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About Our Victory Seeds®
We
strive to provide you with the best quality,
open
pollinated and
heirloom
varieties available. We encourage you to practice
seed
saving as well. Our seeds meet or exceed
industry and
regulatory standards and we are licensed by the Oregon Department
of Agriculture as a retail seed dealer.
We discard or
donate seed that does not meet our high standards.
Some seed companies will mix sub-standard seeds with higher performing
lots in order to maximize profit and still meet
federal seed standards.
We never blend seed lots.
Organic
Seed:
Although we
are strong advocates for, and practitioners of the principles of organic and sustainable agriculture
here on
the farm, we have
not been able to justify the added fees and ongoing expenses associated
with the USDA's
Organic certification process.
Our
our
primary
mission of seed variety preservation focuses our limited resources on placing rare and
threatened varieties into as many home gardens and seeds savers hands as possible. Since
we do not target sales towards farms or market growers, certification is
not critical to our primary supporters.
Additionally, many of
the varieties that we offer are not available anywhere else. Certified growers can
therefore use our seed as outlined in the standards.
 Certified
Naturally Grown:
We have
gardened and farmed using organic and sustainable practices since it was
a grassroots movement in the 70s and 80s. In that vein, we have chosen
for our
farm
to become Certified Naturally Grown.
When the National Organic Program was implemented in 2002, farmers like us
that once proudly referred to ourselves as "organic" were no longer
allowed to do so unless we became "certified" by a USDA sanctioned agency.
Certification through the
National Organic Program (NOP) requires an enormous amount of record
keeping. Literally a paper trail of every type of thing you are
growing, from seed to sale.
This may be feasible for large commodity farms that grow a few types of
vegetables (monocrop plantings) and market under contract to chain stores or big processing plants,
but time is a short commodity to small growers of diverse crops
with a few family members available to complete all tasks.
Small farms and CSAs may
grow hundreds of varieties of vegetables, herbs, flowers and fruits every
year and sell them directly to consumers in their own communities.
But the volumes of paperwork, coupled with the equivalent of an additional
tax (fees and assessments) have made organic certification prohibitive for
diversified small farms such as ours.
The costs associated with USDA certification - both in terms of money and
paperwork requirements - is just too great for many small farmers.
They pose an economic barrier.
Certified Naturally Grown (CNG) was created
to address the
challenges that smaller, diversified organic farms face when
considering the USDA's Organic program.
CNG farmers are exempt from the fees and paperwork
requirements associated with USDA Certified Organic, yet they are required
to adhere to
CNG's Certification Standards and inspections that are based on the highest principles and ideals of
organic farming.
Certified Naturally Grown is an independent program
not accredited by, or in any way affiliated with, the USDA National
Organic Program. CNGs Certification Standards include, but are not limited
to, the
USDA Organic Standards.
CNGs
Program Requirements
are reasonable and affordable, and many farmers find
the inspection process itself a valuable learning experience.
Certified Naturally Grown
is nationally recognized
and endorsed. Please find and support the
CNG farms
in your
area!
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"'Organic'
is now dead as a meaningful synonym for the highest quality food.
Responsible growers need to identify not only that our food is grown to
higher, more considered standards, but also that it is much fresher
because it is grown right where it is sold."
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A
note to gardeners regarding untreated seeds:
Conventional
agriculture employs the use of fungicides
and other chemical treatments to
protect and allow the seed to germinate in wet and cool conditions.
All of our seed is untreated. That is, they are not treated with
any fungicides or chemicals. We suggest that you plant after soil conditions
have become moderate so that a good stand can be established.
Attempting to plant too early is gambling with the loss of your seed
purchase.
GMO
(Genetically Modified Organisms) - We pledge that we will not knowingly
buy, or offer for sale, any plants or seeds that have been genetically
modified through laboratory practices. We will continue to offer only
standard, open-pollinated seed varieties. Call us old-fashioned
. . . please!
Click
here to read The Safe Seed Pledge.
Our
Packaging - In designing the packaging for our packet seed
line, we wanted to provide a product that people would recognize,
appreciate, protect the seeds, and yet not be cost prohibitive.
We
use a standard paper envelope, but as gardeners ourselves, wanted a way
to reseal and protect the unused quantity of seeds for later use (see
seed
storage). We chose to accomplish this by the addition of an
inner 2 mil reclosable polyethylene bag. Plastics can still breath
but it is a better barrier than plain paper.
Resale - In order to maintain the high
quality of our seed, we only sell direct to customers. We do not sell
through any other outlet or agent - resale of our seeds is not authorized and
constitutes trademark infringement
through implication of endorsement. If you have purchased seed packets
bearing our name and they were not obtained directly from us, no
warranty is extended and we
would suggest that you return the product to the vendor for a refund. |
