There’s no denying it: seed is becoming more expensive.
It may be because it’s a designer seed from a GMO, and the price covers how hearty and high-yield the product will be. Sometimes the seed is merely rare, or difficult to grow, or in such demand that the high prices are merely a function of the market.
Either way, there are seeds that will blow your price expectations out of the water. Here are a few of them.
Are Seeds the New Gold?
From a weight-to-value ratio, some of the most expensive seeds are actually more valuable than gold. Farmers are storing and hoarding the seeds they have, worried that the price could only keep rising.
With the cost of R&D for GMO seeds, production, and all of the unique traits inherent to it, the price is unfortunately passed on to the consumer. The seed supply has also dropped in many regions due to drought, which has driven the price up everywhere.
Check out some of these seeds that are priced sky-high.
1. Thompson & Morgan Pumpkin Seed
A pumpkin seed from the U.K. sold for over £1,250, which is roughly equivalent to $1,600 USD at the time of this writing.
This single 2-inch long seed came from a pumpkin that weighed over 2,000 pounds, and itself grew into a pumpkin over 1,300 pounds in weight. Pumpkin growing is a proud tradition in the U.K., and they take their enormous pumpkins quite seriously.
2. The Juliet Rose
The Juliet Rose is a pale pink flower, one that takes 15 years to harvest. The final price for the bloom itself has netted between $5 million and $16 million dollars.
The price comes from how rare the seeds are because of how difficult the rose itself is to grow.
3. Corn Seed
That’s right. The humble bag of seed corn, while not the most expensive seed in the world, is only rising in price because of drought, unique properties, and the increase of farmer-per-acre yield.
While many bags of seed corn have recently moved up to $300, it’s projected that a $500 bag of seed corn is not far off. Unless there is a change in either seed supply or the superior weather conditions to permit it, sowing an acre of corn could only be growing more and more expensive.
Seeds Are Priced High and Climbing Higher
The Millennium Seed Bank is an organization and a goal devoted to collecting the seeds from as many different species as humanly possible. When Prince Charles opened the Seed Bank, he called it a “gold reserve” and a “place where this reserve currency” is stored.
What else do you store in a vault but gold itself?
To find high-quality seed that won’t destroy a budget, contact us.
