Battle Over Beets Continues

Environmental groups failed to show that seed plants for Roundup Ready Sugar Beets would cause irreparable harm, a federal appeals court said Friday. The 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a  previous injunction that called for the destruction of the plants.

“We conclude the district court abused its discretion in granting a preliminary injunction requiring destruction of the steckling plants,” the court wrote. “Plaintiffs have not demonstrated that the … plants present a possibility, much less a likelihood, of genetic contamination or other irreparable harm. The undisputed evidence indicates that the stecklings pose a negligible risk of genetic contamination, as the juvenile plants are biologically incapable of flowering or cross-pollinating before February 28, 2011, when the permits expire.”

USDA Announces Partial Deregulation of Biotech Sugar Beets

The Agriculture Department’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced Friday it will partially deregulate biotech sugar beets. The decision means farmers can resume plantings of sugar beets that had been barred by a federal judge.

“After conducting an environmental assessment, accepting and reviewing public comments and conducting a plant pest risk assessment, APHIS has determined that the Roundup Ready sugar beet root crop, when grown under APHIS-imposed conditions, can be partially deregulated without posing a plant pest risk or having a significant effect on the environment,” said Michael Gregoire, deputy administrator for APHIS’ biotechnology regulatory services.

More than half of the nation’s granulated sugar has in recent years come from Roundup Ready beets. The other half comes from sugar cane.

Sugar beet growers welcomed the decision.

“The decision is a win for consumers,” said Duane Grant, a beet farmer in Rupert, Idaho, and chairman of the farmer-owned Snake River Sugar Company. “It assures a full beet crop will be planted in 2011.”

USDA Announces Deregulation of Biotech Alfalfa

The Agriculture Department’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service on Thursday announced its decision to grant non-regulated status for alfalfa that has been genetically engineered to be resistant to the herbicide commercially known as Roundup.

“After conducting a thorough and transparent examination of alfalfa through a multi-alternative environmental impact statement and several public comment opportunities, APHIS has determined that Roundup Ready alfalfa is as safe as traditionally bred alfalfa,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said. “All of the alfalfa production stakeholders involved in this issue have stressed their willingness to work together to find solutions. We greatly appreciate and value the work they’ve done so far and will continue to provide support to the wide variety of sectors that make American agriculture successful.”

After releasing a final environmental impact statement in December 2010, USDA took another step to ensure that this issue received the broadest examination before making its final decision. USDA brought together a diverse group of stakeholders to discuss feasible strategies for coexistence between genetically engineered, organic and other stakeholders. The stakeholders helped to identify areas of consensus; issues where the group disagreed and opportunities for further dialogue; and areas where USDA could—or should—play an important and helpful role.

Farm Bureau is pleased with the announcement, as it clears up uncertainty for producers and allows them to move forward with planting decisions.

Ag blogger Emily Zweber explains in this post, what the deregulation means for her family farm.

(Image: Pro-Soil Ag Solutions)

Guest Commentary

The Problem with Roundup Ready Alfalfa

By Rob Jones

Round-Up Ready alfalfa?  When I first heard about this I was puzzled why a company would risk so much investment in a crop that is characterized by taking care of itself when it comes to weeds.  Sure it takes a while to get it established, but cover-cropping, extra care weeding before planting, planting into stubble, nurse cropping, can all help minimize weed pressure while getting started.

As for prolonging alfalfa stands, I think there is a misconception that weeds kill out alfalfa.  If an alfalfa stand begins to thin, it’s because of soil imbalances, not weeds, otherwise weeds would take over immediately.

Honestly, contamination is a serious issue. So what is the answer to the dilemma?

USDA U-Turn on Roundup Ready Alfalfa

Despite a previous committment to full deregulation of biotech alfalfa, Sec. Tom Vilsack (right) is now entertaining the idea of releasing the crop with various restrictions.

Despite the USDA’s own proposal from last year, Sec. Vilsack’s department is now reversing course on deregulating Roundup Ready Alfalfa. According to the Department’s environmental review, the alfalfa was judged substantially equivalent to other varieties without red flags for regulators. But instead of taking the news as a green light to let the alfalfa on the market, as they have with other biotech plants like corn, USDA is waffling.

Now, the deregulation of Roundup Ready alfalfa could be accompanied by restrictions on seed production and, in some cases, cultivation of the hay itself, should USDA decide on implementing one of two preferred alternatives presented in a court-ordered environmental review of the crop.

