Here at the Half-Acre Homestead we take a lot of time to watch what we eat. Organic products get the green light to jump into our shopping cart at the store but we’re very mindful of everything else, especially foods that contain Genetically Engineered or “Modified” ingredients (often labeled as “GE” or “GM”).
Based on our research, we firmly believe GM or GE foods are not only a danger to our health but also to our ecosystem. The contamination issues alone are worrisome as genetically modified strains of plants begin interacting with the natural environment and with non-GM varieties. I don’t eat food with pesticides applied to it so why on earth would I want to eat food that creates its own pesticide inside the very plant I’m consuming? It’s abhorrent to think about. Add to that the track record of big agribusinesses who tinker with nature for their own profitability (like Monsanto) and you begin to see the big picture.
Here is a funny little video out right now encouraging consumers to contact the FDA and let them know you’d like your food to be labeled properly, alerting you if you’re buying something with GE or GM ingredients. I have no problem believing a majority of consumers will just continue down their blind pathway, buying a cart full of crap-tastic food and not thinking about the future consequences. I however would like to know what is going into my family’s body and would hope you do too.
The weather here in southwest Indiana has been flip-flopping faster than a group of politicians lately. May proved to be a tough one to get the garden off to a good start before the heat of summer set in and parched everything. We struggled the first half of the month with copious amounts of rain, day in and day out. The raised beds proved their worth in being able to shed the excess water and keep winter vegetables from turning into a bog.
Cooler temperatures (we’re talking 50’s some days) definitely put a cap on growth rates though and stunted warm weather crops that should normally be out around that time. Several tomato transplants just couldn’t get the early sunshine and warmth necessary for them to establish and they ended up withering away. Once two weeks of severe rain moved out, we quickly ping-ponged into the mid 90’s with full sunshine. This extreme temperature swing stressed even more transplants and left local gardeners and farmers wondering what season mother nature was going to stick with for awhile.
It looks like the heat has ended for the time being, taking us back down into the upper 70’s and low 80’s. Another stormy and wet pattern is setting up for the rest of the week. Established plants took advantage of the sun and heat though, putting on a flush of growth that caught them up nicely.
Calico Popcorn begins to stretch toward the sky while a volunteer pumpkin begins to ramble about in front of the popcorn patch.
Our patch of Calico Popcorn out near the duck pond already reaches my knee and almost swallows up our Darling Daughter when she walks in the rows. The tomato plants are also doing great, shooting up a foot or more in the past several days. We’ve even started to have some blossoms open within the last couple of days so hopefully by the 4th of July we will pick our first homegrown tomato. Potato sprouts are shooting up but who knows what they’re doing beneath the soil’s surface.
Our two black and white cats poke through the new garden space checking out the tomato patch and the potatoes in the lower right.
Cosmo Savoy Lettuce has been a big producer in the cool temperatures and only recently has started to bolt. It’s produced many dinner salads for us and by far has been the most successful lettuce growing we’ve ever done. Purple Globe Turnips have also done well this year and provided a continuous harvest. Our grapes are off to the races too. They are quickly climbing up the arbor over our garden gate and are stretching down each side of the garden fence without abandon. We even have some clusters of grapes growing and can’t wait to taste them when they’re finally ready to eat.
The grapes have started furiously crawling across the tiny arbor over our garden gate.
This is the first year we've had clusters of grapes growing and we can't wait to try one!
We’re planting more fruits and veggies every day to keep a continuous harvest cycle going this year. We can’t wait for those summer staples like tomatoes, zucchini and yellow squash to start producing. How does your garden grow? What has done great so far and what has been a disappointment?
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Agricultural conglomerate Monsanto is at it again with another big threat to organic agriculture and we all need to speak out against it. The USDA is currently taking public comment on Monsanto’s request to approve Genetically Engineered (GE) alfalfa that will be Roundup ready.
This is similar to their Roundup ready soybeans currently on the market. The GE seeds produced by Monsanto allow farmers to spray their crops with Roundup chemical herbicides, protecting the soybeans or alfalfa but killing everything else herbaceous, like weeds, growing around it.
