9 Best Sustainable Seed Company Purveyors Of Plant-astic Bounty
Dropped in dirt, blanketed by darkness, and reaching for the light.
It’s not a metaphor for life: the intelligence, resilience, and magic alchemy of seeds is undeniable.
Choosing a sustainable seed company is vital for sustainable gardening, as they dig us out of the chemical-soaked genetically modified muck Monsanto (and all Big Ag) have buried modern agriculture in.
Fortunately, there’s a real garden variety of ethical seed companies providing organic, heirloom, and open-pollinated seeds, while vying for land regeneration, biodiversity, food sovereignty, and farmer’s empowerment.
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Sustainable Seed Brands That Are Anything But Seedy
Your garden’s open pollination will be un-bee-lievable thanks to High Mowing Organic Seeds‘ highly reputed organic-only seed offerings—of which they donate over 100,000 packets a year to charitable and educational organizations.
As OG back-to-the-landers and Safe Seed Pledge-ers, Maine’s Fedco is a top-respected worker/consumer-owned cooperative that only sells non-GMO seeds.
Eco gardeners should take interest in Botanical Interests for the absolutely radishing bounty their wide range of non-GMO, organic, heirloom and sustainable gardening seeds offer.
To unearth how we found these seed vendors, dig your way to the article’s root.
The Full List Of Ethical Seed Companies
- Botanical Interests | Visit Store
- High Mowing Organic Seeds | Visit Store
- True Leaf Market | Visit Store
- Fedco | Visit Store
- Baker Creek Rare Seeds | Visit Store
- Seed Savers Exchange | Visit Store
- Johnny’s Select Seeds | Visit Store
- Seed Geeks | Visit Store
- Ferry-Morse | Visit Store
1. Botanical Interests
Botanical Interests’ Sustainable Seeds
Most health food stores and garden centers across the US carry Botanical Interests, whose artful botanical illustrations and detailed planting instructions that grace the face of every seed packet make them a prominent organic gardening educator.
Looking for an heirloom seed starter kit to flex some heritage green thumbs?
Their Heirloom Organic Seed Bank Collection comes as a bundle of more than twenty heirloom seed varieties for the perfect “survival stash” of succulent, hardy, heritage seeds like beans, broccoli, carrots, turnips, melons, tomatoes and more.
About Botanical Interests
For more than twenty five years, Botanical Interests has provided plant-astic bounty with their non-GMO, organic, sustainable, and heirloom seeds.
What started as 96 seed varieties has since blossomed into over 600 Non-GMO Project Verified seeds, of which hundreds are heirloom flowers, veggies, herbs, and plants.
Their huge range of garden products are 100% made-in-the-USA and they operate a seed donation program and fundraising program for schools and more.
2. High Mowing Organic Seeds
High Mowing Organic Seeds’ Sustainable Garden Seeds
Regarded as a best organic seed company, High Mowing Organic Seeds provides certified organic seeds best for organic growing—especially for those who live in cold climates.
To ensure high germination rates and zero GMO contamination, all of their seeds are tested by their own lab.
Every harvest is sure to be premium, like their organic Genovese basil—a must-try for all pesto lovers—or their Red Baron Bunching Onion, whose deep red scallions with royal purple inner rings are as remarkable as their bright, sweet flavor.
About High Mowing Organic Seeds
Farm-based and deeply rooted in their Vermont community (and beyond!) High Mowing has sold the best quality organic seeds for nearly thirty years.
With over 700 varieties of heirloom and organic seeds, the Non-GMO Project verified and USDA Organic certified company is as committed to transforming the world through the seed.
High Mowing created the Safe Seed Pledge in 1999, alongside a coalition of nine other seed companies regarding their stance on genetic engineering. Now, the Pledge is signed by over 370 seed companies globally.
To give back, they donate more than 100,000 organic seed packets to community, church, and school gardens, food bank gardens, summer camps, and disaster relief organizations each year.