The Wall Street Journal has strong words about the decision to “invite representatives from the biotech and organic industries to USDA in the coming days to discuss how the two farming methods may coexist.”

By suggesting that industry and activist groups negotiate compromises in advance of the final ruling on whether to deregulate, Mr. Vilsack is using the Department’s regulatory authority as leverage against businesses whose products are overwhelmingly regulated by USDA.

It gets worse. Mr. Vilsack’s authority in the regulatory decision-making process is based on the assumption of sound scientific data. But according to people who attended the meeting last Monday, the USDA Secretary told the assembled groups that science itself is subjective, and that he could have three different groups bring him three different supposedly scientific opinions.

Sugar Beet Decision Delayed Again

Genetically modified sugar beet plants that would produce seeds for the 2012 planting season can’t yet be destroyed as ordered by a judge, a federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled.

The U.S. Court of Appeals put on hold until Feb. 28 a judges Nov. 30 order to dig up 256 acres of sugar beet seedlings, or until it issues an order, whichever is first, according to a ruling yesterday. Environmental groups sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture to block planting permits given four companies for beets this season. The plants wont flower before the permits expire in February, so there is no risk of gene flow, the USDA said in court filings.

A New Solution for Beets

The USDA has unveiled a plan that would allow the planting of Roundup Ready sugar beets in 2011 under strict regulations.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the USDA’s proposal represents the preliminary stage of the process and will be followed by a 30-day comment period before the department makes a final decision.  The USDA remains in a legal battle with groups seeking to halt all production and planting of the genetically engineered sugar beets because of concerns that the plants contaminate nearby non-biotech crops.

‘Demonizing’ Biotech Crops Hurts Hungry Populations

USDA officials say European nations could help eliminate scenes like this if they were to soften their stance on biotech food.

Supporters of biotech crops should concentrate on keeping European officials from “demonizing” this method of production so that the technology can benefit developing countries with hungry populations, Roger Beachy, head of the Agriculture Department’s National Institutes of Food and Agriculture, said Tuesday.

Arguing that using biotech crops boosts yields is not persuasive in Europe due to zero population growth, according to Beachy. A better strategy would be to encourage government farm ministers in Europe to consider how biotech crops can be used to ease hunger in developing countries. Beachy expressed concern that European attitudes toward biotechnology could influence global views, reducing the use of biotech crops in countries with hungry populations.

Beachy spoke with reporters about biotech crops on the sidelines of a Soyatech global grain and soybean transport conference in Minneapolis.

Biotech Sugar Beets on Hold Again

The uncertainty continues over the planting of Roundup Ready sugar beets in 2011.

A federal judge in California has ruled that USDA has once again violated a federal environmental law by allowing companies to plant Roundup Ready sugar beet seedlings.

In August, Judge Jeffrey White ruled that USDA was wrong in deregulating Round Ready sugar beets without completing a proper environmental impact statement.  USDA agreed to do the study, saying it would take at least two years to complete.  Meanwhile, in September USDA said that it would allow the industry to begin planting Roundup Ready seedlings, called “stecklings”. Environmental groups filed a complaint against USDA, seeking an injunction to stop the agency from allowing the stecklings to be planted and the judge has agreed.

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack expressed frustration over the latest ruling.  Vilsack says the uncertainty over whether farmers will be allowed to plant Roundup Ready beets is stressing farm families who grow the crop.  He suggests that environmental groups and those who favor biotechnology are going to have to figure out a way to co-exist, as opposed to the current climate, which is—as Vilsack puts it—“winner-take-all”.

Iowa Grand Champion Steer is a Clone

DTN reports that the 2010 Iowa grand champion steer was a clone of the animal that won the same event in 2008.   The crossbred steer was shown by Tyler Faber of Sioux Center, Iowa.  According to the DTN report, Faber’s father, David Faber, is president of Trans Ova, a livestock production company in Sioux Center.  The cloned steer was produced by Bovance, a joint venture between Trans Ova and the cloning firm ViaGen.

The winning steer at the 2010 Iowa State Fair 4-H Market Beef Show is a clone of the steer crowned champion at the Iowa State Fair in 2008

Iowa 4-H livestock superintendent Mike Anderson says show officials found out the animal was cloned on Friday, after the steer had won the grand champion award two days earlier.  Anderson says 4-H has no rule preventing clones from being shown—and he doesn’t think 4-H would create a rule on cloning because there’s no way for them to determine whether an animal is a clone.

