Fwd: Organic farmers sing biotech blues

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14 Jul 2003 11:34:01 -0000

 

News Update from The Campaign

Organic farmers sing biotech blues

 

News Update From The Campaign to Label Genetically Engineered Foods

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Dear News Update Subscribers,

 

Organic crops are being contaminated by genetically engineered crops.

The article posted below titled " Organic farmers sing biotech blues "

from Monday's Des Moines Register discusses this ongoing problem.

 

At a recent debate over genetically engineered foods in Sacramento,

California, David Hegwood, Counsel to the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture,

was confronted about this fact by an organic farmer during the question

and answer session. Hegwood responded that the " USDA was looking into

this problem. "

 

Frankly, there is not too much to look into. It is clear that genetically

engineered crops are contaminating organic crops. The only responsible

action by the USDA would be to confine the growing of genetically

engineered crops to greenhouses. But since Secretary of Agriculture,

Ann Veneman, used to work in the biotech industry, such an action by

the USDA is very unlikely.

 

The fastest way to rapidly reduce the acreage of genetically engineered

crops being grown in the United States is to pass the mandatory labeling

legislation into law. If genetically engineered foods are labeled, most

consumers will not buy them. And if consumers do not buy genetically

engineered foods, farmers will not grow these crops.

 

THE BOTTOM LINE IS THAT THE QUICKEST WAY TO PROTECT ORGANIC

AGRICULTURE FROM CONTAMINATION IS TO GET THE LEGISLATION TO

REQUIRE THE MANDATORY LABELING OF GENETICALLY ENGINEERED

FOODS PASSED INTO LAW.

 

The labeling legislation, called the " Genetically Engineered Food Right

to Know Act of 2003, " will be introduced before the U.S. House of

Representatives later this month by Representative Dennis Kucinich

(D-Ohio).

 

If you have not already sent an e-mail and printed out a form letter to

mail to your House Representative asking him or her to co-sponsor the

labeling legislation, please do so now from our web site at:

http://www.thecampaign.org/alert-house.php

 

Thanks for participating in the effort to protect the purity and

integrity of organic agriculture!

 

Craig Winters

Executive Director

The Campaign to Label Genetically Engineered Foods

 

The Campaign

PO Box 55699

Seattle, WA 98155

Tel: 425-771-4049

Fax: 603-825-5841

E-mail: label

Web Site: http://www.thecampaign.org

 

Mission Statement: " To create a national grassroots consumer campaign

for the purpose of lobbying Congress and the President to pass

legislation that will require the labeling of genetically engineered

foods in the United States. "

 

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Organic farmers sing biotech blues

 

By PHILIP BRASHER

Des Moines Register - Washington Bureau

07/14/2003

 

Washington, D.C. - Farmers who are trying to fill America's growing

appetite for organic food are battling more than just bugs and weeds.

 

Genetically engineered corn and soybeans are becoming so widespread that

organic growers - who count on selling their crops for two to three

times as much as conventional varieties - say they are having trouble

keeping biotech contamination out of their crops.

 

Federal rules bar the use of biotechnology in organic agriculture, and

even the slightest bit of biotech contamination can cut the value of the

crop by a third or more.

 

" The first load of corn you send out with every new crop you hold your

breath, " said Roger Lansink, an organic farmer near Odebolt, Ia. He said

a " huge percentage " of organic corn probably contains traces of biotech

residue.

 

Organic crops can be contaminated in a variety of ways. Bags of seed

often include traces of biotech varieties. Depending on weather

conditions and farming practices, organic corn can easily

cross-pollinate with biotech corn in nearby fields.

 

Lansink had a load of soybeans test positive for biotech contamination

two years ago and almost had to sell the crop for half what it was worth

as an organic crop.

 

Dave Vetter, a Nebraska farmer, said his organic corn crop tested

positive for biotech residue three years in a row, and he lost a

customer as a result.

 

Food companies and livestock producers are increasingly forcing farmers

and grain elevators to test organic commodities to detect any traces of

biotech material, known as GMO for genetically modified organism.

 

" The trend for difficulty is going up and will continue to get worse if

the planting trends for GMOs continues as they've been in the last

several years, " said Lynn Clarkson, president of Clarkson Grain Co. Inc.

of Cerro Gordo, Ill., a major supplier of biotech-free grain to U.S. and

foreign companies.

 

Biotech crops have exploded in popularity with conventional farmers

since the late 1990s. This year, 81 percent of the soybeans and 40

percent of the field corn grown nationwide is genetically engineered to

protect the plants from herbicide or insect damage.

