Niki Jabbour….recently shook a hornet’s nest. The talented gardener, book author, and radio host said on Facebook that she’d been getting a lot of anxious emails from people concerned about whether their vegetable seeds contained GMOs….Niki’s answer – you have nothing to worry about, because GMO seeds aren’t available to home gardeners.
….An avalanche of angry emails followed, implying….she was trying to throw consumers off the scent of what Big Ag is secretly doing. Well, I’m here to tell you today that Niki is correct.
GMO stands for genetically modified organism….a plant that has acquired a desired trait (increased yield, disease resistance, nutritional content, storage length, etc.)….from an unrelated organism within the confines of a laboratory.
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Can Home Gardeners Buy GMO Veggie Seeds?
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No….First, they’re much more expensive than regular seed and can’t be saved from year to year. Thus, they make economic sense only for large-scale agriculture. Second, Roundup Ready crops are designed for [farmers] who spray acres and acres of plants with [the herbicide] Roundup. You planning on doing that?
Why then, you might ask, do seed packets at garden centers often state “Non-GMO” on them? Because unless they do, you might think they are GMO….Seed packets might as well say “Plutonium Free” on them as well. Otherwise, you might suspect they’re highly radioactive.
[Editor’s note: Author Steve Bender is a home gardening writer for Southern Living.]
Read full, original article: Are You Scared of GMO Garden Seeds?
