Why Now? Why a Cooperative?
Meeting the challenges to the organic seed industry.
Why Now?
In recent years consolidation in the seed industry has increased dramatically. During this same period of time the organic market has grown at a rate unlike any agricultural market in history. While the organic market and the certified acreage continue to increase, organic seed availability has not kept pace as traditional seed companies were slow to invest in organic production practices. Organic producers are highly dependent upon plant varieties bred for industrial agriculture. Larger seed companies have focused on the most profitable varieties, narrowing the diversity of open-pollinated varieties available to farmers and gardeners.
Organic farming relies on bio-diverse systems for productivity and resilience. There is a need to produce seed within organic farming systems, selecting for traits of interest, including adaptation to local climatic and soil conditions, weed competition, durable disease and pest resistance, beneficial soil microorganism - root interactions, nutrient uptake, yield stability, and nutritional and quality traits.
Why a Cooperative?
Forming as a cooperative presents special advantages for meeting this need:
- identifying the agronomic and market needs of organic market farmers
- selecting high quality seed with traits that meet organic farmers' needs
- providing the diversity of seed crop production experience needed
- building sufficient volume and diversity of products,
- coordinating seed production with market demand.
