Making sure seed is not GM

[VestalVirgin]

After learning that Monsanto & Co like to smuggle their GM crops into countries for a secret hostile takeover, I am now very worried about the seed I bought being polluted.

Is there any way a normal person can find out? There are some companies that offer tests for genetic modifications, but they don't have price lists, which I fear means that it is unaffordable for the ordinary person / not offered to non-professionals.

(Especially the maize seed I bought I am worried about because it has been imported from the US after the whole GMO thing got started. The people who sell it certainly mean no harm, but I am also not sure they had it tested.)

[shovetheholly]

I could be wrong, but I think all seed sold in the UK is GM free. Even commercial seed! Seed imported from the US should theoretically play by those rules too, though whether it does so is another question.

Monsanto are truly, truly evil and a complete disgrace of a company. They will do anything they can to get a foothold, no matter what the damage to ecosystems, small producers or the planet as a whole and this isn't just a GM issue, it's about pesticides, herbicides, and the way that they operate a kind of cartel and blackmail small producers to buy their products. However, they have so far been held in some check by the EU (compared to their rampantly predatory behaviour in America). One of my big concerns is deregulation of the UK market in the wake of Brexit, which may give them a huge market here.

[VestalVirgin]

I am in Germany, but, yeah, it should be GM free, problem is, it could already have been contaminated by GM pollen in the US, as the recommendations on distance for fields are absolute bullshit, and won't apply in any case if someone just drives a car through a flowering field.

A book I read recommends growing white varieties in order to spot contaminations easier, but is all GM maize yellow, and is yellow a dominant trait in maize?

I plan to save seed (you never know for how long open pollinated seed will be available at all, what with hybrids being forced on the farmers) so anything I buy will remain in the genepool of my garden maize.

Perhaps it'd be wiser to grow an old German variety, but the American one is so pretty!

The EU is not so great, either, with the regulations that drive open-pollinated vegetables out of the market.

I kinda hope that the UK will rebel against both the GMO nonsense and the hybrid hype. Well. We'll see.

[ChuckSnowballs]

If you are planning on saving maize/corn seed, you need isolation for at least a mile in any direction from any other maize/corn, and you need at least 100 plants or you may end up with inbreeding.

I would recommend sourcing your seed each year from good seed companies or joining a Heritage Seed Library - this link will help you find a good supplier.

[shovetheholly]

This link might help you. At the bottom, under 'policies on "industrialised" seed' is some information about GMOs

[shovetheholly]

Ooops, posted too soon! Here is the link:

www.ethicalconsumer.org/buyersguides/homegarden/seeds.aspx

I hear good things about Stormy Hall and Real Seed Collection.

I would second chucks idea of heirloom seeds. It's such a wonderful thing to grow something different, and to be contributing to conservation efforts. Cross-pollination of some varieties is always going to be an issue in areas where there are lots of different crops, but at least by growing rare things you can help keep the gene pool diverse!

[PinkSwimGoggles]

try the 'real seed company'
look up the varieties they sell and go from there.

I have bought via amazon marketplace seeds from organic seed producers for rare varieties.

[PinkSwimGoggles]

www.realseeds.co.uk/about.html

a german seed company which I have ordered from

[ChuckSnowballs]

Just realised I didn't post the link

www.off-grid.info/food-independence/heirloom-seed-suppliers.html