The USDA itself predicts that by approving GE alfalfa, it would damage family farms and organic meat and dairy markets but doesn’t propose any way to protect them. The main concern revolves around cross-contamination of organically grown non-GE alfalfa and the fact that organic foods can be sold without having to identify that the animals were fed GE livestock feed.
Public comment is open until February 16th, so time is ticking. Head to the True Food Network to send a form letter to the USDA as part of the public comment record. You can also submit a direct response at the regulations.gov website. Our friends over at Organic Valley have also provided these talking points and suggestions for writing your own letter and mailing it over, which in some cases, seems to have more of an impact than an electronic statement.
By Mail: A written letter is very powerful. Mail your comments to:
Docket No. APHIS-2007-0044
Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD, APHIS, Station 3A-03.8
4700 River Road Unit 118
Riverdale, MD 20737-1238
Talking Point Suggestions
Let the USDA know that you do care about GE contamination of organic crops and food
Tell USDA that you will reject GE-contaminated alfalfa and alfalfa-derived foods
If GE alfalfa is deregulated, widespread GE contamination of non-GM and organic alfalfa is inevitable.
Organic alfalfa is a critical component for organic farming and feed.
Remind USDA it’s their job to protect Organic farmers, and all farmers who choose to grow non-GE crops.
GE alfalfa would significantly increase pesticide use and thereby harm human health and the environment.
Harm to small and organic farmers is significant.
USDA should extend the comment period.
Let USDA Know That You Care About GE Contamination of Organic Crops and Food:
USDA claims that there is no evidence that consumers care about contamination of organic alfalfa and alfalfa-derived foods with Monsanto’s GE Roundup Ready alfalfa.
Prohibition of genetic engineering (GE) is a fundamental part of the Organic Standard. In fact, USDA’s failure to exclude GE crops from the first version of the organic rule was one of the main reasons that 275,000 people filed public comments in 1997– the largest outpouring of public participation in the history of U.S. administrative procedure. Consumers care deeply about organic integrity, and genetic engineering is fundamentally at odds with organic. More than 75% of consumers believe that they are purchasing products without GE ingredients when they buy organic.[i]
Tell USDA You Will Reject GE Contaminated Alfalfa and Alfalfa-Derived Foods:
USDA claims that consumers will not reject GE contamination of organic alfalfa if the contamination is unintentional or if the GE material is not transmitted to the end milk or meat product.
The Organic Standards require that livestock feed for animals used for meat, milk, eggs, and other animal products is 100 percent organic. Protecting organic alfalfa, the main source of feed for the organic dairy industry, is crucial to the health of that important sector of U.S. agriculture. Additionally, as the Court found in the lawsuit that required this EIS, to “farmers and consumers organic means not genetically engineered, even if the farmer did not intend for his crop to be so engineered.” Whether or not the end product is impacted is not the issue. Farmers’ fundamental right to sow the crop of their choice is eliminated when it is contaminated with transgenes, and so is the public’s ability to support meaningful organic food and feed production. The public’s trust in the integrity of the organic label is essential to the continued vitality of the organic foods industry. Tell USDA you reject GE contamination of organic by any means or at any stage of sustainable food production.
Tell USDA to Protect Organic Farmers and All Farmers Who Wish to Choose to Grow Non-GE Crops:
Although USDA says it supports “coexistence” of all types of agriculture, USDA refuses to even consider any future for alfalfa that would include protections from contamination for organic and conventional farmers and exporters.
USDA can approve GE crops in whole or in part. Partial approval could include use restrictions, geographic limitations or planting isolation distances. Yet, in the court-ordered analysis, USDA analyzed only two options: 1) Full approval, allowing GE alfalfa to be grown and sold without restriction like any other crop; and 2) No action, meaning GE alfalfa could only be grown under USDA permit, as at present. USDA’s “all or nothing” approach leaves un-analyzed any potential options to protect farmers. This is contrary to law and logic. USDA’s basic mission is “protecting American agriculture.” Yet, USDA refused to even consider any options that might protect organic and conventional agriculture from contamination and the resulting loss of markets and ability to sow the crop of their choice.