Wheat Research Reveals Exciting Traits

Texas AgriLife Research scientists have discovered a resistance gene to one of the most plaguing wheat viruses today. Studying a Colorado wheat variety, scientists identified the gene providing resistance to wheat streak mosaic virus.

The virus is one of the most common wheat viruses found in the 75 million acres of wheat in the US. Wheat curl mite is the vector of this plaguing virus; no chemicals are labeled to control the mite, making gene resistance to the virus a significant discovery.

The research included study of Kansas wheat variety RonL, Nebraska variety Mace as well as TAM 11 and TAM 112. Dr. Jackie Rudd, wheat breeder of the AgriLife Research team, said wheat has 21 pairs of chromosomes and one of those has potential resistant to wheat streak mosaic virus. The Wsm2 gene as it will now be called, offers scientists the potential to develop resistant wheat varieties much quicker through accelerated breeding and increased resistance levels.

(image:Martin LaBar)

Judge Revokes USDA’s Approval of Biotech Sugar Beets

Federal District Court Judge Jeffrey White revoked the Agriculture Department’s approval of Roundup Ready sugar beets Friday because the department had not adequately assessed the environmental consequences before approving them for commercial cultivation.

The decision appears to effectively ban the planting of biotech sugar beets, which make up 95 percent of the crop, until USDA prepares an environmental impact statement and approves the crop again, a process that could take two years. The decision bans planting of biotech sugar beets next spring, but does not impact this year’s crop, which is planted and set for harvest this fall.

Today’s Wall Street Journal reports that the decision won’t disrupt sugar supplies this year, but could cause headaches for food companies after that. Food companies are uncertain where they will source their sugar beets after next year.

Congress in support of Roundup Ready Alfalfa

Seventy-five house members on Friday signed a letter to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack urging the USDA to partially deregulate Roundup Ready alfalfa (RRA) in time for inventoried seed to be planted in 2010. The largely bi-partisan effort, organized by Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-KS), is intended to make the benefits from a recent ruling of the Supreme Court available to farmers before the next planting season.

The letter from the House members cited statements from the Supreme Court, excerpts from a USDA report on RRA, and higher profits associated with the planting of the bio-technology crop to persuade Secretary Vilsack to partially deregulate RRA.

While the USDA does not have authority to completely deregulate the planting of RRA until the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service completes an EIS, the Court’s ruling does allow the Department to permit interim use of previously harvested and inventoried seed.

The Supreme Court case and the resulting re-introduction of RRA could set an important precedent for future bio-tech advances.

(image:sethrt)

Monsanto and BASF to Expand Collaboration into Wheat

Wheat is now to be included in the joint research efforts of Monsanto and BASF. Joining efforts and resources in 2007, the two companies are dedicated to developing high-yielding and stress-tolerant products of the major crops, including corn, soy, cotton and canola.

Previously abandoning wheat after incurring widespread reluctance, the uptake of biotech research of wheat is a big step. Although the Green Revolution was started with Borlaug’s research in wheat, recent biotech has bypassed the crop, leaving a less competitive production and worldwide production shortages.

North American and Australian markets will be the initial focus of the partners in regards to wheat research. The company expects the first enhanced yielding wheat product to reach the market after 2020. This product will be followed by successive generations of higher-yielding wheat varieties.

(image:Spilsby, England)

ERS Report: Biotech Varieties More Popular Than Conventional Ones

American farmers continue to choose biotech varieties over their conventional counterparts, according to a report released Thursday by the Agriculture Department’s Economic Research Service.

Among the findings of the ERS report, Adoption of Genetically Engineered Crops in the U.S., adoption of biotech soybeans is 93 percent in 2010, up from 91 percent in 2009; adoption of biotech cotton climbed to 93 percent in 2010, up from 88 percent in 2009; and adoption of all biotech corn reached 86 percent in 2010, up from 85 percent in 2009.

(Image: iowa_spirit_walker)

Audit Finds USDA Falls Short on Tracking Residue in Beef

The Agriculture Department’s Office of the Inspector General concluded in a March audit report that USDA, along with the Food & Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency “is not accomplishing its mission of monitoring the food supply for harmful residues.”

The bulk of the report focuses on recommendations from the inspector general for jump-starting residue monitoring and intervention. Recommendations include expanding the substances the agencies test for, improving their methodology for sampling hazardous residues, determining more efficient ways of approving newer methods of testing for drug residues and collaborating to set tolerances for additional residues.

