Sourcing Seeds While Boycotting Israel

Screenshot from a short documentary detailing destruction of Gaza's agricultural sector, which you can view here.

It's that time of year, when gardeners in the northern hemisphere turn to seed catalogs to order for spring planting.

Big problem: in my state both the big seed companies use seeds grown in Israel. With 15 months of horrific genocide behind us and more on the horizon as Israel violates the terms of their ceasefire agreement with Hamas, this boycott is non-negotiable for many of us.

As reported in the blog Palestine Will Be Free, this is an English translation of Hamas' summary of agricultural destruction:

The Government Media Office in Gaza held a press conference on, Sunday, February 2, at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City and gave an assessment of the damage..

• 185,000 m² of farmland destroyed
• 49 agricultural warehouses, 6,000 livestock, 1,000 poultry farms, and extensive irrigation networks damaged

Sadly both Fedco and Johnny's Select Seeds have been contacted -- repeatedly -- by BDS activists looking for accurate information. Both have been lobbied internally by their workers to boycott seeds and bulbs that produce profits for Israeli companies, to no avail. 

My friend and former colleague Mary Dunn, a retired science teacher, has shared her extensive research on companies that do or do not observe a boycott of Israeli products. Here's Mary's letter, and the replies she has received to date.

Hi,

As a long time gardener who is horrified watching the ongoing violence in Palestine and southern Lebanon, I realize a moral obligation to do my best to not purchase Israeli seed.

I have written to your company before and you replied you did not purchase Israeli seed. But in doing this research one company explained that this year they did not purchase Israeli seed because they have enough for this year but will probably continue to order from them in the future. This made me realize I need to be more clear. 

I am  looking for seed companies that will pledge to not purchase or sell seed from any Israeli seed company or any seed company which sells Israeli seed, such as Johnny's. 

In particular I am referring to seeds coming from the Israeli seed companies: Genesis, Hazara, Breedx, Gadot, IsraelAgri, Nirit Seeds, TomaTech, Origene Seeds, and Gedera Syngenta.

Please let me know, clearly and honestly, where your company stands on this.

Thank  you,

Mary Dunn

Maine

REPLIES:

 

Bhoomi Devi Seeds - We  grow all of our own seeds here on our MOFGA certified farm in Lincolnville, Maine. We do not work with corporations or conglomerations. In the event of a crop failure, we source that variety from other small scale certified organic seed growers within the US.

TrueLove Seeds - We do not and will not ever purchase Israeli seed. We do not purchase seed grown overseas. We do sell many varieties of seeds originally from Palestine, shared with us by Palestinian friends, but grown here in the US like all our other seeds. 

Turtle Tree Seeds - We hold seed source transparency very, very dear. We list in our paper (or PDF) catalog where every seed comes from. The only ones that do not have the specific farm/farmer named as the source are the ones which have come from two like-minded seed companies, one in Germany, one in Switzerland, who have similar local networks of growers. We are no longer able to buy seed from them because of the international shipping challenges, so I haven't looked into their practices recently, but when we did buy from them, neither one was working with any larger companies, only with local farmers who grew seed for them directly, as our network of US farmers does for us (although in recent years we have been growing a larger and larger percentage of our own seeds, far, far more than most seed companies, around 80-85%.)

Thanks for asking these important questions. Seed source transparency is a hugely important topic for so many reasons!!!!

Warmly,

Lia

Territorial Seed- Hi Mary,

We do not purchase Israeli seeds.

We do not  have seeds that are from any Israeli seeds companies.

We are a small business our seeds come from local growers and our farm.

Kassy, TSC

True Leaf Market/Kitazawa Seeds- Hi Mary,

Thank you for reaching out to us.

Rest assured, we have never sourced our seeds from Israel and Israeli companies in the past, and we have no plans to do so in the future.

Please let us know if we can help with anything else.- Juliet Webe True Leaf Market & Kitazawa Seed Company

Victory Seeds- We  do not purchase seeds from any of those companies, Including Johnny’s, or any other companies in Israel.  We just buy directly from suppliers or growers. Additionally, I’ll say, nearly all of our seed comes from the US, a bit from South America, Netherlands, and India.

Best, Jon

Hudson Valley Seeds - Hello Mary,

Thank you so much for your continued resolve in this area. We are not purchasing any seeds from Israel or Israel produced seed even from American based suppliers. We take this issue seriously and have looked into the original source for all of our products -seed and non-seed items alike. I hope this answers your question clearly. Let us know if you need any further clarification.

Warmly,

Lindsay

Southern Exposure Seed Exchange -  Mary, we only source seed from the US. We do not support genocide. If you look closely you might find some subtle pro palestine messaging on our catalog cover this year 🍉

Renee’s Garden - We understand and respect your sentiments. I have checked in with management and they have confirmed that "we do not have relationships with any of these companies and do not have any seed in packets from any of these companies." 

Seed Savers Exchange - We do not source any seeds from the companies you've listed.  

Experimental Farm Network - always clear about not buying Israeli seed.  

Turtle Tree - No, we grow most of the seeds we sell, and buy a small amount from other US biodynamic farmers (such as the farmers at Meadowlark seed farm and several others), and also a small amount from two biodynamic seed companies in Europe (Bingenheim and Sativa), which have a similar set of values to ours, and also work with a small network of regional seed growers and seed breeders.

Fruition - We grow ~60% of the seeds we share and the rest come only from individuals we are in community and relationship with --- so we can confidently say none of the seeds we share will benefit these Israeli seed companies. 

We are collaborating to create a 'seed buyer's guide' sharing more of these details so people can align their dollars and values more deeply.

Thanks for being you & here's to the seeds that will thrive beyond any empire.

Eden Brothers Seeds - Thank you for reaching out to us with your concerns. We understand and respect your desire to make informed purchasing decisions.

We want to assure you that we do not source any of our seeds from any of the companies you mentioned. If you have any additional questions, please feel free to reach out.

Please let us know if we can be of any further assistance.Thanks and have a great day Michelle. Customer Service

BDS alert!

Richters Herbs-  Thank you for reaching out to us with your question. We understand that sourcing is an important consideration for many of our customers for a variety of reasons, and we appreciate you taking the time to enquire.

We do carry some seeds from an Israeli supplier, as we source from a variety of regions worldwide based on quality, uniqueness, and availability. At this time, we do not have a policy or pledge to exclude seeds from Israeli suppliers. However, I have shared your concerns with our Sourcing Manager for consideration.

We recognize your concerns, and we truly respect your perspective. We sincerely apologize that we are unable to meet your expectations in this regard at this time. If you are looking for alternative options, we would be happy to assist you in finding selections that align with your preferences. Please let us know if there is anything else we can do for you.

Kind regards, Richters Customer Service

My husband and I love to grow food for our family and flowers for the pollinators. But for the past several years have been purchasing robust starts from a local farm that, unfortunately, uses Johnny's seeds. We will be contacting our grower to see if she'll consider using seeds we buy from sources that don't profit Israel. If not, we may ask a friend with a light table to grow our starts this year. I'll keep you posted.

EDITED FEB 28: Edited to add the name Turtle Tree Seeds and link.