In the 1990's, multinational chemical companies in the business of producing petroleum-based chemical herbicides, insecticides, and fertilizers discovered how to insert genes into corn, soy, cotton, canola, and sugar beets to allow these crops to be sprayed with their proprietary herbicide products and generate their own insecticides internally.  These plant varieties are collectively referred to as Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) or Genetically Engineered (GE) food. 

Natural Grocers does not consider these to be safe food ingredients, so we source as many GMO-free alternatives as possible.  In particular, we focus on USDA certified organic products and ingredients which cannot by law be made from GMO derived ingredients.  Our vendors are encouraged to use non-GMO ingredients in their products, and every product we approve for sale must disclose the source of its potential GMO ingredients.  The success of the biotech industry in converting US agricultural land to monoculture GMO-based crops, however, has been astounding.  60% to 90% of these crops are now grown in GMO varieties.  In many cases, our vendors report that the availability and cost of non-GMO ingredients makes using them impossible. 

  If YOU won't buy it, THEY won't grow it. 

For this reason, we call on our customers to buy non-GMO products, especially organic versions.  The large food growers, processors, manufacturers, distributors and retailers are watching consumer demand for non-GMO food closely.  YOU are the single most important driver to stop the spread of genetically modified food.  If YOU won't buy it, then THEY won't grow it.  This has been proven in most industrial countries across the world, and we can prove it here in America too.  The moment large food retailers such as Wal-Mart say no to GMO, genetically modified ingredients will be stricken from the food supply within just a few years. That's all it took for genetically modified growth hormones to be largely removed from the milk supply.   Closer to home, we see the natural and organic food sector growing significantly faster than those closely tied to industrial agriculture and food production.

We estimate that over 50% of the foods we sell contain genetically modified ingredients; in a regular supermarket this number would be near 100% -- everything except the raw produce aisle most like contains GMO soy fillers, corn sugars, beet sugars, cotton oil, or canola oil in some form.  Since GMO labeling of ingredients is not required -- once crops leave the farm they are indistinguishable within the food supply -- the only safe assumption is that any food containing these ingredients is using GMO sources.  The only stand-in for No-GMO labeling is the USDA Certified Organic seal, because organic ingredients cannot be grown using GMO varieties. 

At Natural Grocers, we are witnessing a clear change in consumer demand away from GMO ingredients towards organic and non-GMO foods.  To help our customers understand how this issue affects them, we offer extensive information and resources on our web site, in store, through our trained staff, and in our free lecture series on reading nutrition and ingredient labels.  We also support and participate in citizen movements to raise GMO awareness and affect local policy decisions related to GMOs.  And, our advocacy team travels to Washington, DC twice a year to meet with hundreds of regulators, members of Congress, and industry leaders to help advance the cause of keeping food natural.

We encourage our customers to join in this movement.  The very best thing to do is make sure your friends, families, and co-workers understand how GMO food has been forced upon them.  Encourage them to see how cheap industrial food containing pesticide genes and herbicide-resistant genes have added nothing to our lives except profits for conglomerates. 

What we have lost to GMO agriculture should cause your friends and family great alarm:

• 95% of US seed companies are now owned by four international chemical companies and their traditional crop breeding programs have been terminated.

• Sub-Saharan Africa is now ahead of the US in developing non-GMO drought-resistant grains using new high-tech tools, with yield increases far above US-made GMO varieties.

• Vast numbers of unexplained health problems have been linked with GMO foods, including skin, reproductive, systemic, and digestive disorders.

• American farmers are locked into buying patented GMO seeds, proprietary pesticides, and fertilizers to grow our food. 

• Superweeds that have developed resistance to GMO-related herbicides now constitute a threat to millions of acres of US cropland.

• Chemical companies are suing organic farmers for patent infringement when nearby crops are contaminated with GMO pollen.

• The biotech agriculture lobby is one of the biggest contributors to local, state, and national political campaigns, making anti-GMO political leaders scarce.

• The US State Department is actively engaged in forcing other countries to accept GMO crops from US producers against their citizens' wishes.

• Funding for university research on GMO safety and non-GMO crop development has been eliminated through control of funding by biotech industry.

• The USDA, FDA, CDC, and NIH do not test for safety or monitor health effects of GMOs foods.

 YOU are the voice for change!