To see a copy of the report in its entirety, click here.

(Image: pradip_rabindranath)

Judge Denies Sugar Beet Injunction

Capital Press has the story…

A federal judge in California has struck down an effort to block the planting of genetically engineered sugar-beet seeds this spring.

In a ruling filed today, Judge Jeffrey White denied a motion by the Center for Food Safety for an injunction that would have prohibited beet growers from using Monsanto’s Roundup Ready seeds this spring.

The plaintiffs and industry defendants are scheduled to argue in a July 9 hearing in San Francisco whether the seeds should be permanently prohibited while USDA produces an environmental document to support the agency’s deregulation of the seeds.

The looming threat of an injunction complicated the arguments against the proposed ban on planting biotech beets on leased Boulder County open space late last summer.

The Primitive Food Movement

The New York Times economics blog, Freakonomics, (which follows the methodology of the best selling book by the same name) has outlined what it calls the ‘Primitive Food Movement’ in a recent post.

Americans are currently embracing a strange sort of primitivism… This trend appears to be a unique response to a declension narrative that goes something like this: Americans once lived on small farms, ate locally produced food, did not poison the soil with chemicals, and always knew from whence their food came…

Current calls for dietary simplicity might have a revolutionary ring to them. But what’s overlooked in all the enthusiasm is this: Americans have always idealized, or at least harkened back to, an agricultural era when production was supposedly simpler, closer to the land, and unadulterated by the complexities of modernization.

According to the author, calls for ‘simple food’ were taking place during the Civil war and earlier.

After years of approximating the increasingly luxuriant habits of Empire, early Americans reacted to independence by playing up their status as rough-hewn frontiersmen and self-sufficient survivalists. In terms of food, this self-identification meant rejecting luxury for—you got it—the primitive simplicity of the first European settlers.

Consider taking a minute to read the post in its entirety. And don’t forget to take a look a the comments to the article at the bottom of the page.

(Image: windy_sydney)

Can GM Crops Help the Environment?

In its most recent issue, Forbes magazine examines just how biotech crops can help producers increase conservation practices and help the environment. The article highlights many organic and sustainable agriculture advocates who are friendly towards biotech crops and promote their eco-friendly benefits.

Forbes Writer Goes After Critics of ‘Corporate Agriculture’

No sector in America is better positioned for the future than agriculture, if it is allowed to reach its potential, according to a column penned by Joel Kotkin, a distinguished presidential fellow in urban futures at Chapman University.

“Like manufacturers and homebuilders before them, farmers have found themselves in the crosshairs of urban aesthetes and green activists who hope to impose their own Utopian vision of agriculture. This vision includes shutting down large-scale scientifically run farms and replacing them with small organic homesteads and urban gardens,” Kotkin wrote.

“Troublingly, the assault on mainstream farmers is moving into the policy arena. It extends to cut-offs on water, stricter rules on the use of pesticides, prohibitions on the caging of chickens and a growing movement to ban the use of genetic engineering in crops. And it could undermine a sector that has performed well over the past decade and has excellent long-term prospects.”

Kotkin strongly lashes out at the critics of “corporate agriculture.” Kotkin’s column does an excellent job of articulating the green movement’s assault on modern agriculture.

China Approves Biotech Rice

According to the Wall Street Journal...

China’s government declared two strains of genetically modified rice safe to produce and consume, taking a major step toward endorsing the use of biotechnology in the staple food crop of billions of people in Asia.

In a written reply to questions from The Wall Street Journal, China’s Ministry of Agriculture said Monday that it had issued safety certificates to domestically developed strains of genetically modified rice and corn, after a years-long process involving trial production and environmental tests. Further approvals are required before the strains can be grown on a commercial scale, the ministry said, and industry participants said it may take another two to three years for the rice to reach production.

The Chinese approval of biotech crops comes after a decision earlier this year by British government ministries to allow the import of biotech crops to Britain, breaking a long-time ban of the technology in Britain and breaking with the continued ban by the EU.

Cal Poly Alum Protests Pollan Solo Lecture

Ag critic, author, and UC Berkley Journalism Professor, Michael Pollan

A solo lecture by food activist Michael Pollan scheduled for 11 a.m. Pacific time today on the campus of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo was hastily converted to a panel discussion after alumni, including the chairman of Harris Beef Ranch Co., protested. Pollan will participate in a panel discussion that includes Gary Smith, a Colorado meat science expert, and Myra Goodman, co-founder of Earthbound Farms, an organic vegetable operation with 33,000 acres.

