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The Vegetable Seed Producers Network

Seeds of Diversity is excited to introduce its new Vegetable Seed Producers Network, aimed at producing bulk quantities of high-quality vegetable seed for Canadian farms and gardens. You probably already think of Seeds of Diversity as a network of seed growers, but this is something different. Of course, we already have a network of seed-saving members who collect and preserve small samples of over 3000 varieties of rare heritage seeds. We already have a Seed Library, which stores small back-up samples of many of our members’ seeds. The Vegetable Seed Producers Network will involve many of the same people who save rare heritage seeds, but it will focus on the other end of the seed-saving spectrum: commercial production of tried-and-true Canadian seeds, at farm and wholesale scale. 

You hardly ever overhear a hobby gardener complain that they can’t find enough seed varieties for their garden. There are thousands of choices from Canadian seed companies (just check out our Canadian Seed Catalogue Index at seeds.ca/sources). But the challenge for farmers and large-scale market gardeners is that Canadian-produced vegetable seeds are hardly ever available in the quantities they need. Virtually all locally produced vegetable seed in Canada is only sold by the packet, and virtually all vegetable seed that’s available “by the pound,” for larger growers, is imported from other countries. Despite the fact that many more seed producers are entering this market every year, they are unable to produce enough bulk quantities of popular vegetable seeds to meet the demands of bulk retailers and farm-scale growers. There aren’t enough sources of Canadian-grown seed, and there aren’t enough varieties for the diverse range of crops market gardeners choose to grow. 

The Vegetable Seed Producers Network (VSPN) will recruit a network of skilled seed growers to produce seeds of a few varieties according to industry best practices. The seeds will then be pooled, allowing farmers in the network to grow a diverse range of vegetables while contributing to the production of farm-scale quantities of locally grown, open-pollinated crop varieties. These stocks will then supply other market gardeners, vegetable farmers and other growers.

The VSPN will monitor the vegetable seed market, build up a select group of skilled seed growers, and develop close ties with seed retailers and producers. In partnership with The Bauta Initiative on Canadian Seed Security (BFICSS) and Everdale, training and quality assurance standards will be offered that will help create a consistent level of quality in each producer’s seeds. As more growers gain proficiency, it will become possible to pool their seeds as well, to amass larger quantities than any individual producer can currently harvest. Through germination testing, crop descriptor sheets, training, and following best practices, seed quality will be high and consistent. As long as seed quality is consistently high, this consolidated seed will earn the trust of farm-scale purchasers, and help boost Canadian vegetable seed production at both wholesale and retail levels. 

The benefit of buying locally sourced seeds is in the geography. Seeds adapt, change, and display different characteristics depending on the climate and environmental conditions they are grown in. So every consecutive year a seed is grown, saved and replanted in the same or similar location, it becomes slightly more specialized and adapted to the environment it is growing in. It’s time to create a new, farmer-driven source of open-pollinated heirloom seed varieties, and the VSPN will do just that.

This project was funded in part through Growing Forward 2, a federal-provincial-territorial initiative. The Agricultural Adaptation Council assists in the delivery of Growing Forward 2 in Ontario.

Photo credit: Aaron Lyons, Hawthorn Farm

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