3. True Leaf Market
True Leaf Market’s Sustainable Seeds
High quality and sure-to-sprout, True Leaf Market has served its community since 1974 as a trusted wellspring of premium non-GMO, organic, and heirloom seeds from numerous trusted seed vendors.
Seed brands like Mountain Valley Seeds for conventional seeds, Sustainable Seeds for organic seeds, Kitazawa Seeds for non-GMO Asian varieties, Mountain Valley Hybrids for F1 hybrids and Handy Pantry for sprouting are sold alongside their own in-house brand of premium and heirloom seeds.
We especially like their Victoria Rhubarb for its huge stalks with rich red hues and a sweet flavor that becomes the perfect rhubarb pie.
About True Leaf Market
Since 1974, True Leaf Market has provided everything heirloom, organic, and non-GMO for both professional farmers and recreational gardeners alike to bear fruit with high yields.
Along with a garden variety of organic, sustainable, heirloom, and hybrid offerings, they also sell a wide range of growing kits, sprouts, microgreens, and garden supplies.
They’re also USDA certified organic as well as OMRI certified.
4. Fedco
Fedco’s Sustainable Seeds
Everything for bloom from Fedco is ethically sourced, non-GMO, and of the highest quality, which is why their sustainable seed company reviews are as bright as a fresh perennial harvest.
When it comes to our own backyard homestead, you can bet that in any given year, the majority of our plants started from Fedco seeds (or our own saved seeds from the previous gardening season.
Every year, we look forward to thumbing through the pages of their adorably old time-y sustainable seed company catalog, which includes quirky sketches on its newsprint pages—meaning you can also recycle or compost it, unlike color or coated catalogs.
Likewise, the seed packets themselves are minimally-printed plain paper.
Their organic Cherokee Purple Tomato has a place in our garden every year, with lovely dark flesh that hides hand-down the most flavorful tomato flesh we’ve ever tasted. Summer caprese salad, here we come!
And for those who share in our zone 5a struggles, know that because Fedco is based in Maine, their seed stock is mostly cold-weather tolerant and ideal for shorter growing seasons.
In addition to seeds, they also sell potato slips and sets, onion starts, trees, bulbs, and all manner of farming supplies.
About Fedco
An original-cosigner of the Safe Seed Pledge, Fedco is one of the most admired worker/consumer-owned cooperatives for gardening and farming supplies.
As OG back-to-the-landers of the ‘70s and now as a major seed supplier in the USA, Fedco achieves a lot by way of heirloom preservation, food sovereignty, sustainability, genetic diversity, and land regeneration.
Everything they sell is non-GMO and they have a robust offering of both hardy (and hearty) organic and heirloom seed varieties.
They source from individuals and small farmer co-ops as much as possible, always paying breeder and indigenous royalties to communities from which their seeds originate, as all companies should but sadly don’t.
For varieties that originated in Africa, 10% of the proceeds go to the Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust to help farmers of color purchase their own farms.
Plus, nothing is patented here folks, because Free the Seed!
5. Baker Creek Rare Seeds
Baker Creek Rare Seeds’ Sustainable Seeds
Ready to become a wholehearted historical heirloom horticulturist?
Baker Creek Rare Seeds is an heirloom seed-only company with over 1500 varieties of heirloom herbs, vegetables, and flowers.
“Seed dweebs” especially adore their extensive selection of heirlooms from the 19th century.
We’re so excited to experiment with their richly multicolored, translucent kernels of their Glass Gem Popping Corn this year, while their Purple Dragon Carrot with its deep hues as beautiful as it is delicious is a long-time fave of ours.
For those dedicated to reviving a history of senses, flavors, aromas, and growth, each and every seed harkens back to simpler times of pure, fresh, and unadulterated abundance and nutrition.
About Baker Creek Rare Seeds
This heritage seed company has served its community since 1998 by reviving and providing a huge range of heirloom-only seeds in the US and beyond.
Charitable giving is at the root of their mission, and they work with non-profit organizations to ensure much of their profits provide emergency aid, sustainable development, education, and food to people in need in the U.S. and abroad.
