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
Non-Organic seeds produce foods that contain herbicides and sometimes insecticides. If you are okay with eating cancer causing Round-up and feeding it to you your family then save a buck and buy non-organic. I really have to question the motivations of a “scientist” who will not speak against the practice of eating foods that have round-up in them to our growing children. Especially when the maker of the herbicide, Monsanto lost their court case, was forced to slap a warning on their product that it causes cancer and then changed the name of their company after many years of bad press. This is only one example of the deadly ingredients in non-organic seeds. Shame on you Mr. Pavlis for misleading so many people who rely on you for honest helpful information. Ever considered using your platform to make the world a better, healthier place instead of contributing to the cancer epidemic in America? I hope you have the integrity to stand by your article and post my comment.
“Non-Organic seeds produce foods that contain herbicides and sometimes insecticides.” – that statement is completely false.
You have been fed a bunch of lies by pro-organic people and now believe their stories.
Why would any seed produce a herbicide? If it did, the seedling would die!
**Why would any seed produce a herbicide? If it did, the seedling would die!**
The seed does not “produce” herbicides and insecticides as you have suggested, but rather is contaminated by them, how is this not obvious?
Lot’s of grains, seeds and nuts are even sprayed right before of after harvest/shelled, how could they not be loaded with these toxins?
I did not say seeds produce herbicide – you said it, “Non-Organic seeds produce foods that contain herbicides”.
Plants produce insecticides – in fact 99.9% of the insecticides we eat are natural plant produced insecticides. The amount that lands on plants from spraying in minor in comparison.
https://www.gardenmyths.com/natural-pesticides/
Thank you for this article if only confirmed my suspicions about organic seeds. The fact you are a chemist adds credibility in my opinion. These seed companies are about the money – just keeping in real. They use “organic” and non GMO as a sales pitch. Eating fruits and vegetable and especially home grown is the key.
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.
Please can you point me to the scientific articles that show the need to use larger quantities of “organic” chemicals because they are less effective and also what are the chemicals you are referring to?
There is a really good reason to use organic seeds, and as a beekeeper, and agriculturalists, I am a bit shocked you have not considered this.
Here is one link and is a starting point for your research into this matter.
https://theconversation.com/why-its-time-to-curb-widespread-use-of-neonicotinoid-pesticides-96620
1) your link is not a study.
2) What is your reason for using them?
I eat an organic diet and it actually taste like real food. Not sure what you’re saying here but I find it interesting. But if you’re saying organic food taste no different that’s totally incorrect. After going organic I can’t even eat non-organic rice because the organic makes me feel like I’m in heaven when it touches my mouth. That’s not my choice that’s in the food. I agree I don’t know much, but saying it doesn’t taste different after telling my friends how amazing the food is from taste. Not sure you’re telling me the truth here. Im assuming you’re implying this is a placebo effect that I’m experiencing which is laughable. I would gladly cook you GMO food compared to organic and you’ll not want to go back. Maybe your experiencing placebo. everytime I try GMO or non GMO food isntead of organic I have to sotp because it is tasteless, has less color and will never expire. Im not reading that stuff, I’m actually cooking the food everyday and this is my observation. I have my color, more taste and more enjoyment from this so called fake food I ain’t buying it. I eat GMO food for more years than I can count. I have a good idea how disgusting it tastes. Trust me, I didn’t try organic cuz im retarded. Anyway I learned the best way to tell truth is by experience. That no one can take from you. Anyway I clearly need to do more research but if anything everyone against organic always makes the claim that it doesn’t taste better. Well I can tell you so myself that’s completely incorrect. I then question if you’ve even had organic food or live with your biaas. I think the USDA is a terrible organization and I don’t trust government. But they’re not selling the garbage. I admit people are dumb enough to let government run their lives. But not so stupid to sell the same potatoes with just a changed label. Im not that dumb. I find that insulting.
What I am saying is organic food does not taste better than non-organic food. But if you feel I am wrong, point me to some science to support the claim.
Re: “Maybe your experiencing placebo.” I think you are missing the point of this blog. I rarely post my opinions. I post what science says, so it is clearly not my placebo effect.
But I notice that in your who comment, you only voice your own opinion. Show me some science that supports it.
excellent
The very sad reality is that despite this great article there are probably 10,000 posts out there touting the “wonders of organic” seed. And people can’t get enough of their “organic” products.
Nice article. Current fad in south india is organic. But as I read your blog, I understand about it better.
Certainly there is a logic to what you say. I am interested based on your 40 years of experience but what scientific corroboration can you provide and what other accreditation do you have besides your personal experience?
I am a chemist and biochemistry, but most of my writing is not based on my experiences. I report what other scientists have concluded. I do use my knowledge to interpret what they say.
Great post. Does the same principle apply for sprouting? I bought organic brocolli seeds as i heard organic is safer for consuming sprouts and microgreens. Do you think organic seeds are required to produce sprouts for consumption or conventional is fine ?
Organic seeds offer you nothing in the way of safety. Make sure the seeds have not been treated with a fungicide – which most are not. If they are treated it will say on the package.