At Starke Ayres, our goal is to help end hunger. It all starts with the highest quality seed, which is why we invest significant resources into researching and developing superior quality varieties that maximize yields for farmers.

Starke Ayres is the foremost African specialist and global supplier of premium vegetable, flower and lawn seed varieties – both for commercial and home garden planting. With over 140 years of experience, we are committed to doing ethical business and offering sustainable and innovative solutions to our customers.

Founded in 1877 in South Africa, Starke Ayres currently has a sales-network footprint in more than 60 countries, across five continents, with ongoing plans for future expansion and innovation.

Our motivation at Starke Ayres is to feed the planet. We focus on breeding the highest-yielding vegetables which make our seed the most cost-efficient and the finest quality for all farmers. Starke Ayres seeds are ISTA accredited, proudly non-GMO and we ensure our seeds are available to all farmers, big and small. Our home gardening range is also available at any major retail outlet.

To help develop and support all farmers and communities in Africa, Starke Ayres has partnered with Food and Trees for Africa.

Food & Trees for Africa (FTFA) is a leading Section 21 Non-Profit Organisation that addresses food security, environmental sustainability, and greening. They have a large and diverse programme portfolio which includes Community Market Gardens, FEED Africa (Farmer Development), Community Tree Planting, School Gardening, The EduPlant Programme, and many more.

In 2016, Starke Ayres established an owl-breeding programme on its farm that uses these birds of prey, instead of chemically hazardous methods, to help keep pests at bay. The programme has proved to be so successful that it has expanded to five of Starke Ayres’ farms in South Africa.