Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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Experts: Contamination from GM alfalfa certain
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jM3y4h6-OJoZysfZ2k056PfiNRHQ?docId=e1796a22a6784755aab777145b965992
(AP) – 11 hours ago

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Contamination of organic and traditional crops by 
recently deregulated, genetically modified alfalfa is inevitable, agriculture 
experts said, despite Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack's recent assurances 
the federal government would take steps to prevent such a problem.

Many farmers had been pushing the U.S. Department of Agriculture to approve 
the use of genetically modified alfalfa. Monsanto developed the seed to 
resist the weedkiller Roundup, allowing farmers to use the two together to 
save time and labor on weeding. Supporters also say the use of the 
genetically modified seeds lets farmers grow more alfalfa on each acre and 
helps keep food prices low.

Opponents, many of them organic farmers, say widespread planting of 
genetically modified alfalfa will result in pollen from those plants 
contaminating organic and traditional crops, destroying their value. While 
alfalfa is mostly used as hay for cattle, some consumers don't want to eat 
foods, such as milk or beef, from animals that have consumed genetically 
modified plants.

Alfalfa is grown on about 20 million acres in almost every state in the U.S. 
and is the fourth largest field crop behind corn, soybeans and wheat.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's decision late last month to deregulate 
genetically modified alfalfa was the latest step in a long court fight over 
its use. A federal court barred its planting in 2007, saying the USDA had not 
given enough consideration to the effects it could have on the environment 
and human health. The U.S. Supreme Court lifted the ban last year, saying the 
lower court's decision had gone too far. It kicked the matter back to the 
USDA.

In announcing the agency's decision, Vilsack said steps would be taken to 
ensure genetically modified alfalfa wouldn't cross-pollinate with organic and 
unmodified crops. USDA officials declined to answer questions about what 
those steps would entail, pointing to a document posted on the agency's 
website.

The text of Vilsack's announcement says the agency plans include expanding a 
program in Washington state to produce more unmodified alfalfa seed and 
maintain a pure supply.

It also says crop geneticists have been told to identify ways to protect 
unmodified alfalfa from genetically engineered varieties, like they are doing 
for corn. And, Vilsack has proposed research to improve detection of modified 
genes in alfalfa and hay. He also promised $1 million for research on the 
flow of pollen to better determine how big buffer zones between modified and 
unmodified fields must be to prevent contamination.

None of that will be enough to prevent contamination, said Jeff Wolt, an 
agronomist with Iowa State University's Seed Science Center.

"Some degree of cross-pollination will occur regardless of what mechanism is 
going to be put in place," he predicted.

A perennial, alfalfa doesn't need to be planted every year, but the plants 
are typically rotated with other crops every few years. Alfalfa's pollination 
process is more complex than in crops such as corn, with insects playing a 
big role. But even if insects don't carry pollen from modified to unmodified 
plants, contamination could still happen if seed stock was accidentally mixed 
or a genetically modified plant popped up in a field that had been replanted 
with something else, Wolt said.

The main thing for consumers to remember, he said, is that genetically 
modified alfalfa doesn't present a threat to human health. Instead, the 
problem for farmers is that some buyers might not accept a contaminated crop.

Unmodified corn, soybeans, canola and rice all suffered contamination after 
genetically engineered varieties were introduced, said Kristina Hubbard, 
director of advocacy for the Organic Seed Alliance in Washington. She said 
measures to protect unmodified and organic crops should have been in place 
before genetically engineered alfalfa was deregulated.

"It seems backward to initiate those measures after the decision has been 
made," Hubbard said.

Her group's biggest concern now is making sure farmers who plant organic or 
non-modified crops don't lose money because of contamination. It wants 
farmers who plant genetically modified seed to pay for any losses, and 
Hubbard said the group isn't interested in talking about ways the two groups 
of farmers can co-exist until farmers using modified seed agree to pay.

Monsanto spokesman Tom Helscher said farmers and seed companies successfully 
co-existed "long before the introduction of biotech crops and continue to do 
so today."

"Since the advent of biotech crops, both biotech and organic production have 
flourished," Helscher said. "We have no reason to think that will not 
continue to be the case."

Todd Streif, who grows alfalfa in northeast Iowa, said the fight over 
genetically engineered alfalfa has been a "waste of time and money."

"I think (the USDA) was probably wrong for not doing the environmental study 
in the first place, but in the end what did it prove?" said Streif, who farms 
near West Union. "It wasted years of production for everybody and a lot of 
money spent arguing it in court."

Streif said 60 of the 300 acres of alfalfa he plants this spring will be 
genetically modified. He doesn't grow any organic alfalfa and said he wasn't 
worried about cross-pollination between his modified and unmodified plants. 
The nearest organic farm is several miles away.

Fred Kirschenmann, who manages a farm near Jamestown, N.D., but works at the 
Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University, said he 
gave up growing organic canola in the late 1990s after Roundup-resistant 
canola seeds were introduced.

There needed to be two miles between fields to reduce the risk of 
cross-pollination and "so much Roundup Ready came into the area, there was no 
way to find a way to put in a field that was at least two miles from a field 
with the GMO crop," Kirschenmann said.

He still raises other organic crops, including alfalfa, and said he's worried 
about how genetically engineered alfalfa will affect it.

"There are so many avenues for contamination to happen," Kirschenmann said. 
"It has to be managed extremely carefully, but in the long-term I think 
there's going to be a problem."