A Declaration of Farmer and Citizen Rights in Regards to the Deregulation of Genetically Modified Alfalfa

A Declaration of Farmer and Citizen Rights in Regards to the Deregulation of Genetically Modified Alfalfa
Posted by Dave on January 28, 2011

Dear President Obama and Secretary Vilsack,

While gathered at the 31st Annual Ecological Farming Conference to celebrate the growth of the organic industry as a vital, mainstream segment in agriculture, we were greatly disappointed to learn of your decision to fully deregulate genetically modified (GMO) Roundup Ready alfalfa. This decision undermines opportunities for farmers in America, particularly in important export markets for conventional alfalfa and in the growing organic dairy industry. It also severely restricts the choice of farmers and 50 million U.S. consumers who every day exercise their right to consume food that is certified organic and free of GMOs, that are yet to be proven safe for human consumption and our common environment.

As farmers and leaders in the organic and sustainable agriculture community, we are profoundly concerned that the development and release of GMO crops have progressed rapidly, with inadequate oversight, scant public testing, and minimal public debate.

Collectively, we stand united in the firm belief that it is incumbent upon our nation’s regulatory agencies to put independent, peer-reviewed science over the vested financial interests of corporations who have shown a consistent disregard for our nation’s laws, sound scientific theory, the livelihoods of family farmers, and the health and well-being of our citizens and the environment.

As members of the fastest growing and most profitable segment in agriculture today, we are deeply disappointed that the Obama administration has refused to protect the livelihoods of conventional and organic family farmers from the loss of a main livestock forage.

According to university scientists, the deregulation of GMO Roundup Ready alfalfa could lead to the genetic contamination of all conventional and organic alfalfa within five years. As a result of this decision, organic and non-GMO farmers have lost another vital tool in their toolbox to expand into highly profitable domestic and foreign markets, eliminating important market opportunities for beginning farmers and ranchers at a time when they can least afford it.

The approval of Monsanto’s Roundup Ready alfalfa is yet another example of the agricultural biotechnology industry forcing an entirely unnecessary product onto the market not for farmer benefit, but simply to improve their bottom-line.

As any farmer worth their salt will tell you, alfalfa - a perennial legume - does not suffer from the same weed pressures as other crops, such as corn, soybeans, cotton and canola and that is why ninety-three percent of the alfalfa hay in the U.S. does not use any herbicides. In addition, by approving GMO alfalfa, the Obama administration has further weakened production agriculture since the increased use of herbicides will only lead to an increase of glyphosate-resistant superweeds, which have been called “the single largest threat to production agriculture that we have ever seen,” by Andrew Wargo III, the president of the Arkansas Association of Conservation Districts as reported in TheNew York Times on May 3, 2010.

Last year, when the National Academy of Sciences released the report, Toward Sustainable Agriculture Systems for the 21st Century, it concluded that in order to meet the urgent demands of U.S. agriculture with regard to climate change, energy and water shortages and a rising population, “national agricultural policies and research programs should look beyond focusing only on low costs and high production and adopt a holistic perspective to farming that encompasses multiple end goals.”

In order to protect the biological integrity of our nation’s seeds and the organic industry, we call upon you as President to immediately rescind the recent of approval of GMO alfalfa and instruct the Secretary of Agriculture to implement a moratorium on the further approval of genetically engineered crops until the issues over the science, contamination and labeling are more transparently reviewed. In addition, we call for a further review of all scientific evidence regarding GMO alfalfa and independent testing on the long-term effects of all GMO crops on human health and the environment.

In approving GMO alfalfa, the Obama administration has undermined the most vibrant sector in agriculture today, placing an unfair tax on the rights of America’s farmers to grow food that is protected from genetic contamination. The USDA’s decision was ill informed, wantonly ignoring the basic biological principles of pollination and good agricultural practices.

We now join with previous generations, from the Founders of our Constitution to those who fought to free our nation from prejudice during the long battle for civil rights, in a renewed struggle to defend the livelihoods of family farmers and our basic right as citizens to choose the type of food that we want to grow and consume.

As such, we call for an immediate revocation of the decision to fully deregulate Roundup Ready alfalfa and to create a biotechnology regulatory process that effectively and democratically investigates the impact of this unproven technology on human health, the environment and farmers’ long-term ability to meet the challenges of 21st century agriculture.