Why Farmers Need Consumers to Oppose GMOs

We've done it before: We've gotten corporate giants like Safeway and Starbucks to carry milk from rBST-free cows. Farmers have responded, and fewer are using growth hormones and non-therapeutic antibiotics in order to meet consumer demand for drug-free milk. Now we need to speak up about genetically engineered (GE) alfalfa and sugar beets.

I recently spoke with organic dairy farmer Albert Straus about his experience with GE-contaminated feed. His story showcases why it's so important for consumers to stand against genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Five years ago, Straus started testing his organic cattle feed for GMOs and actually found some contamination. He was able to address the contamination with the supplier quickly without it impacting his business in a significant way, but it taught him how important testing can be for organic farmers. After all, for a product to truly be considered organic, it must be free of genetically modified materials.

Of course, testing for GMOs is not required in the farming industry, organic or otherwise, and neither is labeling. But Straus is concerned enough about the role GMOs play in agriculture that he wishes more farmers would test for the presence of GMOs. Most don't, he says, because they're not sure how to get started and they're afraid of what they would do if they did find GMOs. The Non-GMO Project helped Straus begin testing and can be a valuable partner, he says.

As Straus sees it, GMOs' adverse effects are far-reaching. "They affect everything from human health issues to animal health and welfare, to soil conditions, your carbon footprint from using more pesticides, weed resistance, soil erosion, and beneficial insects," he says. "Farmers are driven out of business because they can’t save seeds — you have to buy them from these big seed companies. GMOs impact the whole agriculture system. It’s everything."

I mentioned last week that there is no insurance for farmers to protect against GMO contamination. I spoke with insurance veteran (and now farmers' market owner) Harry Hamil about why this is the case. What it boils down to is that the problems of genetic modification are brand new and largely unknown (thanks largely to the lack of independent research on GMOs). Plus, without a critical mass of farmers demanding this type of insurance, policies around that sort of risk will not be written. "Insurance companies don't even know how to write it," Hamil said. There is also a lack of accountability among seed companies for contamination. Right now it's not Monsanto's problem — it's individual farmers' problems. This issue is especially worrisome with GE alfalfa because, unlike corn, it cross pollinates very easily and is a perennial, which means that it grows back every year.

So why aren't farmers marching in the streets in protest against GE alfalfa deregulation? Straus says that farmers tend to have even less information about GE seeds than the public has. "There's a lot of bad information going to the farmers and consumers, what little information there is," he says. He also points out that while there's an activist farmer culture in Europe and Latin America, there is not much of an activist culture among U.S. farmers. "In Europe they’re pretty loud, but not here, and there’s less and less of them [farmers] here, at that."

This is why it's up to us — the consumers — to change things. "The only way we make change is by consumers knowing enough and saying they don’t want GMOs," Straus says. Help out Straus and all organic and non-GE farmers by signing Food & Water Watch's petition against GE alfalfa and sugar beets. Together, we can help tell the Obama Administration that it needs to stop pandering to Monsanto and start caring about consumers and farmers.

Photo credit: Meneer Zjeroen via Flickr