Since none of the seed companies seem to reliable. Does anyone know what seed companies would supply open polinated feed corn, soybeans and etc for a small farm. We would rather not have hybrid seed. We have always ordered from Shumway's but won't after this. Need to buy seed by the pound.

-- Carole Kington (kington@duo-county.com), March 27, 2002

Answers

Try Stokes seed, they sell large quantities, they cater to commercial and market gardeners. They may not have the selection that you are looking for but they do carry a lot of popular varieties.

-- Bob Fade (fadefarm@aol.com), March 27, 2002.

There are plenty of reliable seed houses providing open-pollinated, heirloom seeds in bulk for small farms.

www.fsronline.com www.gardenwatchdog.com both have links to suppliers. Also try

www.cooksgarden.com www.johnnyseeds.com www.rareseed.com www.heirloomseeds.com www.superseeds.com www.southernexposure.com - one of my personal favorites www.waltonfeed.com www.bountifulgardens.com - all time favorite - Jeavons site www.nativeseed.com

Good luck

-- HarleyinFL (cruisindog@juno.com), March 27, 2002.

www.whilhite.com sell quality bulk seed hybrid & open polinated clearly labled so i've not had a prob. in 3 yrs. ordering from them. www.rareseeds.com [baker creek seeds] will do bulk orders & they specilize in open polinated & hard to find types [nice helpful folks].

http://www.permacultureactivist.net/seeds/SeedResrcs.htm this site has a pretty inclusive listing of sustainable agriculture supporting seed companies. they also have a plant nursery listing.

territorial seed also has lots of open polinated seed available in bulk amounts.johnnys selected seed has op soybeans & i think vermont bean seed does too. here is a linkhave fun shopping!

-- bj pepper in C. MS. (pepper.pepper@excite.com), March 27, 2002.

As someone else pointed out a while ago, questions like this _really_ depend on your location, it would have been helpful if you had included that!

Anyhow, besides the big seed companies, there are hudreds, thousands of reginal & family seed operations in the USA. (I'll assume you are at least in the USA? :) I would find one near you. They are a good source for cheaper seed, and can help you find other stuff.

I use Anderson's Seeds for most of my corn & soybeans. They are a very small family outfit. Located near St. Peter, Minnesota.

Albert Lea Seed House ( http://www.alseed.com/ ) has a wonderful catalog, sell organic, regular, gmo, food-quality, and all types of forage seeds. And the ship seeds. However, being is southern Minnesota they don't sell much south of Iowa, so don't know if they will help any. Again it's a family, regional place.

That's what _I_ would look for in your area if I were you. There is bound to be one or 2 within 150 miles of you if any agriculture happens there.

--->Paul

-- paul (ramblerplm@hotmail.com), March 27, 2002.