On Sept. 23, David Wood, chairman of Harris Beef Ranch Co., located in California’s San Joaquin Valley, sent a letter to Cal Poly officials stating he would pull a $150,000 donation for a new campus meat processing facility if Pollan’s solo lecture took place. Wood, who manages one of the state’s largest beef cattle ranches, told Cal Poly a solo lecture would provide Pollan with a soapbox for anti-agricultural views.

Barbara Martin, who writes a blog called Dairy Goddess and operates an 800-cow dairy in California with her husband, Tony, called the panel format that includes Pollan a perfect compromise.

“As a parent and a taxpayer, I’m satisfied that students will be exposed to all sides of farming practices and agricultural decisions,” wrote Martin, whose son attends Cal Poly.

Cal Poly’s agriculture program is also under fire by critics for reducing its teaching herd of dairy cattle from 150 to 30. The cut is an economic necessity, according to officials.

Gates Chides Critics, Defends Biotech Crops

Bill Gates, Chair of Microsoft, keynotes the World Food Prize Symposium in Des Moines on Thursday.

Bill Gates, the Microsoft chairman who is pouring part of his fortune into alleviating global poverty, defended the use of genetically engineered crops to help poor farmers increase food production. In what was billed as his first major speech on agriculture, Gates chided critics who he said are “instantly hostile to any emphasis on productivity.

Gates said transgenic crops “can help address farmers’ challenges faster and more efficiently than conventional breeding alone.”

His foundation has committed about $1.4 billion to agricultural development, with about 5 percent of that targeted to biotechnology projects, including one focused on developing drought-tolerant corn for us in east Africa. Gates said the seeds would be licensed royalty free to distributors so that there won’t be any extra cost to farmers. The seeds could allow farmers to increase corn production by 2 million tons a year during a moderate drought, he said.

Also, watch the video of Gates’ comments via the Des Moines Register.

The Father Of the Green Revolution

“When wheat is ripening properly, when the wind is blowing across the field, you can hear the beards of the wheat rubbing together. They sound like the pine needles in a forest. It is a sweet, whispering music that once you hear, you never forget.”
-- Dr. Norman Borlaug, father of the Green Revolution, as quoted in the New York Times obituary marking his passing.

One of the great heroes in the history of agriculture, Norman Borlaug passed away this weekend at the age of 95. During his career, Borlaug always believed in using modern technology to end hunger. He believed in the proper use of fertilizers and chemicals as well. Those beliefs and his determination and hard work led to saving millions, if not billions, of people from starvation.

the Washington Post has the story…

Norman E. Borlaug, 95, an American plant pathologist who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for starting the “Green Revolution” that dramatically increased food production in developing nations and saved countless people from starvation, died Saturday at his home in Dallas.

“More than any other single person of this age, he has helped provide bread for a hungry world,” the Nobel committee said in honoring him. “Dr. Borlaug has introduced a dynamic factor into our assessment of the future and its potential.”

Edwin Price, director of the Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture at Texas A&M University, said his mentor died of cancer. Since 1984, Dr. Borlaug had been a distinguished professor of international agriculture there.

From the 1970s until his death, he increasingly took the politically incorrect view that environmentalists were hampering world food production by indiscriminately attacking the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

“They claim that the consumer is being poisoned out of existence by the current high-yielding systems of agricultural production and recommend we revert back to lower-yielding, so-called sustainable technologies,” he said in a speech in New Orleans in 1993.

Unfortunately, he said, it is not possible to turn the clock back to the 1930s, when the population of the world was 2.2 billion. It was estimated at 5.6 billion in 1995 and was projected to rise to 8.3 billion by 2025.

Dr Borlaug was also profiled in the PBS program Americas Heartland. You can watch the segment here.

TIME Writer Admits Piece was Slanted

Bryan Walsh, who wrote a damning article on modern agriculture in Time magazine, admitted in an AgriTalk interview with Mike Adams Monday morning that the story took the angle he wanted to pursue rather than presenting both sides in a balanced, objective manner.

He said it’s been a trend at Time to have “more stories angled toward the point of view of the writer.” In other words, TIME Magazine is no longer a news outlet, but an opinion journal.

“Rather than just doing the sort of story where you do 50 percent on one side, 50 percent on the other, you allow the writer to look at it and make some of his own judgments,” Walsh said.

