Sourcing Seeds While Boycotting Israel, Part 2

I'm following up on my original Sourcing Seeds While Boycotting Israel post which shared research conducted by my friend Mary Dunn and has 6,000+ views to date. This is clearly a topic of keen interest in the days before spring arrives in the northern hemisphere amidst ongoing genocide in Gaza.

I am thrilled to share that my husband reached out to the farmer who starts our seeds for us -- a necessity for many veggies here in central Maine with its short growing season. She was happy to grow the seeds we provide rather than using seeds from Johnny's, a Maine seed company that has not pledged to boycott Israeli seeds. I am relieved because growing our own starts required a lot of work and still never achieved robust ready-for-planting seedlings that support better harvests.

A somewhat outdated article in the Bangor Daily News caused confusion for some of us as it seemed to contradict what Mary found about Maine seed company Fedco. But her contacts with Fedco are more recent and found this:

Hi Lisa,

Fedco has not pledged to stop carrying Israeli seed and personally, I doubt they will. 

6 months into the genocide they posted on their Insta page that they supported a ceasefire. It took them 6 months to say that. They have said they did not buy Israeli seeds this year. (They had enough in stock). They have not said they will never buy Israeli seed again. 

They have never called for the liberation of Palestinian people. 

I emailed again two weeks ago. No reply.  I call them the worst form of BS. Presenting themselves as a company with a social justice bent when in fact they aren’t. 

Time for an LTE. 

Thanks for sharing.

Mary

PS- Johnny's has never replied to anyone.

 

Finally, I call your attention to a blogger I respect who addresses a burning question of the 21st century: Can We Feed Ourselves Just Out Of Our Vegetable Gardens? Kollibri terre Sonnenblume has returned to this question several times over the years sharing the result of many cooperative attempts to do so. The short answer is "No" but the long answer is fascinating and can be summed up by his subhed: "Anything helps and what you learn will be valuable." I would say this is true of his blog overall as he approaches subjects like climate change and sustainable growing with deep philosophical understanding.

(All garden photos mine. Here are a couple more to say, I'm also very thankful for food crops that don't need replanting each year!)

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.

BDS Can Be Hard, But It's Worth It

I was with a young grandchild recently as they considered spending their own money on a trendy refillable water container on display in front of a Starbucks. I mentioned to the child that I personally am boycotting Starbucks because they feed the army that is killing people in Gaza. Later they overheard me say something about going to the town of Scarborough and reminded me that I was supposed to be boycotting it LOL Then, a couple of weeks later, they mounted a spirited argument to get me to drop my boycott of McDonald's -- because a certain McDonald's has a PlayPlace indoor playground.

They also tried the argument, But other people in our family go to McDonald's. That was a good opportunity to explain that I don't control other people's choices, only my own.

Boycotting the Zionist entity raises more than one moral dilemma. Many of us here are willing to put our money where our mouth is and boycott businesses based in or doing business with Israel. Easier said than done though, isn't it? If you're not sure which brands to boycott, there's an app (and another one and another one) for that.

The good news is that BDS is working! Here's an explanation of why.

Some boycotts are relatively easy to accomplish. Did you know Valero Energy sells Israel most of its jet fuel? If you live in a state where they operate retail outlets, you could boycott them.

Source: https://boycott-israel.org/boycott.html

But it can take a lot more motivation to locate and employ cumbersome workarounds to replace apps like airbnb or Google maps.

I've been boycotting Amazon for years, and got off Chrome in 2022, but how to actually boycott Google? Because they really, really deserve it.

https://x.com/RyanRozbiani/status/1823937350629499176

Which brings me to one of the most difficult areas to apply the B in BDS: seeds. 

Most tomato and pepper seed crops are grown in California, Israel and Chile. 

Maine Organic Farmers & Growers Association (MOFGA)

Interestingly, research sites I located for information on the provenance of seeds were repeatedly blocked on various browsers I was using (no, not Chrome). But I was able to find a bit of info with a little help from a friend.

Johnny's Seeds was selling mildew resistant Prospera Basil which is sourced from Israel in their 2023 catalog. 

Genesis Seeds Ltd, privately owned, is one of the world’s largest producers of certified organic vegetable, herb and flower seed since 1994. The company is based in Israel (Ashalim, High Negev, South of Be’er Sheva), where all research, and production takes place. All Genesis Seed products are grown only in Israel.