If GE alfalfa is deregulated, widespread GE contamination of non-GM and organic alfalfa is inevitable.
USDA claims that Monsanto’s seed contracts require measures sufficient to prevent GE contamination. But according to Fred Kirschenmann, Iowa Leopold Center Distinguished Fellow, alfalfa is impossible to contain. “Alfalfa is a perennial with a three-mile pollination radius, so farm buffers won’t work.”
In the lawsuit requiring the EIS, the Court found that GE contamination had already occurred in the fields of several Western states with these same business-as-usual practices in place!
The EIS itself acknowledges that GE contamination may happen and includes studies that honey bees can cross-pollinate at distances over 6 miles, and Alkali bees at 4-5 miles,[ii] much further than any distances under Monsanto’s “best practices.”
In general, where other GE crops were approved without restriction, contamination of organic and conventional seeds and crops is widespread and has been documented around the world.[iii] A recent report documented 39 cases in 2007 and more than 200 in the last decade.[iv] The harms incurred by organic farmers and food companies from GE contamination are many and include: lost markets, lost sales, lower prices, negative publicity, withdrawal of organic certification, expensive testing and prevention measures, and product recalls.[v] In Canada, pervasive GE contamination eliminated the entire organic canola opportunity.[vi]
GE Alfalfa Would Significantly Increase Pesticide Use and Thereby Harm Human Health and the Environment.
USDA admits (correctly) that introduction of Roundup Ready alfalfa will increase Roundup use. However, USDA’s claims that the increase is not significant and that Roundup will replace other, more toxic herbicides are flat-out wrong.
The great majority of GE crops grown today are Roundup Ready, and their widespread introduction has vastly increased Roundup use and fostered an epidemic of Roundup-resistant weeds. To kill Roundup-resistant weeds requires higher doses of Roundup, often in combination with other toxic herbicides. Over the past 13 years, Roundup Ready crops have significantly increased overall herbicide use on corn, soybeans and cotton – by 383 million pounds[vii] – and Roundup Ready alfalfa will only make matters worse.
As the agency’s own studies here show, the great majority of alfalfa is currently grown without the use of any herbicides at all.[viii] So Roundup Ready alfalfa will increase Roundup use and exacerbate the resistant weed epidemic without displacing other herbicides on most alfalfa farms.
Roundup has been associated with increased rates of several cancers in pesticide applicators (e.g. non-Hodgkin’s & multiple myeloma),[ix] and is highly toxic to frogs at field-relevant concentrations.[x] The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is currently re-assessing the safety of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, for the first time in over 15 years. USDA should wait for this new EPA assessment before it considers approving GE alfalfa.
Harm to Small and Organic Farmers Would Be Significant.
USDA concludes that GE alfalfa will cause production to shift to larger farms (that can afford built-in isolation distances) and conventional growers who are not threatened by GE contamination, but that these economic shifts are not significant.
Small, family farmers are the backbone and future of American agriculture and must be protected. Organic agriculture provides many benefits to society: healthy foods for consumers, economic opportunities for family farmers and urban and rural communities, and a farming system that improves the quality of the environment. However, the continued vitality of this sector is imperiled by the complete absence of measures to protect organic production systems from GE contamination and subsequent environmental, consumer, and economic losses.
Tell USDA to Extend the Comment Period:
USDA provided only a 60-day comment period, from Dec 16-Feb 16.
The document is almost 200 pages, 1400 with appendices. The comment period began right before the holiday season. This is the first EIS the agency has ever conducted for any GE crop. Given these factors, and its failure to release its “Plant Pest Determination,” USDA should extend the comment period at least 30 days to give the public adequate time to comment.
[i] Organic Community Comments to APHIS, Proposed Rule and Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for the Introduction of Genetically Engineered Organisms, APHIS Docket 2008-002, June 29, 2009.
[ii] United States Department of Agriculture. Glyphosate-Tolerant Alfalfa Events J101 and J163: Request for Nonregulated Status. Draft Environmental Impact Statement—November 2009. P.95.