He said he looked at the information and thought, “This is the angle I’d like to take.”

His article wasn’t just critical of big, corporate farms, but rather a system that includes many family farms as well. In the radio interview Monday morning, Walsh said he understands the concern that many family farms could have about his story.

The article quotes numerous entities critical of modern farming, such as the Union of Concerned Scientists, the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production, several disenfranchised farmers dismayed about how agriculture has changed, organic advocates and others who sell their farm and food products based on criticizing the products and processes of mainstream farming and ranching.

Many groups have condemned the article, including the NCBA and the American Meat Institute. Farm and ranch broadcaster and host of the daily show Loo’s Tales Trent Loos also released a blistering commentary about the article.

Lisa M. Keefe of Meatingplace.com has also posted an interview with Bryan Walsh TIME Magazine.

Boulder Leaves Door Open for Roundup Ready Beets

The Boulder County (Colorado) Commission voted last Wednesday to delay action on a farmer’s eight-month-old application to cultivate biotech sugar beets on county land.

The delay comes at the request of the 6 member-growers of sugar beets on Boulder County Open Space land. In a letter to commissioners the growers said,

“We would like to have the opportunity to grow Roundup Ready sugar beets like the other sugar beet growers in the United States and Canada, but our request has turned into a broader emotional debate that has deeply divided our community. We respectfully ask that you delay any decision on the petition to allow the community time to find ways for our farming operations to coexist as they have for many years before.”

The outcome of the meeting was a nod in the direction of the farmers as commissioners welcomed the idea of putting off the decision until a more comprehensive GMO policy could be developed, which county staff say could take up to a year.

Julia Wrapp, left, of Boulder, and Bonnie McCormick listen to presenters at a Boulder County Board of Commissioners meeting on genetically modified beets Tuesday. ( Stephanie Davis )

For their part, county staff supports the growers request to grow the beets on Open Space land and has made the recommendation to both the Parks and Open Space Advisory Council, and the Food and Ag Policy Council, who have both submitted conflicting recommendations to commissioners on the issue. Staff also supports the growers’ new request to delay a decision.

“We’re supporting the growers’ request to delay the decision,” said Tina Nielsen, special projects manager for the open space department.

Commissioners Ben Pearlman, Cindy Domenico and Will Toor said Boulder County should first complete a comprehensive study to guide the future management of the thousands of acres of agricultural land the county leases to farmers. That management plan is expected to recommend what Toor called “a broader GMO policy” that Boulder County officials can consult when considering farmers’ requests to plant biotech crops on county-owned land.

Despite calls for a county-wide ban on GM crops by activists, the decision signaled that the commissioners do feel that GM crops might have a place in Boulder County agriculture and more specifically, within the boundaries of the county’s 17,000 acres of public farmland.

“I don’t think today is the right day to make a final decision about genetically modified beets,” said Commissioner Ben Pearlman. “They need to be part of a comprehensive look at what we want out of agriculture on our county’s open-space land.”

Mr. Pearlman’s comments were encouraging to the growers and to Colorado Farm Bureau. Equally encouraging were Commissioner Toor’s comments which seemed to warm to the industry’s arguments about the need for and safety of Roundup Ready crops. Before three different public meetings on the subject, Mr. Toor had originally signaled that he would vote against the petition to allow the use of the beets.

“In the end, the commissioners know that they have neither the resources nor the expertise to manage the county’s Open Space land without the help of the farmers,” said Troy Bredenkamp of the Colorado Farm Bureau. “The farmers need this tool if they are going to stay on Open Space land.”

The vigorous debate on the issue has not gone unnoticed. Last week the Denver Post editorial board came out in favor of the grower’s request. Columnist Vincent Carroll has supported the growers in two separate columns, one after the Food and Ag Policy Council meeting and another after last week’s delay.

For their part, the six farmers have stated that they can hold out for another year growing conventional beets, while the GMO policy is developed. This is the second year that the new beets have been available across the country and already 98% of this year’s crop is Roundup Ready. This makes it exceedingly difficult to find conventional seed.

“We can hold out for another year,” said Jules VanThuyne, one of the six farmers. “After that, we will have to make some tough decisions if you (the commissioners) don’t find in our favor.”

Several members of the Boulder County Farm Bureau were present at the meeting along with state staff and industry representatives. Members from Boulder County gave testimony in support of the petition to delay.