In addition, they give away free seeds to hundreds of community and educational groups, “leveling the field” when it comes to nutrient-dense, delicious food access.
6. Seed Savers Exchange
Seed Savers Exchange’s Sustainable Seeds
If you’re looking to bring back seeds from the brink of extinction, Seed Savers Exchange is one of the top ethical seed companies dedicated to reviving, preserving, and supporting sustainable seeds.
With a living collection of more than 20,000 heirloom, historic, and open-open pollinated varieties of seeds, sustainable food systems are their mission.
If you’re looking for exciting new (old) plant varieties for your garden, you can request their sustainable seed company catalog here for seeds like their legendary juicy Amish Melon, which reviews describe as impressively consistent, resilient, and “prolific”.
About Seed Savers Exchange
Seed Savers Exchange is a non-profit dedicated to helping protect seed biodiversity.
They preserve all heritage seeds, with a focus on seeds brought to North America from families when they immigrated, plus historical seeds from Amish, Mennonite, and Native American communities.
As a members-only seed exchange, their 8000+ members grow and share heirloom varieties from across the world, and have them featured in massive yearbooks annually.
7. Johnny’s Selected Seeds
Johnny’s Selected Seeds’ Sustainable Seeds
Long-standing seed supplier and first generation Safe Seed Pledge co-signer Johnny’s Selected Seeds is more than a one trick peony with the most trusted selection of non-GMO hybrids and patents created from safe, sustainable plant breeding.
They also offer loads of heirlooms and premium open pollinated seeds, along with an impressive organic selection.
Our favorites include their Organic Lunchbox Pepper Mix, whose mini-sized orange, red, and yellow peppers are remarkably sweet and flavorful.
About Johnny’s Selected Seeds
More than fifty years ago, at age 22 with just $500 in savings, founder Rob started the company in his farmhouse attic.
Today, employee-owned Johnny’s Selected Seeds goes beyond selling seeds, with a reputable plant breeding and research program where farmers and home gardeners alike can source the best seeds for hardiness, yields, and disease resistance.
Additionally, they sell high quality gardening tools, equipment and accessories, soil amendments and organic pest control products, plus they offer free tools online, like their super handy seed starting calendar.
8. Seed Geeks
Seed Geeks’ Sustainable Seeds
For ten years, Seed Geeks has served as Etsy’s trusted heirloom seed source by offering sustainable garden seeds of the heirloom variety straight from their 50 acre Missouri farm.
We especially love their money-saving bundles, like the Medicinal Herb Collection featuring ten essential medicinal herbs to grow like heirloom echinacea, lavender, white yarrow, and chamomile.
Did we mention these are all pollinator-friendly plants, too?
About Seed Geeks
Turnip the volume for Seed Geeks, who have almost 100,000 solid five star reviews and nearly one million Etsy orders fulfilled thanks to their quality products and customer service.
As a well-loved sustainable living and sustainable seed company, this family-run business does a tremendous service to their community both IRL and online, inspiring everyone to reconnect with the land and to harvest from healthy, sovereign food sources.
9. Ferry-Morse
Ferry-Morse Seed Company’s Sustainable Seeds
For the most fruitful and budget-friendly sustainable seeds, look no further than Ferry-Morse, who have provided guaranteed fresh, non-GMO seeds since 1856.
If you peruse your local garden center’s seed racks, you’ll probably see their colorful seed packets.
But if not, this sustainable seed company website offers the full range.
Fan favorites include their USDA certified Organic Straightneck Summer Squash that’s non-neonic (meaning it’s safe for bees) and rave reviewed for its perfect mix of nutty, buttery, tender, and nutritious characteristics.
About Ferry-Morse
As the oldest continuously operating seed company in the US, Ferry-Morse is perfect for stocking up on sustainable seeds for flowers, vegetables, herbs, and fruits at amazing value.
Growing healthy, non-GMO food should never break the bank, and Ferry-Morse proves that countless generations of care, trust, heritage, and quality can also be affordable.
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Why Choose Sustainable Seeds?