[iii] See, e.g., New Study Finds GM Genes in Wild Mexican Maize, New Scientist, Feb. 21, 2009; Rex Dalton (2008) Modified genes spread to local maize: findings reignite debate over genetically modified crops, Nature, 456 (7219), 2000, at 149; The Institute for Nutrition and Food Technology (INTA), Chile enters the list of countries contaminated with GMOs: A report from INTA has detected transgenic contamination of maize in the fields of central Chile, Oct. 22, 2008; Graeme Smith, Illegal GM Crops Found In Scotland, Herald, Sept. 13, 2008; Elizabeth Rosenthal, Questions on Biotech Crops with No Clear Answers, N.Y. Times, June 6, 2006; Gene Flow underscores growing concern over biotech crops, Associated Press, Sept. 22, 2004; Andrew Pollack, Can Biotech Crops be Good Neighbors?, N.Y. Times, Sept. 26, 2004; Lyle F. Friesen et al., Evidence of contamination of pedigreed canola (Brassica napus) seedlots in Western Canada with genetically engineered herbicide resistance traits, 95 Agron. J., 1342-1347 (2003); Simon Jeffery, Rogue genes: An unauthorised strain of GM crops has been found across England and Scotland., Guardian, Aug. 16, 2002; Alex Roslin, Modified Pollen hits organic farms: Genetically altered strains spread by wind, Toronto Star, Sept. 30, 2002; Fred Pearce, The Great Mexican Maize Scandal, New Scientist 2347, June 15, 2002.
[v] See, e.g., K.L. Hewett, The Economic Impacts of GM Contamination Incidents on the Organic Sector, 16th IFOAM Organic World Congress, Modena, Italy, June 16-20, 2008.
[vi] Smyth et al .(2002). Liabilities and Economics of Transgenic Crops, 20 Nature Biotechnology, June 2002, at 537-541.
[viii]United States Department of Agriculture. Glyphosate-Tolerant Alfalfa Events J101 and J163: Request for Nonregulated Status. Draft Environmental Impact Statement—November 2009. Appendix J, J-25, EIS pp. 34 & 43.
[ix] Hardell, L., & Eriksson, M. (1999). “A Case-Controlled Study of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and Exposure to Pesticides,” Cancer, 85(6), 1353–1360; Hardell L, Eriksson M, & Nordstrom M. (2002). “Exposure to pesticides as risk factor for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and hairy cell leukemia: pooled analysis of two Swedish case-control studies,” Leuk Lymphoma, 43(5), 1043-1049; De Roos, et al. (2003). “Integrative assessment of multiple pesticides as risk factors for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma among men,” Occup Environ Med, 60(9); De Roos, A. J. D., Blair, A., Rusiecki, J. A., Hoppin, J. A., Svec, M., Dosemeci, M., Sandler, D. P., & Alavanja, MC .2005. Cancer Incidence among Glyphosate‐Exposed Pesticide Applicators in the Agricultural Health Study. Environmental Health Perspectives, 113(1), 49‐54.
[x] Relyea, R.A. (2005a). “The lethal impact of Roundup on aquatic and terrestial amphibians,” Ecological Applications 15(4): 1118–1124; Relyea et al (2005). “Pesticides and amphibians: The importance of community context,” Ecological Adaptations 15: 1125-1134; Relyea, R.A. (2005b). “The letal impacts of Roundup and predatory stress on six species of North American tadpoles,” Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 48: 351-57.
We got a round of thunderstorms rolling through southern Indiana around 4 a.m. and another spout of rain. The other half of garden bed I’ve been waiting to complete turning and getting ready for planting was primed and ready to go after the rain this morning and it was overcast so I wouldn’t char my skin.
I still have seedlings of cantaloupe, cucumbers, pumpkins, tomatoes, lettuce and a few other random things still waiting to be planted. I finished weeding out the major chunks of grass and then raked in a layer of Schulz Enriched Gardening Soil for Flowers and Vegetables. I’m using this as a quick ammendment while my compost gets good and hot and as a holdover until I can put together a raised bed system for next season.
