Conventional & Non-GMO Policy

Conventional Statement
Viking Blue River seeks first to produce and sell organic seed. This is seed grown on land certified organic, using organically-approved methods and inputs, and conditioned and bagged at organically-certified facilities. In limited cases organic growers and conditioning facilities were not available. In these cases, we will offer conventionally-produced, untreated NON-GMO seed.

NON-GMO Policy
As the leader in organic field seed production, we are committed to safeguarding seed from GMO contamination. Although the USDA National Organic Program (NOP) regulations do not establish GMO tolerance levels, certified operations must maintain an organic system plan with verifiable practices for avoiding contact with GMOs. The following list summarizes Viking Blue River's GMO prevention practices:

  • We tests all seed stock for GMO contamination when it's intended for organic seed production.
  • Consistent with NOP guidelines, our growers isolate fields by zone and planting time.
  • Organic seed fields are planted later and pollinate after surrounding acres.
  • Growers maintain minimum buffer zones—i.e., space between certified organic production and adjacent land that is not under organic management.
  • Prior to pollination,  seed fields are vigorously rouged to remove non-conforming plants.
  • Our growers may not produce any GMO corn. This helps eliminate accidental mixing or contamination.
  • We require haulers to show “clean truck affidavits” when transporting all bulk seed to conditioning plants.
  • We operate a Certified Organic conditioning plant in Kelley, IA. This facility does not handle any GMO corn, which removes the possibility of accidental contamination by human error in the conditioning plant.
  • After conditioning, tests are run on all retail lots for GMO presence.

Our company is fiercely committed to producing organic seed with the lowest possible GMO contamination. We regularly review our policy and practices—and continually invest in research and development efforts that bring you high-performing products.