09
Mar
Plant Organic Seeds and Plants; Tell Your State to Act to Protect Pollinators This Spring
(Beyond Pesticides, March 9, 2020) It’s time to think about gardening! Whether you’re growing vegetables to eat or flowers for pollinators, you’ll want to be sure that your seeds and plants are free from harmful pesticides. Seeds and plants in many garden centers across the country are grown from seeds coated with toxic fungicides and bee-harming neonicotinoid pesticides, or drenched with them.
Plant organic seeds and plants!
As bees suffer serious declines in their populations, we urge people and communities to plant habitat that supports pollinator populations, and have provided information to facilitate this in our BEE Protective Habitat Guide. However, plants are too often grown with hazardous pesticides that either harm pollinators in their cultivation or threaten bees as they pollinate or forage on treated plants. For more information on the dangers of neonicotinoid coated seeds, see Beyond Pesticides’ short video Seeds That Poison.
Beyond Pesticides has compiled a directory of companies and organizations that sell organic seeds and plants to the general public. Included in this directory are seeds for vegetables, flowers, and herbs, as well as living plants and seedlings. Specific questions on each seller’s seeds can be directed to their customer service line. You can also download a handy bi-fold brochure version of this directory that you can print and take with you. If you know of a company that is not on this list, please let us know by sending an email to [email protected].
Although many seed companies indicate that they sell untreated seeds, Beyond Pesticides encourages you to look for organic seeds. While untreated seeds surely are a step in the right direction, they do not ensure that the seed production practices are protective of bees or that residual chemicals do not contaminate the plant.
Letter to Governor:
 With honey bee and wild pollinator populations in decline, planting for pollinators has become a popular way to enhance pollinator habitat and the appearance of parks and roadsides. However, plants are too often grown with hazardous pesticides that either harm pollinators in their cultivation or threaten bees as they pollinate or forage on treated plants.
Beyond Pesticides has compiled a directory of companies and organizations (bp-dc.org/organicseeds) that sell organic seeds and plants to the general public. Included in this directory are seeds for vegetables, flowers, and herbs, as well as living plants and seedlings. Specific questions on each seller’s seeds can be directed to their customer service line.
A recent paper titled “Declines in insect abundance and diversity: We know enough to act now,” provides a run-down of additional actions to take, including these actions at the local and state level:
*Strengthen pesticide regulations and ban cosmetic use.
*Retail companies should have clear labels to warn about the impact on nontarget insects.
*Sub-national policy to protect insects should be pushed before national or international agreements are achieved.
*Strong incentives to protect, enhance, and restore habitat.
*Proper funding for conservation and management of land.
*Begin conservation efforts before species are on the brink of extinction.
*Mitigate and sequester carbon emissions; promote clean energy.
*Increase habitat connectivity.
I urge you to ensure that our state is implementing a pollinator protection plan that uses organic seeds and addresses these additional essential steps.
Thank you.
Protect organic seed farmers please. Thank you for your time.
March 11th, 2020 at 6:50 pm