Did you know that technically all the seed companies that we buy from are considered seed labelers? Globally, the farmers, who produce seed are very different than the companies that package and sell it to you. Seed from different "seed labelers" that we consider seed companies may have all been grown and harvested by the same farmer. There is actually a supply chain where you have:
Farmers of Seed Production
Harvesters - sometimes done by the production farmer, sometimes done by a harvesting company.
Conditioners - cleans, scarifies, tests for germination and tests for weed seed/other matter. Most states have their Ag people inspect these companies that are located within their region. This is the quality control step.
Labeler - This company may have Test Gardens but does not GROW seed that is for sale. They are required to have their name and address on the seed packet (as well as other info provided by the Conditioner).
Distributor (stores if not buying directly from the Labeler).
People like Johnny's also have the facility to develop hybrids - but they don't grow them out. I do wonder that we so often hear of folks having differences in quality of seed from the Labeler (Baker Creek, Pinetree, Burpee, Parks, Johnny's...) but could only guess that perhaps some warehouses are not kept de-humidified enough. Of course, when direct buying shipping speed does matter as well.
A presentation I'd done for our Master Gardeners goes over it for the truly curious - also covers laws applicable to many AG states but with a focus on California. At the very end, it pops over to a site where you can look up which countries grow what types of seed as production farming.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