Meat Groups Blast Time Article

Meat industry groups are airing discontent with the Aug. 31 Time magazine cover story “The Real Cost of Cheap Food” that is loaded with inaccurate information and has no hint of objectivity.

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, the only meat industry group quoted in the article, lashed out with a press release outlining the steps it took to provide information to Bryan Walsh, the article’s writer. The vast majority of the information was not included in the final piece. The Cattlemen indicated they were called late in the reporting and writing process, and that the writer discussed the angle of his story only when pressed for details.

Patrick Boyle, president and CEO of the American Meat Institute, wrote a letter to the editor of Time. “In a world of 7 billion people and expanding, where malnutrition, hunger or outright famine are commonplace, it’s dumbfounding that Time magazine would take one of the great American success stories—the efficient agricultural production of an abundant variety of healthy, safe and affordable foods for consumers in the U.S. and throughout the world—and turn it into an unrecognizable story of exploitation, manipulation and greed,” Boyle wrote.

In AFBF President Bob Stallman’s letter to the editor of Time, he called the article “a vicious attack on modern farmers and the processes they use to care for the land, their animals, their neighbors and communities, all while producing safe, affordable, healthy and abundant food for consumers.”

Farm Bureau members are encouraged to write a letter to the editor by clicking here.

Trent Loos Responds to TIME Hitpiece on Ag

From Feedstuffs, Ag broadcaster and commentator Trent Loos responds to the Time article on modern agriculture.

Time Magazine Attacks Modern Farming

Without even a hint of objectivity, Time magazine is using the cover story of its Aug. 31 print edition to attack modern agriculture. The story is a wide-ranging frontal assault on all aspects of modern food production, and the story is written in a manner that the very few words included to give agriculture a token voice are quickly trampled by an onslaught of anti-modern-agriculture rhetoric. The American Farm Bureau Federation will be responding.

Update: AFBF has responded to the article. Read President Stallman’s letter to the editor.

The first paragraph pretty much sets the tone.

“Somewhere in Iowa, a pig is being raised in a confined pen, packed in so tightly with other swine that their curly tails have been chopped off so they won’t bite one another. To prevent him from getting sick in such close quarters, he is dosed with antibiotics. The waste produced by the pig and his thousands of pen mates on the factory farm where they live goes into manure lagoons that blanket neighboring communities with air pollution and a stomach-churning stench. He’s fed on American corn that was grown with the help of government subsidies and millions of tons of chemical fertilizer. When the pig is slaughtered, at about 5 months of age, he’ll become sausage or bacon that will sell cheap, feeding an American addiction to meat that has contributed to an obesity epidemic currently afflicting more than two-thirds of the population. And when the rains come, the excess fertilizer that coaxed so much corn from the ground will be washed into the Mississippi River and down into the Gulf of Mexico, where it will help kill fish for miles and miles around. That’s the state of your bacon—circa 2009.”

The article quotes numerous entities critical of modern farming, such as the Union of Concerned Scientists, the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production, several disenfranchised farmers dismayed about how agriculture has changed, organic advocates and others who sell their farm and food products based on criticizing the products and processes of mainstream farming and ranching.

Letters regarding this opinion article, which Time unfortunately cloaked as a news magazine cover story, may be sent using this link: http://bit.ly/19LOXL. You will need to input the headline of the article—America’s Food Crisis and How to Fix It—when you submit your online letter.

British Ministers: Increase GM Crop Imports

British government ministers are urging the European Commission to speed up approval of GM crop varieties or risk a collapse in the market for home-produced chicken, eggs, pork and milk.

The move could apply to 30 GM crop varieties that have passed the EU’s scientific tests on health and safety but which still await political approval for use within the EU.

The threat to British farming from the restrictions on GM crop varieties in the European Union was underlined in a consultation paper on the nation’s future food security, published yesterday.

As the London Times reports…

it is the potential collapse of Britain’s £6.8 billion a year livestock sector, which relies on imports of GM soya to feed animals, that makes for chilling reading.

Pigs and poultry, and to a lesser extent dairy cattle, need soya, GM and conventional crops to provide the necessary protein in their diet. The climate in Britain and most of the EU is not hot enough to grow soya.

The report also makes note of the possible necessity of a return to “wartime rations and even a vegetarian diet in the event of new food shortages or international events that forced Britain to provide enough food to feed the nation.”

In an unusual move for a European news outlet, The Times also ran an editorial on the importance of GM crops in the face of a global population explosion.