Now mind you, I’m no fan of Monsanto.
But don’t we all buy fresh seed every year? I always have.
I’m not trying to start a fight here.
I am going to bed because I have a raging sinus headache. But PLEASE straighten me out, especially if I have it all wrong.
A lot of us prefer heirloom seeds. I’m fortunate to live near a veggie farm that grows from a lot of heirloom seed and can buy seed from them if I wish.
A few years back I asked a friend if I could trade some morning glory seeds for a color she had growing. She told me that hers don’t produce seeds and sure enough there was no evidence of seedpods on her plants that fall.
It has always been common practice for a lot of farmers to save a certain amount of the crop back to plant as the next years seed. This law will prevent that and will legally require that farmers have to purchase new seed, from Monsanto of course. It is aimed at eliminating competition and placing Monsanto in control of the seed industry. I assure you that when I go to plant garden, I am not about going to be forced to plant Monsanto seed.
There are 56 pounds in a bushel of corn. Corn is now planted by computer controlled planters that spaces the corn seeds in the row such that the end result is something like 32,000 plants per acre. The companies began bagging corn seed in bushel bags, then 50# bags, and now 40 pound bags. They have the price at about $110 per bag of seed now. Corn at the local grain elevator is something like $3.50. If this bill is allowed to pass, farmers will be working for Monsanto. It is all part of the socialist plan. You know, Monsanto is not American owned any more?????
Hybrids are nice, are disease resistant, give good yields, etc...., but keep you on the dole for new seeds every year. For the last 5 yrs I have been growing heirlooms and a few exotics, and always harvest the seeds for the following year. I grow some hybrids too, but not many. Heirlooms take extra work, but once you get the soil prepped well, and tend to their basic needs (water, pest control, feeding, weeding) they really pay off.
No.
Some of us recognize that our plants actually produce seeds, save them, and use them the next year.
There's a difference between buying fresh seeds annually because it's convenient vs. because government has prohibited not doing so.