State of Organic Seed

By CloVer Bee Farm

With the beginning of every growing season; hopeful is the farmer. Plans are made, seeds are sown, and bets are made for ideal conditions. All of this is inspired by a small seed. Seeds hold potential for so much. We are Diversified Market Farmers who run a CSA focused on vegetables. The diversity and availability of seeds are essential to our business. Lately, for many of us life has thrown more challenges, and this has been hard to deal with and adapt to. From not being able to secure the seed varieties we knew from our previous years of farming to droughts and unpredictable rains, as well as personal challenges within and outside of farming. All of this begs the question: “What is going on in the seed saving and seed distributing world? How does this affect seed supply”?

Both Paul Betz of High Mowing Organic Seeds and Clint Freund of Cultivating the Commons had great answers to those questions. In Clint’s response they mentioned it may be more difficult for humans to adapt than the plants we rely on, “Plants, at large, will move quickly in ways they know how and fill the new niches that need filling. The plants we’ve brought with us and chosen as close friends in our agriculture might not travel forward as easily. Bringing [over] crops that were Indigenous to the Mediterranean to the Upper Midwest’s moist, hot and cold climate doesn’t bode well for their adaptability.” With that statement it begs the question of: “What would we do as a CSA farm without that cauliflower or broccoli? What would we do as a larger society without those staples?”

High Mowing has adapted to changes with a variety of tactics. One particularly bumpy challenge they have faced is the lack of certifiable land. On the whole, there is much more conventionally farmed land than organic, which causes fewer opportunities to grow large quantities of seed. High Mowing mitigates this by placing more contracts in many more places, which allows larger quantities to flow through the door in order to meet demand. Having these varying contracts also helps mitigate any crop failures that might occur often due to an unstable climate. A number of folks became interested in seeds and gardening during 2020 and the demand has continued. This can definitely be alarming for the late buying market/CSA farmer! Paul mentioned that more people are interested in Organic seeds in general and that High Mowing seeds is doing what they can to help meet the demand such as, “dramatically increasing bulk storage.” Seed storage is essential to keeping the legacy of the seeds alive. How does High Mowing keep those seeds viable? They have 35,000 ft of conditioned storage! The area is held at 40 degrees with 40% humidity every day of the year. This way they also ensure that growers can order at any time and High Mowing can stand by their mission statement; ‘We offer 100% certified organic seed, bred to perform best in organic conditions with robust, vigorous genetics and modern disease resistances. We are passionate about supporting the important work of our organic growers and we know that together we can build a greener, more just and community supported world, one seed at a time.’

Adapting our current storing infrastructure is only one step to adapting to a changing world, but what other things are happening in the seed world? Outside of just the vegetable world every industry and every individual is feeling the effects of inflation. Buying early, in large quantities, and being more stringent with various things helps lessen the jumps in costs, but it isn’t stopping inflation. Garlic growers can easily attest to this. Organic garlic seed has nearly doubled in price in the last ten years due to demand and availability. Other seeds haven’t seen quite such a leap in cost, but they are still increasing in price year to year. Last year our regional representative at High Mowing said their 2022 seed price would be going up 6%.

Historically though, how does the availability of seeds look? Are things as dire as some of us think, or do we have a skewed perspective because many of us haven’t been buying seeds for a long time? Paul Betz was a vegetable farmer prior to working for High Mowing. He has a great answer to this question: “The number of organic varieties that are available now is a lot greater than when I was growing vegetables. We have seen a continued commitment to organics from many of the companies that we have worked with for years, and they are bringing newer varieties to the OG market every season. When I started in 2007 [at High Mowing] in sales, our big message to our growers was you need

to order early, because there wasn’t enough seed to go around. That has changed. It seems to me that thanks to the diligence of places like High Mowing we CSA farmers can rest easily, the state of Organic seed here is strong.”

Farmers, gardeners, and everyone else in between are adapting, reacting, and pivoting with the world’s many changes and challenges. Many of us are meeting this head on. Seed savers are at the forefront of all of this, and their vital role and dedication allows us to put food on our plate. Clint said something which really resonates and gives hope for the future, “ . . . handscale seed [companies] look like a network of cooperators selecting and developing Open-Pollinated varieties for home gardeners and small farmers . . . providing more options and an emphasis on bio-regionally adapted seed. Subjecting our varieties to the rigors of Upper Midwest climates and testing our biennials.” This is the passion that many seed farmers hold. If demand for seed sustains or increases, the availability and adaptation will only increase the diversity of seeds. Ultimately, there will be more seed outlets and ideally, farmers and gardeners will be better equipped to meet many of the challenges they face in the future.

Clover Bee Farm was started in 2015 by Margo and Andrew Hanson-Pierre. They farm outside of Taylors Falls, Minn. growing diversified vegetables on three acres serving a CSA, farmers market, and wholesale.

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