Source: Madein-Israel.com 

On September 21 at 11am we will be taking our monthly statewide coalition protest to the streets of Unity, Maine because thousands of complacent consumers will drive by on their way to the annual Common Ground Fair put on by MOFGA. 

Does that organization know it has vendors selling seeds from Israel? Based on their response to inquiries others have made about this, they do know.

But knowing is not enough. To defeat Israel, we will have to act with conviction. Even when it hurts.

Democratic Process Returns Support For Palestinians, How Inconvenient

Massive walkout at Harvard graduation yesterday

My union, the Maine branch of the National Education Association (MEA), is owned and operated by the Democratic Party and has been the whole time I have belonged. The NEA/MEA will oppose no wars despite chronic school underfunding, because wars are the business of the Democratic Party.

So with amazement I read that the Representative Assembly (RA) of the MEA passed a resolution instructing our pension fund to divest from "any corporation, state-owned entity, or financial product identified as being complicit in the violation of the human rights guaranteed to Palestinian civilians under international law.”

Which is a long way of saying Israel -- which they of course did not say, because you can't say that anymore. Just like you can't wear a keffiyeh in a Memorial Day parade (better make it a watermelon).

Washington University commencement protest

Or wear one to attend your own graduation that you and your family invested in. Or even be prevented from receiving the degree you earned, for nonviolent protesting.

The RA brought the voice of the people into the MEA and that's inconvenient for the owner/operators of the union. Democrats in Congress have been cheerleading Israel's genocide gleefully for months now. So where does a dinky state representative assembly get off voting to use the second plank of the BDS strategy? It's almost like teachers can think for themselves! 

I grudgingly admire the dark art on display here, that of finely slicing and dicing language as fascism creeps over the land. Here's the MEA president's letter in its entirety.

Dear Members,

MEA wanted to brief you on an item that passed at the MEA Representative Assembly (RA) last weekend. The MEA RA is the democratic governing body of the union. Every year, MEA members submit New Business Items (action items) concerning a wide range of issues. Some are intimately tied to MEA operations and others reflect policy positions delegates would like the union to take. MEA is committed to democratic processes and open debate. These values are fundamental not just to MEA’s vision as a union but to our functioning as a democratic body.

MEA delegates adopted NBI 11, which states, “The MEA will urge trustees of the Maine Public Employees Retirement System to develop a cost-effective and financially sound investment portfolio that does not contribute to any corporation, state-owned entity, or financial product identified as being complicit in the violation of the human rights guaranteed to Palestinian civilians under international law.”

 A New Business Item (NBI) is NOT an official belief statement or position taken by MEA or its membership. As directed by the delegates at the assembly, MEA staff will reach out to MainePERS and notify them of the NBI passed by the delegation.

While MEA will notify MainePERS of this, the New Business Item, as approved by the delegation, does not reflect the Union’s position. As educators we have a responsibility to speak out against injustices and respect differing opinions. Our members and the students we serve represent diverse groups, and we value each and every one of their opinions.

Please do not hesitate to reach out, and our deepest apologies for any pain caused by any misrepresentation in the media

In Unity,

Grace Leavitt, President

Maine Education Association

Don't you love the slightly desperate In Unity as her sign-off? Can you hear Zionists howling in pain and crying antisemitism in the final paragraph?

Which side are you on, Grace, which side are you on?

I'm pretty sure that civil unrest will be fomented in the U.S. to stave off the revolution we need. It's why we have such a proliferation of guns. What I did not foresee is that opposition to or support for genocide in Palestine would become the litmus test for our political affiliations. 

So be it. When it comes to genocide, I know which side I'm on.

College Students Taking The Lead Standing Up For Gaza

I often experience a push-pull between organizing and writing; both are time intensive and, for me, best done earlier in the day. Yesterday was a case in point. I had two unwritten blog posts cued up, one about the moral queasiness of U.S. government responses to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling against Israel's genocide in Gaza and one about the pernicious lie that eternal wars are a good jobs program.

But then the efforts of many organizers in a statewide coalition here in Maine paid off and my husband and I spent the day in Farmington near the U Maine campus at a rousing protest for Gaza.

