto would not be trying to pass a bill in Congress, which would make it illegal to grow your own garden or crops without using their seed. ” – that statement is nonsense.
Hi Robert,
By reading your article understood the value of organic seeds. So far we first have to choose organic seeds for avoiding GMO in regards of organic farming. Thanks for sharing your thought.
That is not true. Organic has nothing to do with non-GMO. A GMO seed could be grown organically, it usually isn’t, but it could be.
None of the seed sold to gardeners is GMO. So for a gardener who wants non-GMO – they can buy any seed they want.
May you are right “A GMO seed could be grown organically”
But we can’t say it organic food.
Because one of the condition for organic food is it has to be non-GMO.
You are talking about certified organic – not organic. I can certainly grow some GMO corn organically. Certified organic has rules, organic does not.