Demand For Vegetable Seed On The Rise

Washington Post: Recession, Food Safety Concerns Boost Consumer Demand For Seeds After Years Of Stagnation

(Washingtonpost.com)  This story was written by Washington Post Staff Writer Adrian Higgins.

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In 1784, an Englishman named David Landreth opened a seed store in downtown Philadelphia, confident that newly independent Americans would also want the freedom of growing their own food.

The D. Landreth Seed Co., one of the oldest surviving corporations in the nation, has seen several owners and many shifts in its fortunes in the intervening 225 years. But if Landreth were looking down on his enterprise today, he probably would be grinning. After years in the doldrums, the consumer demand for vegetable seeds has abruptly climbed at a rate even industry veterans have never seen.

This spring, sales at Landreth are "up 75 percent over last year," said Barbara Melera, a former venture capitalist who bought the company in 2003. Moving between the shelves of bulk seed containers in her warehouse in New Freedom, Pa., she pointed out varieties that are almost sold out: Detroit Dark Red beets, Danvers Half Long carrots, Bloomsdale Long Standing spinach. She had no kale or a popular beet variety, Lutz. "We have a modest amount of beans left."

Seed producers and merchants across the United States are reporting the same phenomenon of crazy demand and even some shortages, especially of staples like beans, potatoes and lettuces. Sales of seed packets picked up last year and have grown significantly again this season, which runs from January to June.

Industry observers attribute the boost in sales to a concern for food safety following outbreaks of E. coli and salmonella poisonings and a desire by consumers to be a part of the local food movement. Michelle Obama's new vegetable garden at the White House may also be inspiring people, they said.

But the primary reasons, they speculate, are the recession, income loss and the need for people to lower their grocery bills by growing their own.

In late April, Greg Frandano, a 35-year-old bartender, ripped up part of his lawn to extend his vegetable garden in the rear yard of his brick Cape Cod in Falls Church. "We hardly buy any produce when things are cooking," he said, as he worked composted leaves into the clay soil before planting. He started the garden four years ago and has enlarged it every spring since to feed his family of four.

At four community gardens in Reston, coordinator Deana Demichelis said the wait list for 250 plots has climbed to 140 names, a backlog of about three years. "New gardeners are begging to get in because of the recession and the fact they can save money growing their own food," she said.
Melissa O'Brien, a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart Stores Inc., said seed sales in March were up 30 percent over last year, sales of vegetables and herbs plants had increased by 28 percent and sales of seed-starting supplies rose 40 percent.

"When times get tough, it doesn't take long for people to realize what they can do to help themselves," said Tom Johns, owner with his wife, Julie, of Territorial Seed Co., a mail-order retailer in Cottage Grove, Ore. Johns, who bought the 30-year-old company in 1985, said his sales grew 25 percent last year and have increased another 25 percent this year. "For a company getting as old as we are, those are big percentage increases," he said.
Melera of Landreth Seed personally sells one-third of her vegetable and herb seeds at flower shows in late winter and early spring, bringing her in direct contact with customers.

"A year ago January, we began to see a gigantic increase in vegetable sales," she said. It was driven by 30-something mothers "who were scared to death that their children were going to get salmonella from the [store-bought] spinach."

This season, she said, the customers tended to be from their 20s to 40s and "many, many more males. It was much more driven by the economy."

Melera has also seen a strong demand for staple varieties, "what I would call survival food." These include seed potatoes, winter squash, peas, spinach, beets and pole beans, which produce more food per plant than bush beans. "Very few melons," she said.

The seed producers that supply wholesalers and retailers have been scrambling, along with their contract growers, to meet the demand.

John Wahlert, sales and production manager for Wild West Seed Inc. in Albany, Ore., said in a normal year he would have seed stockpiles in June to get a jump on the 2010 season or to make up for crop failures, but he and other producers are low on a range of basic varieties. "Onions are short, lettuces are short, carrots are extremely short," he said. "Beans are extremely short, peas are short."

Trevor Clarke, a seed producer in Hamilton City, Calif., said recessions tend to bump up consumer demand for vegetables at the expense of flower seeds, but this year he and fellow producers have seen the market for vegetable seeds expand by 30 to 35 percent. "This is the best year we have had in 20 years," said Clarke, of Western Hybrid Seeds Inc. "I have been in the vegetable-seed industry for 40 years, and this is the best year I have seen."

The question in everyone's mind is: Will this boom end when the economy picks up or when novice gardeners realize that raising vegetables requires some skill and a lot of commitment?

