Sen. Jim Risch selects local garden seed supplier as Idaho Small Business of the Month
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RIGBY – A major garden seed supplier in Rigby was recently recognized as the Idaho Small Business of the Month in Washington, D.C.
Idaho U.S. Senator Jim Risch, a member and former chairman of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, recognized Survival Garden Seeds in a Congressional Record dated Jan. 28.
“Today, I am proud to honor Survival Garden Seeds in Rigby as the Idaho Small Business of the Month for January 2026,” Risch wrote. “Your dedication to excellence makes Idaho proud, and I look forward to
your continued growth and success.”
Survival Garden Seeds buys and packages more than 400 different varieties of seeds, which it gets from warehouses and Idaho farmers. The seeds — which owner and CEO Jason Spahr described during a tour in October as “Heirloom, non-GMO, open pollinated seeds” — are sold in 3,500 Walmart stores nationwide. The product is expanding into CAL Ranch and other retailers.
Spahr and his team aim to help people become more self-reliant through gardening. It does that by offering free classes to people at its shop inside an industrial building at 3809 East 37 North, Suite 1 off County Line Road.
In a conversation with EastIdahoNews.com Monday afternoon, Spahr says Risch became aware of his business in October when Dave Noack invited representatives from the local offices of Idaho’s Congressional delegation on a tour in October. Watch highlights in the video above.
“It’s great to see that the hard work and the things that we’re putting into (this venture) are making a difference,” Spahr says.
The SBDC provides resources to help local business owners succeed and its director, Dave Noack, has known Spahr since the company’s launch.
Spahr and Daryl Ward started Survival Garden Seeds in April 2020 as a way to combat supply chain disruptions and food shortages. It was inspired by the Victory Garden movement during World War I and II, which encouraged people to grow food at home to support their communities.
The company started with just 30 seed varieties in a small building. Spahr and his wife, Arianne, handled all packaging and shipping for incoming orders.
Since then, it’s grown into a fully domestic manufacturing business with 23 employees. Survival Garden Seeds designs and builds its own seed-packing equipment and manages production, packaging, and distribution under one roof.
In addition to securing partnerships with Walmart and Amazon, creating jobs and providing greater supply chain reliability, Spahr says they’ve provided more than $130,000 worth of seeds to various nonprofits over the last year, including local food banks, community gardens and missions in Africa.
In an email to EastIdahoNews.com, Noack says it’s “awe-inspiring” to see what Spahr and his wife have built together and how much it’s grown over the years.
“I find it awe-inspiring when an entrepreneur like Jason Spahr can take a company like Survival Garden Seeds to the levels of success they are experiencing in such a relatively short period of time,” Noack writes.
The SBDC nominated Survival Garden Seeds for its Idaho Small Business of the Year award.
“Survival Garden Seeds is a great example of how Idaho small businesses not only make our communities strong, but support our economy and supply chains,” Risch says in a news release.
The company’s gardening classes are open to anyone who’d like to attend. The next one is happening on Feb. 12 and will focus on seed starting and cold stratification. To sign up or learn more, click here. Additional information is in the flyer below.