I was a bit surprised though when I dumped out my bag of soil ammendment and found some trash. Schulz was kind enough to include bits of shredded plastic and even foil cigarette wrappers (menthol to be exact) in my bag of garden soil. I’m no hort expert but I’m guessing there hasn’t been a new study saying smokes for your garden generate whopping yields!
Free trash included in my bag of garden soil ammendment
I’ve sent Schulz my findings and will see what they have to say about the matter. In the meantime, it looks like tomorrow will be planting day for Phase 2 of my veggie garden. Meanwhile my Orange Oxheart Heirloom tomato is under attack by aphids. It looks pretty piddly right now despite the fact that it’s the tallest tomato plant in the patch. It had a flush of new blooms at the top but all have turned brown and are dieing. Since I take an organic approach, I got down on bent knee today and squashed and picked off as much bugs as I could. We’ll see if the poor thing can recover. The cherry tomatoes and roma’s have all put on a new flush of growth with all the rain and are looking good.
My sweet corn has finally emerged and is taking off quick. I wouldn’t be surprised if it does end up making the “knee high by July” standard. Lemon cucumbers are sprouting new leaves after about a week or two of transplanting. Zuchinnis are putting on new growth and new blooms are emerging. It looks like a fruit or two have already taken hold and are sucking up the free water. My eggplant is flowering and will hopefully bear soon. Yellow wax beans and the limas are off to the races along my fence line. They’re beginning to bush out and my late season pea vines are taking advantage of the overcast days and have reached about 6-8″ tall.
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Posted by Nate On December - 30 - 2008ADD COMMENTS
If you’re looking to green up your New Year’s celebration with some eco-friendly bubbly, the selection is still pretty slim. Not many in viticulture (growing grapes for wine) have jumped on the eco-bandwagon. But there are a few lines out there that might be worth a shot. Look for these options at your local wine shop:
1) Dom. de Montbourgeau Cremant du Jura – $21.99 Hand-harvested grapes come from an eight-hectare farm run by the founder’s granddaughter.
2) Avinyo Cava Rosado - $25.99Four small organic farms supply the winery; the winemaker consults a 300-year-old book for farming tips.
3) Foreau Vouvray Brut – $26.9912-hectare farm managed organically; yields intentionally held down to privilege quality over quantity.
4) François Pinon Vouvray Petillant Brut - $20.99Supplied by 14 hectares of organically managed land, with a variety of microclimates and soil types.
Are you looking for a quick, homemade hostess gift to whip up for a New Year’s party you might be headed to? Read my post on Homemade Liquers and Cordials. They would make a tasty option.
Scientists are beginning to prove many of the benefits behind eating organically grown produce. Researchers at the University of California, Davis just wrapped up a study that’s lasted 10 years. The group compared flavonoid levels in tomatoes that were grown conventionally and organically. Conventional farming uses fertilizers and insecticides to help the plant grow and maintain production. Organically grown produce zeros in on soil health through composting and manure applications and not using any chemicals. As it turns out, the organically grown tomatoes had a much higher level of flavonoids.
Flavonoids are known to help protect against heart disease, cancer and other age-related diseases like Alzheimer’s and dementia. One of the lead scientists on the project says the way our produce is grown has everything to do with how much good stuff it brings to our dinner table. The study’s authors, Alyson Mitchell and Alexander Chassy theorize that plants grown in an organic way devote more of their energy to producing flavonoids which in turn provide more protection from pests. But, Mitchell says there are some exceptions and not all organic tomatoes will contain the same amounts of flavonoids. She says that’s because soils, stresses and growing methods will widely vary between different organic farms.
This research goes a long way to prove that organically grown produce is much better for your health and in the long run. To read more about Mitchell and Chassy’s research, please click on this link.
Agricultural conglomerate Monsanto is at it again with another big threat to organic agriculture and we all need to speak out against it. The USDA is currently taking public comment on Monsanto’s request to approve Genetically Engineered (GE) alfalfa that will be Roundup ready.
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