cross-posted at annoyedomnivore.wordpress.com
In 2012 a USDA advisory board called AC21 (Advisory Committee on 21st Century Agriculture), under the leadership of Tom Vilsack, the current biotech-friendly Secretary of Agriculture, decided that the government should require organic farmers to purchase crop insurance should their crops become GMO contaminated. This ruling entirely shifts responsibility for GM contamination from Big Ag to small farmers who increasingly face interaction with GM fields. A press release from the National Organic Coalition stated that “this proposal allows USDA and the agricultural biotechnology industry to abdicate responsibility for preventing contamination while making the victims of pollution pay for damages resulting from transgenic contamination.”
Monsanto first hypocritically proposed the idea of “coexistence”, saying that “farmers have been coexisting successfully for years through good communication, cooperation, flexibility and mutual respect for each others’ practices and requirements.” I imagine “mutual respect” is involved when Monsanto sues farmers whose crops have been inadvertently contaminated by genetically modified seeds. In any case, the AC21 cabal has decided that the best defense against Monsanto is to buy insurance, thus ensuring that Big Ag can continue to pollute at will. The National Organic Coalition’s executive director, Liana Hoodes, has stated that “this is a completely wrong approach to tackling the GE contamination problem. At the bare minimum, USDA must stop approving additional GE crops, and prevent GE contamination by mandating pollution prevention measures, as well as make transgenic polluters…pay for their contamination.” Andrew Kimbrell, executive director at the Center for Food Safety, adds that the AC21′s findings are an “ill-conceived solution of penalizing the victim [that] is fundamentally unjust and fails to address the root cause of the problem – transgenic contamination.” He goes on to say that the “AC21 report takes the responsibility for GE contamination out of the hands of USDA and the biotech industry where it belongs and puts it squarely on the backs of organic and non-GE farmers.”
As it stands, a report issued by Food & Water Watch and the Organic Farmers’ Agency for Relationship Marketing (OFARM) has shown that one out of three farmers have experienced GM contamination on their farm and over half of those have had their crops rejected by buyers for that reason. ”Our very strong feeling is that the introduction and propagation of the genetically modified products that are coming out under patent at this point have not had the regulatory oversight that they should have, and need to involve a far broader section of stakeholders,” says Oren Holle, a Kansas farmer and president of OFARM. He says the “USDA has been extremely lax and, in our opinion, that’s due to the excessive influence of the biotech industry in political circles.”
Since 2008, political influence of Big Ag in the federal government has grown. President Obama has filled key posts with Monsanto people: Roger Beachy, director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture at the USDA, Michael Taylor, deputy commissioner of the FDA, Tom Vilsack, Islam Siddiqui, Agriculture Trade Representative, Ramona Romero, counsel for the USDA, Rajiv Shah, head of USAID, and Elena Kagan, who once argued for Monsanto.
Food Democracy Now! believes that governmental “coexistence” with the biotech industry will eventually lead to the extinction of organic farmers. Since more than 90% of corn, soy, cotton, sugar beets, canola and alfalfa are genetically altered, they believe genetic contamination of neighboring farmers’ fields is virtually guaranteed. And apparently this has been the plan all along. In 2001, a biotech industry consultant told the Toronto Star that “the hope of the industry is that over time the market is so flooded that there’s nothing you can do about it. You just sort of surrender.”
Several of the above named environmental groups are lobbying the government to control the biotech industry. Their key demands are that moratoriums be issued on the planting of any new GE crop, set in place practices that prevent GE contamination, and hold those who own, promote and profit from GE crops liable for economic harms caused by their practices and products, and establish a system whereby Big Ag pays compensation to those farmers who failed as a result of contamination. It’s not unreasonable.
Recipe of the Week
Spring has sprung, and so we’ll grill.
Grilled Gulf Shrimp with Alioli and Grilled Asparagus
For the sauce:
6 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1 tbls lemon juice
1 cup olive oil
It helps to have a food processor with a drip accessory. If you do, place the garlic, lemon juice, egg and salt in the processor. Turn on the processor and then almost immediately pour the olive oil into the drip compartment. You will have a perfect consistency. If you don’t have a food processor, you can do this by hand. Whisk the first four ingredients into a medium sized bowl. Drip the olive oil into the bowl while whisking. This is tedious, but the results are the same.
Buy any amount of wild gulf shrimp you need to feed the group. Rub lightly with olive oil and sea salt. Do the same with the asparagus after you’ve snapped the ends off and washed and dried the pieces. Set up the grill, and when the coals are ready, place the shrimp on the grill (no need to peel) – they’ll only take a couple of minutes to cook – turn once, and when they turn pink they’re done. Grill the asparagus the same way. The shrimp can be served warm or at room temperature. Guests can peel the shrimp at the table and dip into the alioli. Serve with a good green salad.