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No GMO Salad!
At Seedy Saturdays and Seedy Sundays you might have seen some concerns about new genetically modified (GM) vegetable seeds on the market this year. Our friends at CBAN (Canadian Biotechnology Action Network) are alerting gardeners, farmers, and especially organic seed producers that this new reality is happening in 2025.
For many years, GM crops in Canada have been limited to field crops such as soybeans, corn, canola, alfalfa and sometimes potatoes. Vegetable gardeners have not had to question whether their seeds are genetically modified, but this year there are a number of mustard greens and salad mixes that could be GM, unlabelled, sold in grocery stores, and possibly as retail garden seeds.
We've included this message from CBAN, and our own concerns for sustainable organic seed production below.
From CBAN's web site:
https://cban.ca/gmos/products/not-on-the-market/gmo-salad
GM Non-Mustardy Mustard Greens
These genetically modified leafy greens are the first gene-edited vegetable in North America (produced using CRISPR), and only the second genetically modified vegetable grown in Canada (after GM sweet corn). Bayer is testing the market to expand into other gene-edited fruits and vegetables.
Bayer told CBAN that two of the GM greens (Brassica juncea) varieties were in grower trials in the US in 2024 and that growers could start sending produce to US grocery stores soon. Bayer says that these GM greens could reach the Canadian market through these growers, or from Canadian growers, “in the near future”.
These GM greens could be on the market as “mixed leaves, bunched, baby and teen leaf.” They will likely be grown and sold by a few large greens producers under new branding in the US and Canada. It is unlikely that companies will voluntarily label them as genetically engineered.
The GM greens will likely be marketed as salad greens that are more nutritious than lettuce: The spicy mustard flavour was removed from the greens so they could be advertised as “leafy greens that don’t bite back! (a mustard green that eats like a lettuce).”
Bayer also says it is seeking a major home garden supplier to sell GM seeds to home gardeners and market gardeners.
CBAN Alert – January 2025: Bayer to Launch GM Non-Mustardy Mustard Greens
Take Action - Help us stop GM greens.
If you are going to a Seedy Saturday event in 2025, share our information flyer. Click here to download or request copies from Fionna at outreach@cban.ca
If you are a home gardener, market gardener or greens producer, make sure you are buying non-GM Brassica juncea seeds and lettuce seeds/salad mixes. Check for a list of companies committed to selling non-GMO seeds.
If you are a consumer who does not grow any vegetables, write to the head office of your grocery store and ask them not to sell any GM greens or other GM vegetables. Click here for your grocery store contacts.
Subscribe for alerts: Click here to subscribe for updates and action alerts in the NO GMO SALAD campaign.
If you have information and comments to share, or any questions, please email Fionna Tough at outreach@cban.ca
How genetically modified greens could affect Canadian organic seed producers
Seeds of Diversity's main concern with genetically modified vegetables is the possibility of cross-pollination between seed crops, which could undermine Canada's organic seed supply. Certified organic seeds are a crucial part of our future food sustainability, since the best organic food is grown from organic seeds, and Canadian-grown seed is the best adapted to our local growing climates.
For seeds to be certified organic, they must be produced by a certified organic grower, just like food. If a farmer can produce certified organic food, they can also produce seeds to be labelled organic, except the seeds must be free of any genetic contamination from GMO pollen.
The risk for certified organic seed producers is that GMO greens might be grown nearby, and allowed to flower (on purpose or unintentionally), allowing pollen to cross-pollinate the organic seed crop. This would make the seeds unusable as organic seeds, and harm the seed producer's business and livelihood.
How far away does the GMO crop have to be to prevent cross-pollination?
The problem with GMO crops and organic seeds is that the isolation distance has to be extremely large, and often impossible to achieve. For seed savers familiar with isolation, it's the distance that two crops of the same species have to be separated so that pollen won't reach from one to the other. Even in normal seed saving, we keep crops isolated so they don't genetically inter-mix, which would create hybrids. After all, we don't want heirloom varieties to cross-pollinate with each other either, so isolation is a normal requirement.
The problem is the degree of purity, which governs the degree of isolation.
Mustard (Brassica juncea) and related greens have heavy, sticky pollen so they have to be pollinated by insects (instead of by the wind) so the distance we have to separate our seed crops is based on how far those insects might fly. In most cases, a few hundred meters is enough, but there will always be a little crossing, which decreases the further you separate the crops.
Various studies of B. juncea cross-pollination (summarized here) reported crossing at distances from 35m up to 400m and occasionally as much as 800m. The simple reason for the large differences in distance is that insects can travel short or long distances depending on food sources, physical obstacles such as roads and trees, and even just the way the wind is blowing.
The Canadian Seed Growers Association publishes requirements for commercial seed production. Their Circular 6 - Regulations and Procedures for Pedigreed Seed Crop Production sets the required isolation for commercial seed crops of mustard (B. juncea) at 200m. Obviously, this is less distance than the pollen can travel by insects, but as with all isolation distances it is a compromise between seed purity and practicality.
Isolation distances are rarely set to achieve 100% genetic purity of seeds. The reality is that there will always be occasional crosses over large distances, so seed growers must balance seed quality against the practicality of achievable isolation distances. The standards are designed to create seed purity of usually greater than 99%, but not perfect.
The problem for organic seed producers is that no amount of GMO contamination is accepted in certified organic seeds. Even a trace can mean the difference between a profitable and sustainable organic seed harvest and the complete loss of a whole year's effort and expense. This will place a hardship on organic seed farmers to make much more extreme efforts in their seed crop isolation than other seed growers must do.
That's why we are actively alerting organic seed producers that their plans for certified organic mustard and related greens might be threatened by a new planting of GMO greens a field away, even by a grower who might not realize that they're even planting GMO greens.
What can you do?
The good news is that you can always be sure that your seeds are GMO-free if they're certified organic. You can support non-GMO vegetable seeds, and our local organic seed producers, simply by purchasing Canadian-grown certified organic seeds.
That's a win-win solution for us all!
This is a developing issue, and not a lot of details are known yet. Pay close attention to the brands of seeds that you purchase this year, and check back with CBAN's web site for more news.
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