diff --git a/app/seeders/root_seeder.rb b/app/seeders/root_seeder.rb
index 2c29a9c666..2bc663098e 100644
--- a/app/seeders/root_seeder.rb
+++ b/app/seeders/root_seeder.rb
@@ -35,11 +35,13 @@
 class RootSeeder < Seeder
   include Redmine::I18n
 
-  def initialize
+  def initialize(seed_development_data: Rails.env.development?)
     require 'basic_data_seeder'
     require 'demo_data_seeder'
     require 'development_data_seeder'
 
+    @seed_development_data = seed_development_data
+
     rails_engines.each { |engine| load_engine_seeders! engine }
   end
 
@@ -62,7 +64,7 @@ class RootSeeder < Seeder
       puts '*** Seeding demo data'
       DemoDataSeeder.new.seed!
 
-      if Rails.env.development?
+      if seed_development_data?
         seed_development_data
       end
 
@@ -73,6 +75,10 @@ class RootSeeder < Seeder
     end
   end
 
+  def seed_development_data?
+    @seed_development_data
+  end
+
   def rails_engines
     ::Rails::Engine.subclasses.map(&:instance)
   end