All four corners of a downtown intersection were filled as more than 50 people showed up. Several of the students said some version of, This never happens in Farmington. About half of those who came were students, the result of fantastic organizing by the new Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter on campus. They did this despite their fears of losing financial aid for speaking up against genocide -- yes, we are in that world.

In contrast to other Saturday afternoon protests around Maine, no passing cars honked. One rolled down the window to yell, You are supporting people who rape their own babies -- showing that propaganda works, especially on people who want to hate and don't want to examine actual evidence. Farmington is less of a college town and more of an economically struggling former mill town. Left-leaning students say they feel isolated on campus and that most students are apathetic.

Well, they weren't isolated yesterday and many reported that made them feel hopeful. 

Students who spoke after we reconvened in a nearby park gazebo shared that they will be pressing UMF and other U Maine campuses to divest from apartheid Israel. This is the D in BDS, a highly effective way to bring pressure and the reason that many U.S. states have outlawed it at the bidding of the Israel lobby.

Other notes: a student who'll be interviewed soon on radio about this work got some support and coaching from a young teacher who often acts as an articulate spokesperson for the Maine Coalition for Palestine. Yay!

Two students from the far away University of Southern Maine had driven up from Biddeford to attend the protest after they heard about it through SJP on their campus and also Healthcare Workers for Palestine.

Would it surprise you to know that even though a press release with powerful quotes from students went out to all media in Maine, not a single reporter showed up?

We didn't attempt our usual group picture but I did try to take a panoramic shot when most of us were in the gazebo for cookies, tabling, and speeches.

When it was my turn, I spoke about the ICJ case -- subject of my recorded interview the previous day in response to a blog post "If Gaza Were In Maine.." That post shared an powerful map analogy that I expanded on but did not create.

Map created by Will T of the Maine Coalition for Palestine

So the synergy between writing and organizing is a thing. Even though one makes me feel like my head is going to explode while the other reduces the pressure (I'll let you guess which is which), they're both things I can do on behalf of those living under siege and watching their children die of dehydration.

I still want to write that post on the ICJ decision once I've had time to consider the varied responses I've seen and heard so far.

But first, there's some organizing that needs my immediate attention.

Shut It Down For Palestine Roundup

I was able to attend two of the many, many actions in solidarity with Palestine in my state this week.

On Friday evening I joined 150 at a demonstration held outside the state capitol building fence, sponsored by the newly minted Maine Coalition for Palestine (which I've now joined). Truly excellent speeches by well-informed activists were interspersed with chants like "Free, free Palestine" and a whole lot of honking from passing motorists. The crowd assembled was quite different from the group I stood with about a month ago at a same time, same place demo. Not nearly as many people of color or Arabic-speaking college students this time. Maybe they have peeled off to join demos nearer to them in our sprawling, sparsely populated state? The crowd last Friday had more oldsters but was predominately white 20 and 30 somethings from coalition organizations like the PSL* and Student for Justice in Palestine.

One of my old friends who has done social work with children in Palestine told another friend who was there of her desire to get arrested opposing Israel's genocide, and to spend Christmas Day in jail. We'll see where that goes.

All Topsham Nov 18 photos by Mary Beth Sullivan

On Saturday we had our regular monthly antiwar meetup with a statewide coalition that now includes the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, Maine Natural Guard, PeaceWorks of Greater Brunswick, Communist Party of Maine, Maine Green Independent Party, Citizens Opposing Active Sonar Threats (COAST), *Party for Socialism & Liberation Maine, Libertarian Party of Maine, People’s Party of Maine, Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine, Veterans for Peace - National, and United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC). 

We began the monthly event over a year ago with a focus on objecting to funding a proxy war on Russia, but soon expanded to include a robust set of demands mostly borrowed from UNAC.

I'm glad we did that and especially that we held on to the demand about Israel (when I was on the Jimmy Dore Show in April he read out our demands and commented, "Strong words!" about that one). 

https://youtu.be/v3NQmgnp-EM?si=SNeQSSAfZnNqNyjL&t=98

I'm glad because our monthly gathering on Saturday had clearly morphed into a Palestine solidarity demonstration with flags, kufiyahs, and messaging around stopping the genocide in Gaza. There were 30 of us if you count Beans the dog, who is a regular, and ages ranged from 90+ years to 17 months. Our chanting wasn't as loud as the Augusta group's but it was just as passionate. With an anti-imperialist perspective, it's possible to oppose all the empire's wars without the contradictions that the two corporate parties run into when they brand each war as D or R depending on who's in the White House.

