Tozer Seeds Ltd.
Tozer Seeds offers a range of unique vegetable seed products to commercial growers in over 25 species. Our seeds are available through our UK and international network of representatives. Today we have offices in Spain and in the USA and our seed is sold and grown across the globe through our network of distributors.
Company details
Find locations served, office locations
- Business Type:
- Distributor
- Industry Type:
- Horticulture
- Market Focus:
- Globally (various continents)
About Us
Tozer Seeds is an independent British vegetable breeding company, founded in 1939 by Mr. Arthur Tozer. Initially a local company, by the 1970s Tozer was supplying seed to commercial growers across the UK. Today we have offices in Spain and in the USA and our seed is sold and grown across the globe through our network of distributors.
We have developed innovative, market leading varieties in many vegetables categories and now breed on a broad range of crops.
Vision
We aim to provide consistent quality seed and service, whilst continuing the company tradition of innovation within plant breeding. We strive to ensure that all of our seed is healthy, pure and has the highest possible germination.
We also work closely with our customers to provide the vegetable varieties they require in a continuously changing marketplace and we aim to develop strong relationships with customers, suppliers and other partners throughout the supply chain.
Values
Tozer has remained in family ownership since 1939. We are the largest independent UK vegetable breeding company and we are committed to providing our staff with a challenging and supportive work environment. Honesty and integrity are key factors in our business relations.
Future
Our business continues to develop in areas across the globe. Tozer Seeds remains an independent vegetable seed supplier with staff who are passionate and committed. Emphasis lies on developing new and innovative products with excellent flavour and good field performance which will help growers to produce crops of the highest quality.
Why Us?
Tozer Seeds have been and remain an independent family owned business. At heart our company has survived and prospered because we have focused on innovation and quality. From our beginnings in 1939 we have always maintained a core of people with a passion for plants.
Modern Scientific Understanding
For us the production and delivery of vegetable seed and the development of new innovative varieties remains a challenging and rewarding business. From the initial breeding stage until the commercial trials we try to continuously monitor the market to ensure we introduce products with the right flavour, texture and shelf life.
Tozer steers a path between science and nature, we are keen to incorporate the very best in modern scientific understanding into our work but also keen to maintain the idiosyncratic side of our business which we believe helps to nurture the unrivalled innovation to be found here.
Large Range of Products
We maintain a large range of products from the truly niche and unique such as Sunbeam marrow to internationally grown market leaders such as parsnip Javelin.
We are committed to improving all aspects of our business and hope to provide satisfaction to our customers through our products and through our customer service. Please let us know how we're doing and where you think we could improve.
History
Tozer Seeds is an independent British vegetable breeding company that currently has over 100 employees and is represented in Europe, Africa, Oceania as well as the USA and Canada.
Tozer Seeds Global Directory
Tozer Seeds is represented in a number of countries around the world by local sales offices and distributors offering Tozer bred genetics. Our head office is located near London in England and we have local Tozer Seeds sales offices in Spain and the USA. Our network is growing rapidly and we currently supply seed to over 80 countries.
Social Responsibility
Tozer Seeds are committed to achieving our commercial goals in a socially responsible manner. As vegetable breeding and seed production company we take pride in ensuring our crops are grown to the highest standards, using ethical working practices and with regard to the protection of the natural environment.
Social Responsibility
Tozer Seeds are committed to achieving our commercial goals in a socially responsible manner. As vegetable breeding and seed production company we take pride in ensuring our crops are grown to the highest standards, using ethical working practices and with regard to the protection of the natural environment.
We also promote the consumption of healthy vegetables and engage in philanthropic activities with many organisations.
Our Philanthropic Activities
Tozer Seeds are committed to positively contributing to the communities in which we operate. We frequently sponsor local activities by offering seed to good causes in the form of raffle prizes and donations.
Dr Dawson is a frequent judge at local vegetable competitions and Tozer Seeds often supply and give help to 'seeds for schools campaigns' and other worthwhile projects.
Responsible seed crop production
Due to the long term nature of vegetable seed crops, a hotter, drier climate than the UK is generally required for successful seed multiplication. Tozer Seeds utilises specialist growers all over the world for seed production; many based in Italy, France, Chile, USA and Australia. In most instances we work with a subcontracting multiplication company which directly contracts our seed production to local growers. These growers are often part of a cooperative and are generally small, family run businesses with specialised skills in seed production.
Placing our seed production in multiple countries not only spreads the risk of crop failure, but also helps support small local growers. In addition, growing seed in countries where the weather is dry at harvest means we don't have to use artificial drying techniques, reducing our fuel consumption and carbon emissions.
Tozer Seeds is a member of the International Seed Federation (ISF) who issue rules on how seed should be produced and creates policies on seed health to which we adhere to.
Genetically Modified (GM) Crops
Tozer Seeds do not currently genetically modify varieties in our vegetable breeding programmes. All our vegetable varieties are bred using traditional hybridisation and cross pollination techniques.
Protecting Our Environment
Tozer Seeds endeavour to farm in a responsible manner, taking into account the natural environment and our natural resources.
On our own nurseries we adhere to strict crop rotations to prevent build up of disease and imbalance of nutrients. We regularly utilise green manures and recycled municipal compost to improve the soil organic matter in both our open field production areas and under glass.
Plant health is important when vegetable crops are grown for seed, as they are in the soil for a considerably longer time than food crops. We therefore have to use a number of pesticides to maintain the high quality of our products. All our spray operators are highly trained and hold current relevant qualifications. Our BASIS and FACTS certified agronomist ensures that sprays, fertilisers and field operations are carried out responsibly and that we adhere to Good Agricultural Practice guidelines.
We endeavour to reduce our usage of chemical pesticides by making extensive use of natural alternatives. We routinely use biological predators in our protected cropping areas to control certain insect pests, plus blowflies, bumble bees and our own honey bees for pollination of seed crops. The use of these biological controls and pollinators restricts the pesticides we can apply and hence we use the minimum necessary. We also use wherever possible, reduced risk products for pest and disease control (those products which have a reduced impact on the environment the spray operator and non-target insects).
We monitor and try to reduce our water usage by using metered irrigation drip lines, which are not only more efficient at providing water where the plant needs it but also reduces leaf wetness and hence disease. Our usage of fungicides is therefore greatly reduced.
We manage our farms in such a way as to encourage and protect a wide variety of wildlife. Sensitive use of grass margins and green manures on bare soil create green corridors for mammals and insects to use as well as protecting hedgerows and waterways from spray drift. Lapwings are often observed breeding in-between our long season row crops and we support a host of other mammals and birds. Some wildlife can be detrimental to our crops so we try to avoid damage by the use of fencing and covering our crops with hard wearing and long lasting netting, lessening the need for gas 'bangers' and unsightly deterrents.
We are actively developing our relationships with the growers who perform our seed multiplication, encouraging them to reduce pesticide usage by reducing disease incidence in crops, for example, reducing the use of some herbicides on onion crops which remove the protective waxy layer on the leaves. Preserving this waxy layer makes the plant more resistant to disease.
In our breeding programmes we are constantly looking to breed pest and disease resistance into our varieties, particularly downy mildew resistance in leafy salad crops such as lettuce and rocket canker resistance in parsnips, resistance to rust in leeks, various virus resistances in cucurbit crops and greater tolerance to root fly attack in carrots. Plants with greater resistance to pest and disease require considerably less pesticide applications, benefiting the growing of our own seed crops, and the food crops produced from our seed.