This is largely because the organic food-buying public has been very concerned about the food it consumes directly, but the seeds used for planting these crops has been given little consideration because it is not consumed. Since only a tiny fraction of our population is directly involved in farming, we are not aware of the agricultural cycle of which seeds are an integral part. Currently, almost all of the seeds produced in the commercial seed trade rely heavily upon inputs of chemical fertilizers, insecticides, fungicides, and herbicides that have toxifying, disruptive effects on soil ecology and contaminate our groundwater and our bodies. The amount of chemical inputs used in growing seeds is proportionately greater than that of producing food crops because seed crops takes longer to ripen and must mature and dry in the field. Thus they are exposed to more pests, more competition from weeds, and have additional nutrient demands requiring greater use of chemical pesticides and chemical fertilizers. . .
Many crops are dependent on an active bee or other insect population for pollination to occur.
Therefore the grower must provide a good habitat such as hedges of trees and shrubs and an abundance of flowering plants to support a healthy insect community. Pollination, however, may still be poor or insufficient if the weather is too hot, cold, wet or dry. There are also parasitic mites and various diseases that have significantly reduced bee populations leading to pollination failure. An open-pollinated plant variety is one in which pollination is carried out by wind, insects, or other naturally occurring agents. During the process of open-pollination, pollen is constantly being exchanged among dozens, hundreds, or thousands of plants that all generally look similar but are slightly different genetically.