state of organic seed
TRANSCRIPT
State of Organic Seed
Kristina Hubbard Director of Advocacy & Communications
Project Summary
State of Organic Seed is an ongoing project to monitor opportunities and challenges in building seed systems that benefit the organic community
Need: Organic seed lags behind • Assess challenges in organic seed systems • Publish report with recommended solutions • Facilitate working groups to work toward solutions
Organic Farmer Survey Assessment tools • Producer survey & input from certifiers • Analysis of organic seed funding • Symposium (2010) • Report & recommendations (2011)
Producer survey • Assess organic producers’ attitudes & perceptions • Identify obstacles that restrict usage • Provide the organic community useful information for
improving the use, quality & integrity of organic seed
Organic Farmer Survey: Demographics
• Vegetable crops: 43% grew some vegetables on average of 27 acres in cultivation (range: 0.1 - 1,000 acres)
• Field crops: 60% grew some field crops on an average of 188 acres (range: 0.1 - 6,342 acres)
• Forage crops: 48% grew some forage crops on average of 103 acres (range: 1 - 1,743 acres)
Organic Seed Usage Overall, about 20% of farmers responding indicate
they have been using 100% organic seed for at least three years
• 7% used no organic seed • Total vegetable acreage planted with organic seed is 29% • Total field crop acreage planted with organic seed 70% • Total forage acreage planted with organic seed: 54%
• Vegetables clearly lagged behind, with only 69 out of 437 vegetable crop producers using 100% organic seed
Increased Organic Seed Usage
57% 24%
20%
Q #16: Over the last 3 years have you increased the percentage of organic seed that you use?
Yes
No
Have been using 100% certified organic seed for at least 3 years
Figure 19.
Increased Organic Seed Usage
Yes 61%
No 39%
Q #17: Over the last three years has your certifier requested that you take greater steps to source organic seed?
Figure 20.
Increased Organic Seed Usage
78%
22%
59% 41%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%
Yes No
Over the last three years have you increased the percentage of certified organic seed that you use?
Comparison of increased organic seed use and certifier requesting more steps to source organic seed
Certifier requested more steps to source organic seed
Certifier did not request more steps
Figure 67.
Challenges in Usage
• 58% percent of producers indicated that varietal availability was a “significant factor” – 79% indicate it was a moderate factor or greater
• Lack of varietal availability was identified more in vegetable crops than any other cropping system
• 41% indicate price as moderate factor or greater
• “Distrust of organic seed quality” – 10% indicate it was a moderate factor – 6% indicate more than moderate – 6% indicate significant factor
Seed Integrity: GMOs
• 73% agreed or strongly agreed that seed companies “should conduct testing for GE contamination”
37% 37%
21%
2% 4%
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree
Perc
enta
ge o
f Res
pond
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Q #22: Seed companies should conduct testing and report rates of GE (GMO) contamination in organic seed
Figure 27.
Seed Integrity: GMOs
• Majority of producers who responded to survey do not believe the regulatory framework in place is strong enough to protect organic integrity
• 41% indicate their farm products are “at risk from seed contaminated by GE” while 31% are neutral
Value of Organic Seed & Breeding
• 78% agreed or strongly agreed that “organic seed is important in maintaining the integrity of organic food production”
• 83% agreed or strongly agreed that “varieties bred for organic system management are important to the overall success of organic agriculture”
• More than 50% of respondents are interested in producing organic seed commercially and conducting on-farm crop improvement projects
Organic Seed & Breeding Initiatives
• Researched public initiatives related to organic seed using publicly available project reports and funding agency reporting
• Since 1996, 57 projects worked directly on issues related to organic seed systems
• More than $9 million in support from federal and state agencies and public foundations
Some conclusions • Organic seed use is improving but seed system development
requires increased attention and resources • The increase in organic seed use appears to be linked to
certifier recommendations • Farmers want organic seed systems protected from threats of
concentration and GE traits • There’s a need to improve information sharing in the areas of
organic seed availability and field trial data • Organic seed and organic plant breeding are important to
certified organic farmers • Create opportunities for organic farmers to work with
professional breeders, including trialing networks and on-farm plant breeding to speed the development of regionally adapted organic cultivars
Moving recommendations forward
• An important outcome is a general agreement from stakeholders that building organic seed systems demands comprehensive, collaborative approaches.
– Working groups focused on organic plant breeding, concentration, information sharing, and seed integrity
Organic Seed Finder
The organic community supports a new database
• OSA facilitated a working group with the objective of improving organic producers’ ability to meet the NOP requirement for certified organic seed
• The working group has met regularly since March 2011 to develop and implement a new organic seed database
• The database was launched in October 2012
Seed Integrity Working Group
• Sent letter to NOSB and NOP • Discussed seed purity standard • Produced seed industry survey (AC21)
Seed Integrity Survey
• All of the field crop companies test even without a universal standard
• Majority believe it is “very important” for seed companies to supply the industry seed free of GE traits
• Companies routinely sell organic seed to non-organic market
• Companies face barriers to eradicating GE material
• Seven out of 10 companies report “financial harm”
Organic Seed Guidance: Recommendations
• Certifiers should encourage producers to take extra measures to source organic seed
• The NOP should establish organic seed usage as an OSP goal
• Certifiers need more clarity on the issue of noncompliance
• NOP should recommend Organic Seed Finder as a resource
• Buyers should be required to support the organic seed requirement
• NOP must articulate its role in supporting the implementation of the guidance
• NOP should emphasize continual improvement in the context of seed
