GMO Contamination Prevention and Market Fairness - What will it take?

11.22.10
National Organic Coalition
www.NationalOrganicCoalition.org
GMO Contamination Prevention and Market Fairness
What Will It Take?

How do we protect organic and conventional agriculture from contamination by genetically modified
organisms (GMOs) and the inevitable market losses? What set of principles and concrete measures must
be adopted to ensure the continuation of these farming methods that have served as the foundation of
American agriculture and ensured our nation’s food security for centuries?

Before answering these questions, we must first acknowledge that the challenges we face in this regard
stem from two known facts: 1) Biological and physical movement of material derived from genetically
engineered crops is difficult and oftentimes impossible to control or recall and, 2) Domestic and global
markets demand foods with zero or near-zero levels of material derived from genetically modified
organisms. The harsh consequences of these two known facts is that planting genetically modified crops
can threaten livelihoods, affect critical food supply and demand, and it can impose an unfair financial
burden on farmers seeking to satisfy discernible markets for GMO-free products. So, what do we do?
Our goal is to identify policy outcomes that are fair, comprehensive, and that do not pit farmer against
farmer. What is at stake is the ability of American farmers to compete in national and global markets and
not risk having those markets supplied by farmers from other countries due to GMO contamination in the
US food and seed supply. Farmers who seek to avoid GMOs must not continue to be solely responsible
for contamination prevention and clean-up and/or be forced give up growing certain crops. For this to
happen, direct government intervention is needed to protect livelihoods and local economies.

We have deliberately chosen to use the phrase “GMO contamination prevention” instead of “coexistence”
to more accurately reflect a public policy framework which emphasizes that planting GMOs must not in
any way preclude the growing of organic and non-GMO conventional crops. Implicit in this framing is
the acknowledgement that preventing contamination is a two-way street. While those who seek to avoid
GMOs take reasonable precautions to avoid pollen drift and the commingling of seeds and products, their
actions may not always be enough to prevent contamination in a given circumstance. We strongly believe
that those who own, promote, and profit from GMO technology must be held responsible for the
economic and market harm their products cause.

To overcome perceptions about the lack of fairness, trust, and transparency surrounding GMOs, we
believe that basic democratic principles and values must frame the discussion of how to prevent
contamination and facilitate fair market farming systems (see box on next page). Adherence to these
principles can lead to the creation of practical government policies that directly address how to prevent
GMO contamination.

The Secretary of Agriculture possesses expansive authority under the Plant Protection Act (PPA), to
broadly assess economic, environmental, public health, agricultural, and other impacts of GMOs. USDA
can require on-going regulation of GM crops if the impacts directly or indirectly cause injury or harm to
PRINCIPLES TO DRIVE GMO CONTAMINATION PREVENTION STRATEGIES

Consumer choice – Consumers have the right to choose non-GMO food.

Consumer right to know – Consumers have the right to know where and how their food was grown.
Farmers Entrepreneurial Choice – Farmers must have the right and opportunity to grow food, feed, fiber, livestock, and fish that serve important and lucrative domestic and foreign markets.

Fairness –Personal and corporate responsibility must be upheld. If you own it and are profiting from it you are responsible for the costs associated with contamination prevention and any resultant damage from contamination.

Liability –Testing for contamination, establishing buffers, reimbursement for lost sales, loss of organic product premiums, clean-up and removal are the costs of doing business that must be borne by the GMO patent holder.

Precaution – The pre-market burden of proof of safety is on the patent holder. This includes comprehensive evaluation of health, socio-economic, and environmental impacts of GM crops and technologies.

Sustainability – Agricultural technologies and systems must be assessed for sustainability and those that facilitate further declines in family farming or erode the human and environmental foundations of American agriculture must not be allowed.

Health, Environmental and Economic Evaluation –Technologies that pose environmental, economic, and health risks should be evaluated before commercialization and tough choices must be made about whether their overall societal benefits outweigh their costs.

Parity – There must be a long-term commitment to supporting the vitality of diverse agricultural enterprises, including parity of public investment, infrastructure, marketing, technical assistance, research, and funding.
Transparency – Ongoing documentation, tracking and labeling systems must be established to monitor the movement of GMOs in the environment, seed banks, non-GMO seed stocks, and food.

Diversity – Society and agriculture will greatly benefit from the rapid reinvigoration of public cultivars and breeds to restore genetic diversity on farms, ensure greater farmer seeds/breeds choices, and to enhance national food security.

other agricultural production systems and markets. It can also assign responsibility and liability for GMO contamination prevention to the offending technology owners, where it belongs. As such, USDA authority exists to prevent GMO contamination and to compensate contaminated farmers. Now, all that is needed is the will to do so and a comprehensive plan of action.

The development of strict and long-overdue GMO regulations should specifically include at least:

Labeling of GM crops and product ingredients.

Liability assignment to the GMO patent holder.

Contamination Compensation Fund in FSA or RMA through a fee on GMO patent holders, which would provide immediate assistance to farmers pending further necessary remedies of law and equity.

Ongoing GM crop regulation and the complete elimination of deregulated GM crops.

Comprehensive, independent health, environmental, and socio-economic assessments prior to making a decision on GM crop approvals.

Prohibition on the growing of GM crops that are too promiscuous to prevent GMO contamination, such as GM alfalfa, GM sugar beets, GM corn, and GM canola.

Evaluation of food security risks associated with the concentration of any sector of our food system in the hands of a few companies or with the use of one food production technology or patented seed to the near exclusion of all others.

Establish infrastructure to prevent GMO commingling and contamination during post-harvest handling. Patent holder should be responsible for full segregation and traceability, from seed to plate.