 

Sales of organic foods, meanwhile, have been growing by 20 percent a

year. To meet the demand for organic crops and biotech-free seed, some

companies already are starting to look for foreign sources. An Indiana

seed company that supplies Clarkson's contract farmers is growing its

crops in South America.

 

In the European Union, a new law regulating agricultural biotechnology

will allow countries to isolate genetically engineered crops to prevent

unwanted pollen spread.

 

A recent survey of U.S. organic farmers by the Organic Farming Research

Foundation found more than half of the 990 respondents said the

government wasn't doing enough to protect them from biotech

contamination. Eighteen farmers in the survey said their crops had

tested positive for biotech material.

 

To some extent, the organic industry brought its problem on itself.

 

When the U.S. Department of Agriculture originally proposed rules for

organic agriculture in the mid-1990s, they would have allowed the use of

biotech seeds. But USDA reversed itself after receiving thousands of

comments opposed to the provision. Not only are organic crop farmers

barred from using biotech seeds, but livestock producers also are

required to use organically grown feed.

 

The USDA rules, which took effect last year, don't require organic crops

to be tested for biotech residue, and the department says that

unintentional biotech residue doesn't prevent a crop from being called

" organic. "

 

But that doesn't stop organic food companies and organic livestock

producers from requiring seeds and crops to be tested for GMO content.

 

Both the testing requirements and GMO tolerances - the amount of biotech

residue permitted in a crop - vary from company to company. Some grain

companies test organic grain if it is to be sold for food but not for

animal feed. Other companies test everything.

 

The financial stakes for farmers are large: Organic soybeans that can be

sold for food go for $12.50 to $14.50 a bushel. Feed-grade soybeans sell

for about $9 a bushel, still about $3 more than conventional soybeans.

 

Eden Foods Inc., a Michigan-based manufacturer of organic soy milk and

other products, requires testing of both seed and harvested crops. Eden

uses seed varieties that were developed by Iowa State University without

biotechnology.

 

Heartland Organic Marketing Cooperative, a grain handler in Stewart,

Ia., doesn't test the organic crops it buys so long as they are to be

used for animal feed and not food.

 

" If you end up at the end of your growing season and end up with corn

that's been cross-pollinated, which is not to be unexpected, there's

nothing in the (USDA) rules to say you can't move that through an

organic process, " said Bob Turnbull, Heartland's marketing manager.

 

But some livestock producers, including meat industry giant Tyson Foods

Inc., which raises organic chickens, want their grain tested anyway.

Tyson, a customer of Clarkson Grain, allows up to 1 percent biotech

residue.

 

Organic corn growers probably face the biggest challenge, since pollen

can spread for long distances on the wind. Farmers say they try to plant

at different times than their neighbors and plant away from biotech

fields.

 

But even those steps aren't foolproof. Vetter, the Nebraska farmer,

planted a double row of trees around his farm, and he says the neighbor

upwind of him doesn't plant biotech varieties, yet Vetter's organic

crops have still been contaminated. " We don't really know where it's

coming from, " he said.

 

Lansink typically plants his corn several weeks after his neighbor to

prevent the crops from pollinating at the same time. But this year,

because of the wet spring, his neighbors were forced to plant later than

usual, so the crops could pollinate simultaneously.

 

Organic farmers have little recourse if their crops are contaminated.

 

Lansink and some other growers asked the Iowa Legislature to set up an

indemnity fund to compensate farmers when specialty crops were

contaminated, but the idea didn't get anywhere. The money would have

come from a fee on all corn and soybean growers.

 

The Heartland co-op is in arbitration with a farmer whose soybeans

tested positive for biotech residue and had to be sold at conventional

prices.

 

Contamination problems

 

Crop purity isn't just a problem for organic farmers. Foreign buyers in

Europe and Asia, where many consumers don't want to eat genetically

engineered foods, insist that U.S. grain companies test for biotech

residues in corn and soybeans.

 

OVERSEAS: British supermarket chains like Marks and Spencer and Tesco

allow no more than 0.01 percent. Japan officially allows up to 5

percent, but Japanese companies typically have lower limits, industry

officials say.

 

TESTING: The most commonly used tests are supposed to detect

contamination levels of 1 percent or higher. A more sophisticated and

expensive method detects levels down to 0.01 percent.

 

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If you would like to comment on this News Update, you can do so at the

forum section of our web site at: http://www.thecampaign.org/forums

 

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