Shared on @pslmaine's Insta feed with other photos from Nov 17 Shut it down event in Augusta

One of the best signs I saw in Augusta called out all of Maine's congressional delegation which includes two Democrats (Jared Golden and Chellie Pingree), a Republican (Susan Collins), and an Independent (Angus King). All are supporting Israel's genocide in Gaza with our tax dollars and Mainers are pissed. All have failed both at representing their constituents and at being decent human beings.

Stay tuned for lots more actions in the days to come!

Can't get out to a demo? Maybe do some boycotting of these brands doing business with Israeli occupiers.

Information Control Takes On Boycott, Divestment And Sanctions #BDS

History reminds us that lots of nasty practices were -- or still are -- legal. 

Apartheid was once legal in South Africa and is becoming increasingly so in Israel. Slavery was once legal in the U.S. and remains so in countries where consumer products are created for the U.S. market. Segregated access to public transportation was once legal in Montgomery, Alabama but it was successfully opposed by a boycott that spread like wildfire under the leadership of Rosa Park and her coalition partners. The second time Parks was arrested, it wasn't for refusing to get to the back of the bus; it was because boycotting was illegal.

Following the UK's lead, the U.S. Congress took a giant step toward protecting the state of Israel from boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS) aimed at ending the violent occupation of Palestine. But you will not likely read about the special status of Israel in the corporate "news" about the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015.

Nor did the public hear much about the anti-BDS provisions included in the bill signed by President Obama last summer. As reported July 2 by Josh Ruebner for Electronic Intifiada:

This provision, tucked into the Trade Promotion Authority bill — more commonly known as “fast track” authority — makes it a “principal negotiating objective” of the United States “to discourage politically motivated actions to boycott, divest from, or sanction Israel” in current negotiations with the European Union over the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. 

The law also specifically extends this US discouragement of BDS to include “Israeli-controlled territories,” a transparent ploy to put pressure on the EU to reverse nascent steps to label products from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Nor, for that matter, has the public heard much about the highly toxic TTIP in any of its aspects. But that's the topic for another post.

Why is the U.S. government specifically aiming to squelch the BDS movement? 1) Because it has such a special relationship with Israel; and 2) because BDS is working.

The fizzy drink maker with the factory in occupied Palestine shut down their plant after international pressure on the SodaStream brand. That was after the actress who is the face of the brand's ad campaign was asked to resign from her Global Ambassador position with international humanitarian aid organization Oxfam. (Full disclosure: I've been boycotting her films ever since).

Source: US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation facebook posted on February 24 with the comment, "Look what's in today's LA Times after we were censored by Variety! We need to continue pushing on this campaign to urge Oscar nominees to#SkipTheTrip so please find resources and actions to take here: http://bit.ly/1Tm04Gb."

And, as long as we're in Hollywood, let's note the lawsuit brought by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences against the purveyor of the "swag bag" given to Oscar nominees in certain big categories. Responding to a voucher in the bag for a free trip to Israel worth $55,000, Palestinian activists have called on Oscar nominees to "reject Israel propaganda trip" because of Israel's apartheid policies. The Academy is distancing itself from the company that distributed the bags and assembled their contents, using court filings to say loudly and clearly that the swag bags and their contents have no official relationship with the Oscars. 

Did the marijuana vaporizer or the trip to Israel inspire the lawsuit? We may never know. It's very doubtful that a journalist working for a major media corporation will delve into it.

Institutions of higher learning with active divestment campaigns include Tufts, the University of Mississippi, Harvard and MIT, Columbia/Barnard, Kansas State, Evergreen State College and Stanford among others. There are ongoing attempts to silence campus groups that criticize Israel or punish them for even debating the issues. Heard about any of that on the evening news?

Ok, then, have you heard about this? Sarah Lazare reporting in AlterNet on February 22:

The Israeli government is planning to pour $26 million this year alone into a covert cyber operation to attack and sabotage the global human rights movement for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS), earmarking large sums for technology companies to spy on Muslim activists in the United States and Europe.

Didn't think so.