Urban Farmer
Urban Farmer Seeds began in 2008 with just 10 varieties of vegetable seeds. An avid gardener and magazine reader, Noah (the owner) needed something to do with a closet full of magazines. After a few hours of cutting, he realized his magazines could be used to store his vegetable seeds. After a couple months and a large surplus of seeds, Noah began offering his recycled seed packets and vegetable seeds online.
Company details
Find locations served, office locations
- Business Type:
- Technology
- Industry Type:
- Horticulture
- Market Focus:
- Nationally (across the country)
- Year Founded:
- 2008
The History of Urban Farmer Seeds
Urban FarmerUrban Farmer began in 2008 with just 10 seed varieties. An avid gardener, founder Noah Herron had plenty of left over vegetables that he used to harvest seed and sell online. The first year he quickly sold all of the seed due to the demand for non-GMO, organic seeds. Urban Farmer quickly grew to offer hundreds of varieties of vegetable, herb and flower seeds.
The demand for high quality seed allowed Noah to work part-time on growing Urban Farmer until 2011 when it became a full time pursuit. Currently we offer more than 1,000 seed varieties as well as plants, bulbs, and garden supplies to gardeners and farmers throughout the United States.
Our Farm
Urban Farmer produces over 40+ varieties of seed each year from our farm in Westfield, Indiana. We always select the best strains of the varieties we grow, resulting in higher yields, uniform growth, and delicious flavor. Our goal is to preserve as many heirloom vegetable varieties for future generations as possible. In addition to producing seed on our farm in Indiana we work closely with with a network of growers both in Indiana and across the United States to produce seed for us.
Non-GMO SeedOur Philosophy
Our goal is to help preserve and improve heirloom seeds through organic and natural farming methods. Not only do we want to preserve heirloom genetics we want to encourage and teach young and old the value of local farming and the benefits to the local community.
Our food system is broken and needs fixed. Our society has become accustomed to out-of-season fruits and vegetables shipped from all over the world. This is unhealthy and puts a burden on the economy both locally and where the food is sourced. Produce is harvested before fully maturiting reducing overall taste and nutritional value. Hybrid varieties are chosen for shipping quality and shelf life instead of nutritional values and flavor. Shipping produce from Mexico to Indiana adds additional strain on the environment with fossil fuels and wasted shipping materials.
Appreciating and supporting our local farmers is the best way to feed a growing population. Paying for local food can be more expensive but you get a much better product. Local produce has more flavor, nutritional value and keeps money within your community. Local food is more nutritional thus making people more healthy. Less money spent on medical bills and doctor visits. Not only supporting local farmers but growing family gardens is a great way to feed families. Gardens can cut down on grocery bills and working in the garden has shown to extend life expectancy and happiness.
We believe in the value of a re-built food system that can naturally support the worlds population through health environments, healthy economies, healthy communities and healthy bodies. Everyday that we are in business, we are working to provide an essential component in the re-building of our healthy food system.
Where Our Seed Comes From
Non-GMO SeedAt Urban Farmer we produce over 40+ varieties of seed each year from our farm in Westfield, Indiana. We always select the best strains of the varieties we grow, resulting in higher yields, uniform growth, and delicious flavor. Our goal is to preserve as many heirloom vegetable varieties for future generations as possible. In addition to producing seed on our farm in Indiana we work closely with with a network of growers both in Indiana and across the United States to produce seed for us.
All Urban Farmer seed is guaranteed to be non-GMO and free from genetic engineering. We take several measures to ensure you always receive the correct seed in a timely manner. We understand the importance of timing in gardening and farming so we pride ourselves in fast shipping.
Our Farm
Currently we grow over 40 varieties of vegetable seed on our farm in Westfield, Indiana. We focus on heirloom varieties of seed that can be grown without cross-pollination. We grow several varieties of tomatoes and peppers, as well as a few varieties of bean, eggplant, garlic, pea, melon, cucumber and squash. Every year we continue to increase the vegetable varieties we grow and hope to offer our customers hundreds of varieties grown on our farm in the future.
Seed PacketsSeed Packets
Urban Farmer first started in 2008 by recycling old catalogs from local libraries and turning the pages of these catalogs into seed packets. This was a fun and eco-friendly way to package seeds and ship them throughout the United States. Each packet was totally unique and had snipets of stories and images! As our company has grown so has the need for new seed packets.
In 2014 do to rising demand for our seeds we switched to a 35% recycled paper seed packet that is more reliable and easier to customize for orders. In actuality these packets are more eco-friendly than our previous seed packets. We no longer ship thousands of pounds of catalogs to a press and ship back. We are able to keep seed variety information more current and customize packets with lot numbers, germination rates, test dates and more!
Safe Seed Pledge
'Agriculture and seeds provide the basis upon which our lives depend. Safe Seed Pledge ImageWe must protect this foundation as a safe and genetically stable source for future generations. For the benefit of all farmers, gardeners and consumers who want an alternative, we pledge that we do not knowingly buy or sell genetically engineered seeds or plants.
The mechanical transfer of genetic material outside of natural reproductive methods and between genera, families or kingdoms, poses great biological risks as well as economic, political, and cultural threats. We feel that genetically engineered varieties have been insufficiently tested prior to public release. More research and testing is necessary to further assess the potential risks of genetically engineered seeds. Further, we wish to support agricultural progress that leads to healthier soils, to genetically diverse agricultural ecosystems, and ultimately to healthy people and communities.'