US farmers contribute to a stable domestic economy by feeding our nation, maintaining a diverse agricultural gene pool, and by supplying differentiated markets. GMO contamination risks compromising that diversity and the competitive advantages diversity affords our farmers in national and global markets. Immediate and comprehensive government action is needed to prevent GMO contamination and to protect conventional and organic agriculture and US food security. This includes ensuring that farmers have public cultivar choices that are not genetically modified.

A Tale of Two Farms & an Evening with Michael Pollan

Upcoming Events:   Mark your calendars for these fun, thought-provoking and inspiring events coming up soon! Purchase tickets early as these popular events fill up quickly!     A Tale of Two Farms Thursday, February 17, 2011 6:00 p.m to 9.00 p.m. Cavallo Point Cooking School 601 Murray Circle, Sausalito Price: $85 per person, plus tax (includes class, dinner and wine)  Enjoy a warm and intimate evening cooking with Marin Organic producers, Peter Martinelli of Fresh Run Farm and Loren Poncia of Stemple Creek Ranch. Participants will prepare a delicious feast under the expert tutelage of Jayne Reichert, head chef/teacher at the Cavallo Point Cooking School, and then enjoy their hard work over wine and engaging conversation with the featured producers. A Tale of Two Farms is a seasonal event hosted by the Cavallo Point Cooking School and Marin Organic.  50% of the ticket proceeds benefit Marin Organic  To purchase tickets please call the Cavallo Point Cooking School at:   (415) 339-4777  ~~~         An Evening with Michael Pollan: The Sun Food Agenda   Thursday, March 24th, 2011 Marin Center - San Rafael Reception: 7:00 p.m. - 7:50 p.m. **  Presentation: 8:00 p.m. Reception Tickets:   $75 **Reception tickets will benefit Marin Organic, and include refreshments, premium orchestra seating and pre-talk with Michael Pollan.   Presentation only:  $45 / $35 / $25 Bargain Seats: $20  Rows 26-34     By replacing the energy of the sun with energy from fossil fuels, industrial agriculture has made food impressively cheap and abundant.  But this achievement comes at a cost. Today, our food system is implicated in three of the most critical problems facing our society: the energy crisis, the climate crisis, and the health care crisis.  None of these problems can be addressed without reforming the way America eats.  In this inspiring multimedia presentation, Pollan connects the dots between food and health, and introduces us to some visionaries who are "resolarizing" the food system.  The Sun Food Agenda - involving change at the level of the farm, the marketplace and the culture - promises to improve our health, cut our dependence on fossil fuel, and help solve our climate crisis.    Tickets to the reception and talk can be purchased through the Marin Center Box Office or by calling 415 499-6800  For more information about Michael Pollan please visit www.michaelpollan.com

Whoa! My First Blog Ever!

Blogging.  As if anybody wants to read my ceaseless prattle.  Such a vain thing to do.  My facebook posts are mostly environmental doom and gloom, but I'm trying to mix it up a little.  I have been asked to join forces with an anti-GMO group in my area, but I don't want to have to worry about sticking to their narrative.  I have my own stupid, uneducated, nutty opinions about things.  That said, please oh please let me know if you think I'm incorrect about something. 

I'm not sure what one uses a blog for, but I have a feeling it's going to be a mix of politics, activism alerts, things I think consumers should know, who's doing what where in the world of sustainable agriculture, nanotechnology, veteran health/PTSD, biotech, heirloom gardening, sharing ideas about how to solve the coming global food crisis, and whatever else I might find interesting on any given day.  Randomness.  The nice thing about being mentally ill is that people expect you to act crazy, so I tend to use that as an excuse to throw some weird ideas out there.

My current obsession is the idea of creating a micro-farm in my mom's backyard.  As organic as possible, but not certified, of course.  I've got plans, maps, schedules, a shitload of books and articles on everything from bio-control hedgerows, permaculture, food history (my dad is an expert on the subject), etc... and I have NO idea what I'm doing.  I barely know how to garden and I have zero actual experience with bees.  This could be a total disaster.  I'll never know if I don't give it a whirl, right?  There's a community garden across the street that has lots of excellent gardeners I can bounce ideas off of (I'm looking at you, Joanne). 

The micro-farm is not intended to make money.  I'm thinking I can cover costs with a series of monthly garage/heirloom seedling sales.  Do you think people would show up?  Would they buy seedlings at a garage sale?  I could even throw in a free packet of bee-friendly wildflower seeds that has my anti-gmo rant on it, like Dr. Bronner's soap...'cept less nutty. I want produce that doesn't get eaten, sold or preserved to go to Julian Street Inn, a homeless shelter for the mentally ill in downtown San Jose.  Actually, I think a certain amount of the harvest should be set aside for donation.  Heh.  That's if I get anything to grow at all.

Am I crazy?  After hearing all the incredible ideas coming out of the Eco-Farm conference, I'm feeling like it's not completely loony.  Other people are already micro-farming in their back yard.  I need some feedback though.  Blog ideas would be nifty too.

Peace,
-nanda-

Vilmorin Seed Company: http://www.saveseeds.org/company_history/vilmorin/index.html
Micro Eco-Farming: http://www.microecofarming.com/
Micro-Farming: America's Next Big Growth Industry:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/800925/micro_farming_americas_next_big_growth.html?cat=3
Is Starting a Micro-Farm in your Future? http://www.new-terra-natural-food.com/micro-farm.html
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds: http://rareseeds.com/
Seed Savers Exchange: http://www.seedsavers.org/