Our Story

Read about how Seeds of Change™ got its start and how you can adopt a new way to eat healthy and sustainable food.

In 1989, Seeds of Change™ embarked on a mission to protect biodiversity and revolutionize the food industry with organic food. It began, as all big ideas do, with a seed — or more accurately, seeds.

A Big Mission with Small Beginnings

To change how current and future generations think about food, we looked at why people choose to eat what they do. Busy lifestyles drive people toward convenience foods, which are often over-processed and contain artificially or genetically modified ingredients, chemicals and high levels of salt, sugar and fat.

At Seeds of Change™, we believe people shouldn’t have to compromise nutrition and health for convenience. That real food can be simple, tasty and better for you.

And that begins with how food is grown. Putting our passion for sustainable farming into action, we became the country’s first organic seed company. Through our seed catalog, we helped pioneer the organic food system that people know and trust today.

A New Way to Eat Healthy

Our quest to revolutionize the food industry with healthy, natural ingredients took us far afield. In Bolivia, we were introduced to quinoa — a delicious and versatile whole grain — that we were excited to make known throughout the U.S. While we began to scale organic quinoa production, we worked with women’s co-ops in Bolivia, taking care not to disrupt the local food systems with which we partnered.

In 2009, Seeds of Change™ was among the very first to make organic quinoa commercially available in the U.S. This convenient and nutritious new food soon became our most popular product.

Giving Back

As part of our efforts to make healthy, organic food accessible to all, we created our You Buy, We Plant initiative, providing seeds for school and community growing and gardening with a percentage of profits from every purchase of Seeds of Change™ food products.

Most recently, Seeds of Change™ has partnered with FoodCorps to bring this initiative to life. Through offering exciting hands-on lessons, providing nutritious school meals and advocating for healthy educational policies, we’re introducing school communities to the health benefits and joy of growing and eating organic food.

To date, we’ve awarded more than $2.5 million to community and school gardening programs, which in turn have produced more than 90 tons of produce for thousands of children and their families.

How We Live Our Mission Today

Today, we continue to drive change by sowing seeds that have the power to change our health and the health of the planet. We’re closer than ever to fulfilling our mission to revolutionize the food industry by making organic food accessible, convenient and appealing to all. We invite our community leaders and neighbors near and far to be a seed of change and to share their stories.

The Seeds of Change™ Timeline

1974

Dr. Alan Kapuler founds our predecessor, Peace Seeds, in Southern Oregon.

1989

Seeds of Change Research Farm and Gardens is founded in Gila, New Mexico.

1990

Organic farmer Dr. Howard Shapiro joins the company as Vice President of Agriculture.

1995

Mars, Inc. acquires Seeds of Change.

1997

Seeds of Change foods launches in the United States.

1999

Seeds of Change foods launches in the United Kingdom.

2006

We start our corporate giving program, the Seeds of Change 1% Fund.

2009

Seeds of Change™ Organic Quinoa & Brown Rice launches.

2010

We test our home garden starter kit.

2012

Costco launch

2014

Mexico launch
Seeds of Change™ Organic Brown & Red Rice with Chia & Kale is introduced.

2015

Canada launch
Seeds of Change™ Organic Quinoa, Brown & Red Rice with Flaxseed is introduced.

2016

Global team created.

2017

Seeds of Change™ eCommerce site launches.