HeinzSeed

Reaping Rewards for Both Field and Farmer

With roots that go back three decades, the HeinzSeed program is making a global impact today as a model of sustainable agriculture.

HeinzSeed Video

Grown Not Made

HeinzSeed is the program through which we have developed our own proprietary tomato seeds, using traditional breeding techniques (no genetic modification). In addition to producing the fresh, thick tomatoes that go into your family's favorite products, from Heinz® Ketchup to Classico® pasta sauces, HeinzSeed tomatoes remain ripe longer when stored in the field. They are more disease-resistant, which allows farmers to reduce their use of pesticides. Heinz seeds also produce a higher yield per seed, so farmers can harvest more tons of tomatoes with the same or lower amounts of water and fertilizer.

Helping Sustainability Take Root

Through the HeinzSeed program, we supply six billion hybrid tomato seeds annually to the farmers who grow tomatoes for us, as well as to our commercial customers. In developing nations, HeinzSeed is helping farmers improve their quality of life, reduce the negative environmental impact of over-reliance on chemical pesticides and fertilizers, and conserve water. Thanks to HeinzSeed, farmers are producing higher yields of quality tomatoes without genetic modification.

HeinzSeed has been particularly successful in China, where our tomato experts worked with the country's largest tomato processor and government officials to identify tomato varieties that thrive in their native soil and climate. We also recently began a partnership with the United States Agency for International Development for a program in the economically distressed Upper Nile region of Egypt.

The HeinzSeed program received the 2008 Corporate Council Award from Harvard Medical School'' Center for Health and the Global Environment.