Organic Gardening Tips: The Benefits of Buying Organic Seeds
Why buy organic seeds? Looking at the seed catalog sold in a farm, you might notice that organic seeds are priced a bit higher than ordinary seeds. What gives? Usually, crops grown for seed stock take longer to harvest. Hence, they stay in the ground for a longer period of time. A longer period of time means that the seeds are exposed to more agricultural chemicals. Notably, many agricultural chemicals have been known to have harmful effects on human health as well as on the environment. Organic seeds have been exposed to fewer chemicals if not at all.
Another thing to note is that organic seeds have been cultured to adapt to organic growing conditions eliminating the need for harmful agricultural chemicals. Many conventional seeds have been tailored to ripen fruit at the same time for ease of machine harvesting. This is good for large-scale vendors. Normally, the organic seed varieties are better suited for small-scale producers and home gardeners since they grow in normal conditions
Using organic seeds also ensures the improvement of future varieties of organic seeds. Increased demand of these organic seeds will urge researchers to improve the existing varieties. It will be like hitting two birds in one stone. You get good and safe seeds while also helping to forward the organic seed movement.
Notably, some governments like the United States already support organic seeds such that they issue certificates to certified organic producers which are closely monitored by the Department of Agriculture National Organic Program. Being certified organic growers also gives small-scale growers an edge over the large-scale crop growers who do not use organic.
A similar certification system is now also being implemented in Australia. Organic farms in Australia are given certification after 3 years of compliance with organic planting mandates. However, there is no existing mandate on the labeling of organic products. Nevertheless, Australia does implement a strict monitoring of pesticide use on food products. Still, exported produce must meet the National Standard for Organic and Biodynamic Produce.
Recently in Australia, the sale of organic produce has increased prompting organic farmers to call for further research into the organic varieties. There is actually an increasing consumer demand for organic products but there is very little funding for research. Patronizing organic seeds and produce now will further drive research and development projects. This will ensure a brighter future for organic seeds.
Going organic does not actually eliminate all use of pesticides and other chemicals. However, with organic produce, the use of these chemicals are minimized and therefore, traces of these chemicals are left to a bare minimum.
Interested for more about organic seeds, here’s one blog you can visit:
- Preserving the Harvest | High Mowing Organic Seeds’ Blog – The … – While we all love to eat our veggies fresh from the garden, the overabundance of our crops can and should be reserved for later use. Many herbs and vegetables can be frozen, dried, fermented, canned, or cellar stored so we …