Modern agriculture is not only one of the biggest contributors to climate change, it’s also responsible for the devastating loss of a whopping 90% of our crop diversity.
In only fifty years, the proliferation of industrial agriculture led farmers down a dark trail of monoculture, mechanized farms, and GMOs which typically result in one crop grown abundantly… at the cost of the ecosystem’s wellbeing and the farmer’s sovereignty.
This commercialization of agriculture has also meant complete dependence on large corporations for all aspects of farms, including seeds, which is perhaps at the root of our planet’s current biodiversity emergency.
Big Agriculture’s harrowing impacts hurt our collective health, environment, and food security.
Ouch.
Even farmers who commit to non-GMO seeds often have issues, since “pollen drift” from a farm neighbor’s GMO crops can result in the presence of GMOs in a neighboring garden’s non-GMO crops.
Then when those seeds get saved and planted the next year, the gardener may unknowingly plant some version of a genetically modified crop.
Even more rotten is the fact that in the US today, a staggering 90% of all farmland grows genetically modified crops.
For these reasons, we say make like a tree and leave the GMO seeds and chemical outputs behind.
Sustainable seeds are vital to a varied, strong gene pool and a natural ecosystem cycle, literally seeded with the task of ecosystem optimization.
That means these seeds will attract pollinators, sequester carbon by way of regenerative agriculture, produce oxygen and crops maximally, water, cycle, and then repeat for a healthy, thriving, and more resilient ecosystem—and thus food system.
The thyme is ripe for sustainable seed company growth.
How We Choose The Best Sustainable Seeds Company
Why soil our gardens with chemicals and GMO plant varieties, when we can return our backyards to as nature intended?
Sustainable seeds are crucial to regenerative and ecological gardening, which means choosing seeds that not only encourage more fruitful garden yields, but also increase biodiversity and a healthy plant ecology.
Here was our main criteria for choosing the best seed suppliers:
Non-GMO:
This is non-negotiable for us. We want to see zero biotechnology use to create genetically modified organisms.
Open-pollinated:
Pollination is by outside forces like bees, bats, wind, or water, as opposed to farmers or scientists. Open pollination leads to “true to seed” plants, meaning you can save seeds to grow next season.
GMOs and hybrids often won’t even produce seeds, or they don’t produce properly, making them by definition unsustainable.
Organic:
USDA Organic credibility debates aside, to be organic, crops must be raised and processed in accordance with the USDA’s National Organic Program or a verified third-party auditor. Synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, GMOs, sewage sludge, and fresh manure are prohibited.
It’s worth noting that this is not a hard-and-fast rule, as seeds can be sustainable but not organic (and vica versa). Heirlooms are a good example, as many heirlooms varieties come from small independent communities and growers that aren’t organically certified, but still use sustainable practices to preserve heritage seeds.
Heirloom:
A pre-WW2 plant passed from one generation to the next and grown and saved for its hardiness, adaptability, flavor, and productivity. Heirloom seeds grow “true to seed” and are as close to the “original” seed that we have.
Again, not all sustainable seeds are necessarily heirloom, but heirlooms are a safe bet on no contamination of the gene pool.
Any truly ethical seed company will also ensure their heirlooms are ethically sourced by means of paying royalties for those preserved by Native, Amish, or Mennonite communities.
Final Thoughts On Ethical Seed Companies
Whether you’re digging into eco-friendly landscaping or a self-sufficient homestead, open pollinated sustainable seeds are the literal root of garden sustainability, and thus our planet’s.
The only way out of the dirt and darkness toward the proverbial light is a world where sustainability is our collective focus.
Roll up your sleeves, strap on your gardening gloves, and experience the real-life alchemy that comes from letting the magic of sustainable seeds unfurl in your own backyard—or just your apartment garden.
Plus, we’ve yet to mention the emotional and mental health benefits that gardening blooms internally for its greenskeepers!
So please, let’s berry the hatchet for once and for all with GMOs and encourage others to join the fight by sharing this article with your Walmart produce loving friends (yikes!).
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