Organic Seed Alliance

Dear Friends of Organic Seed Alliance,

As you may know, Organic Seed Alliance is a plaintiff in a lawsuit that challenges the deregulation of herbicide-tolerant “Roundup Ready” sugar beets by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). We are represented in the suit by lawyers from Earthjustice and The Center for Food Safety (who are also co-plaintiffs). We'd like to share with you the reasons for our decision to join this suit, our future plan of action, and ask for your understanding and support as we move forward.

Organic Seed Alliance, while obviously not fond of trends in biotechnology, is not an “anti-GMO watchdog”. Over the years we have offered proactive solutions and alternatives to farmers and gardeners. Through seed education, field support, research, and participatory plant breeding, Organic Seed Alliance works to build seed systems that serve the needs of local, ecologically generative, and ethically sound food systems. While we do have an Advocacy program that communicates on issues pertaining to farmers' seed rights, consolidation in the seed industry and the loss of varieties, and biotech risks to the natural resource of seed, a lawsuit was not something we actively desired. Rather we felt compelled to participate in the suit once farmers we work with expressed a concern that their breeding projects and seed production would be compromised by the release of genetically engineered beets. We felt the integrity of organic seed was at risk, and as such the integrity of organic food – for it starts with the seed.

Unfortunately, the movement of biotechnology is not going to stop with beets. Transgenic cabbage with BT has been approved and seed farmers in the northwest have been approached to grow these crops, an incredible threat to all brassica seed crops (and the northwest is a world leader in brassica seed production). Carrots, squash, lettuce, cucumbers – all are in the GMO research or production pipeline. Luckily, over the last year Organic Seed Alliance has been incubating a new organization – a membership association that would have the capacity to lobby, engage in litigation, and promote organic seed systems – allowing Organic Seed Alliance to continue its focus on education and research. The Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association (OSGATA) was formally incorporated on January 18, 2008. Voting membership will be open to seed professionals, with associate membership open to the general public, those of you who do not formally work in agriculture but are supporters of organic seed. The two organizations combined will offer action (the association) and alternatives (the alliance)

If you have concerns about the integrity of our seed and food cultures, our agriculture, and if you recognize that the solution to risks from biotechnology are twofold – action and alternatives – then we encourage you to work with us. If you have not yet sent your annual donation to OSA, please do so, and support our education and research programs.

But also consider becoming a member of OSGATA – as a seed farmer, a farmer or gardener who uses seed, or an eater who enjoys the fruits of organic farming.

Sincerely,

Dan Hobbs, OSA Executive Director
and
Matthew Dillon, OSA Director of Advocacy

Click here to read the Roundup Ready complaint as filed by Earthjustice and Center for Food Safety.

Click here to read Concerns with Contamination and Coexistence, a perspective piece written by Matthew Dillon.

Organic Seed Alliance
P.O. Box 772
Port Townsend, WA 98368
360-385-7192
fax 360-385-7455