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MY TURN: GMOs and Vermont (16/2/2006)

EXCERPT: I am trying to understand why a grower of GMO corn would not want to be protected from the legal consequences of cross-pollinating his non-GMO neighbor's corn. Bill S.18 would put the liability on the owner and creator of the technology - not the farmer. Apparently, the seed companies [like Monsanto] are worried about this. Local dealers have pulled out all the stops to convince their farmer customers that, "we don't want the protection - thank you!" One seed company hinted during the last legislative session that they might pull out of Vermont.

Several Vermont seed dealers have brought busloads of farmers to the Legislature to speak against the Farmer Protection Act.
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MY TURN: GMOs and Vermont
Thursday, February 16, 2006
By Jack Lazor
The Prairie Star, February 15, 2006
http://www.theprairiestar.com/articles/2006/02/15/ag_news/opinion/opinion11.txt

The Farmer Protection Act and the resulting debate about genetically modified seeds just won't go away. Brief testimony was given by both supporters and opponents of the bill at a conference committee hearing late Wednesday afternoon, Feb. 1, at the Statehouse. After the meeting, several different senators and representatives commented that they hadn’t seen such a divisive issue in years. At issue is whether seed and chemical companies like Monsanto who hold patents on this genetic technology should be held "strictly liable" when economic damages are incurred by farmers whose crops have been contaminated with "round-up ready" and "Bt" pollen.

The seed industry and many corn growers from the conventional farming community argue that strict liability should only be reserved for things like dynamite and wild animals in captivity. On the other side of the fence, proponents of the bill state that once foreign DNA gets into a plant, it's there to stay. This would ruin the purity of seed and feed and could manifest itself as a threat to the health of humans, plants, and animals some time in the future. Some scientists have linked genetic contamination of traditional plants to HIV-AIDS and venereal disease. Once you've got it - it won't go away. So this potential time bomb must be treated with strict liability.

As a corn breeder and a grower of organic corn for seed and feed, I am deeply troubled by the rift that has developed between Vermont's organic and conventional farming communities. I am trying to understand why a grower of GMO corn would not want to be protected from the legal consequences of cross-pollinating his non-GMO neighbor’s corn. Bill S.18 would put the liability on the owner and creator of the technology - not the farmer. Apparently, the seed companies are worried about this. Local dealers have pulled out all the stops to convince their farmer customers that, "we don't want the protection - thank you!" One seed company hinted during the last legislative session that they might pull out of Vermont.

Several Vermont seed dealers have brought busloads of farmers to the Legislature to speak against the Farmer Protection Act. At a recent industry sponsored meeting at The Abbey in Sheldon (complete with open bar and Steve Kerr, our ag commissioner), a Monsanto representative indicated they would not pull out of the state if the bill passed.

Vermont needs sustainable agriculture now more than ever. Lake Champlain is polluted with phosphorous run-off from fields that have been planted to nothing but corn silage for decades. Crop rotation and soil building cover crops are forgotten practices on many farms. A drive through the agricultural countryside in late winter-early spring reveals erosion ditches and wash-outs in many corn fields. If soil loss continues at present rates, there won't be any farmland left for our children and grandchildren. Herbicide-resistant problem weeds like velvet leaf are on the increase in corn fields that haven’t been rotated to forage hay crops. "Round-up ready" GMO corn is designed for use in fields like these because one application of round-up will kill everything but the corn. GMO technology is all about ignoring the rules of nature. When civilizations squander their soil resources and defy natural laws, they decline and eventually starve to death.

Vermont has a great opportunity to lead the country in the adoption of sustainable farming practices. Sustainability is all about enhancing quality of life and our environment by making things last. Corporate sponsored extractive methods extract and mine our soil resources instead of improving them. For about $15 an acre, winter rye could be fall planted on Vermont’s corn silage acres - turning them green so that mineral nutrients could be held. Plowed down rye is a great soil tonic in the spring. Green fields instead of bare dirt and corn stubble would be a visual as well as environmental benefit for Vermont’s 90,000 acres of corn silage.

In his vision for Vermont's farming future, Commissioner of Agriculture, Steve Kerr, never mentioned sustainability or earth care. More cows and more milk are needed. Meanwhile, mountains of milk powder continue to grow in warehouses in St. Albans and Williston. At the same time, the shortage of organic milk is so acute that large processors like Stonyfield Farm Yogurt are considering importing organic milk powder from New Zealand. Usually the laws of supply and demand move commodity production in the direction of the market need. This is just a little hint to the Vermont milk industry - look at what the consumer wants.

Now more than ever, people are demanding products that are produced sustainably. GMOs are Band-Aids for destructive agricultural practices that damage and exploit our environment and natural resources. Steve Kerr has sat at my kitchen table, but was not interested in addressing my concerns about promoting sustainable agriculture in Vermont. We could lead the way nationally in a movement to take better care of the earth of which we are the stewards. Instead of "educating" the public about the benefits of gene splicing and GMO crops - we need to learn about working in harmony with nature. Sustainability doesn't cost - it pays.

JACK LAZOR LIVES IN WESTFIELD

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