Melera said she's talked to beginners who thought you could grow vegetables indoors (you can't) and a customer who wanted to know how many plants he would get per seed (uh, one). She predicted as many as half the new gardeners will give up this summer. "I think we may have one more year, but I'll be surprised if by 2011 we will be seeing the same level of activity we are now," she said.

But Lou Zambello, director of sales and marketing for Johnny's Selected Seeds in Winslow, Maine, said people have turned to growing vegetables for fundamental issues of health, food safety and saving money, "so hopefully this will have more staying power."

Frandano in Falls Church has become so canny and thrifty a gardener that he repots tomato seedlings that otherwise would be plucked to make room for others, and harvests seeds from store-bought peppers for garden plants. "I have beans ready to go" from those he saved from last year's crop, and he intends to allow some beans to ripen on the vine this season to sow for a fall crop. "We'll eat beans all year long," he said.

Diane Hund, director of marketing for the Ball Horticultural Co. in West Chicago, Ill., said two factors will insure a continued interest: "You're bitten by the bug, and second, you've got this big hole in your yard that you have got to fill with something."

[rf35]

I think it's a good idea for Americans to relearn subsistence gardening. It is looking more and more like the country is heading for a full-on economic meltdown. The current depression will look like the good times compared to what is coming if we can't turn this thing around. The government is worse than useless. Our leaders have failed, our representatives only represent their own interests, and all politicians from state level up are out of touch with the average American. Time to learn how to take care of yourself and how to do it without Wal-Mart. When the economy has totally collapsed, there will be no money...it's back to bartering. There will be anarchy. The government will no longer exist in any recognizable form. If you don't know how to survive on your own and acquire/defend an area of land to grow your food on, you will not be around for long.

[mrs_trepidatious]

My family has a wonderful garden. We had our pastor bless it last month and to date it is still weed free.

[dbaecht]

We the people need to take a stand against the big companies like Monsanto, that keep trying and succeeding in getting patents on the very seeds we need to live a self suffient way of like, just like our ancestors did.
I give high marks to Mrs. Obama for the White House garden and the fact that it's organic is just icing on the cake. She is taking heat from the chemical folks for growing organic, which shouldn't come as a big suprise.
My wife and I feed ourselves and 14 others off of our 20 acres, year round.
There are Yahoo groups devoted to growing your own and are good sources for info and moral support.

[itgranny]

I've increased the size of my garden by about 3x also. Now it's about 1/2 acre. The food that comes from it is good and the exercise is great! I'm one that has a hard time walking 3 miles a day to nowhere. At least when i have a hoe in my hands, i'm doing something constructive.

American's are depending on others too much. We've been led to believe that jobs involving physical labor are bad; our time is too valuable to spend making our own essentials but we've run into the muck with this sort of thinking. Our bodies have gone to pot and our minds have lost a whole host of critical thinking skills because we don't get the exposure to anything but a narrow variety of subjects when you become an "expert". You don't need to be a farmer to raise a garden, but with the gardening experience, you can learn about pollution on a small scale because you tipped the tiller's gas can over and now nothing grows in that spot. You don't need to be a veterinarian to keep a few goats and know that they look and grow better if they are wormed. regularly.

America is so enamoured with their "experts in the field". Unfortunately she's forgotten that the Einsteins, the DaVinci's, the ben franklins, didn't concentrate on one field, they had a whole host of things they were interested in and one thing built upon the next.

Hopefully the US will start moving this way again. We really need to try to get ahead and the critical thinking skills that come from doing things yourself are going to be instrumental in moving us out in front again. We've lost our way.

[armyoftwelve]

Start buying stock in vegetable seed companies before the speculators get involved and we wind up paying $5 for an ear of corn....

[debinok1]

I am in an apartment and even I put up a small container garden. Between the health risks and the expense of market produce it just makes sense to grow what you eat or as much as possible anyway. Next year I hope to be on my own land and be able to have a full garden. I am also giving serious thought to long term storage of wheat and other grains, especially with the concerns over stem rust and other threats to the food supply.

[democracy1]

I agree. Almost anyone with a small patio or balcony can grow some veggies in containers. And you can always swap extra of one kind for something else that your neighbor has extra of.

[aChangeOfIdeas]

Our garden is double the size from last year... and last year was double from the year before. Last year we spent approximately $100 on seeds, plants, fertilizer, etc. I estimate that I harvested between $600-800 worth of produce. I froze and canned a lot of it, and this was my first year canning. Anyone can learn to do it. The salsa came out terrific, too.
Apart from the cost savings, there is nothing like having fresh lettuce, tomatoes, and corn from the garden. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.

[mutnauq4842]

Now is the time to stock up on seed-the fertilizer from Washington is practically free.