Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>]

We've been following this for months, finally it's getting traction in the 
media. This is where we are. IF it doesn't stop we'll just grow & sell 
UNmodified chiles & our markets will buy them up faster than we can grow 
them. Adapt, I say.

paul tradingpost@lobo.net

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Green Chile Lovers Fired Up Over Genetic Modification
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/03/green-chile-genetic-modification_n_1127027.html

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Mention New Mexican cuisine and mouths start watering. 
Giant breakfast burritos, plates of enchiladas, tacos and even cheeseburgers 
– all laced with green chile or drenched in red.

New Mexico's chile peppers have woven their way into the state's cultural 
identity, and their distinct flavor has been adopted by palates as far away 
as Korea.

But some are worried about the future of New Mexico's signature crop. Labor 
costs, relentless plant diseases and competition from cheap imports have 
combined to put the chile industry in a steep decline.

Scientists at New Mexico State University are helping through a series of 
efforts aimed at unlocking the genetic mysteries of red and green chile, but 
that has some pepper purists fired up.

The thought of genetically engineering chile has galvanized a group of seed 
conservationists and others who are sympathetic to the national protests 
targeting corporate greed and economic inequality. Unlike the Occupy Wall 
Street movement, however, Occupy Green/Red Chile is on a simple, focused 
mission – to protect New Mexico's chile seeds.

"Students, teachers, farmers, consumers, mothers and fathers, everyone cares 
about this because in New Mexico chile isn't just a food, it's your culture," 
said Jessica Farrell, a University of New Mexico student who is participating 
in the movement.

The group is concerned that if scientists develop a genetically engineered 
pepper to boost the industry, small growers could face patent lawsuits if 
their crops become cross-contaminated by the new seeds. They're also worried 
about a lack of labeling of genetically modified foods and the potential for 
New Mexico's traditional varieties to be forever altered.

"To secure the long-term protection of the farmers and the protection of 
consumers in terms of culture, there is no room for a genetically engineered 
seed," Farrell said.

This is where some farmers, chile processors and researchers disagree.

Over the last 20 years, New Mexico has seen a 75 percent decline in the 
number of acres of chile grown. Production per acre has increased by more 
than 2 tons over the last five years due to breeding and improved growing 
practices, but the industry is a long way from returning to the glory days 
when tens of thousands of acres were grown.

Jaye Hawkins, executive director of the New Mexico Chile Association, said 
the state will be in danger of losing its chile not because of genetic 
engineering but rather because farmers will simply not be able to grow the 
crop due to the mounting labor challenges and foreign competition.

"We're chipping away at the problems, and this is just one alternative," she 
said of the genetic research.

Building the perfect pepper plant – one capable of withstanding root-rotting 
and leaf-wilting diseases, one with more flavor compounds, one that is taller 
with easily harvested fruit – has been the focus of researchers at New Mexico 
State University for decades.

Most of the work has been done using traditional plant breeding techniques, 
but some of the problems have been unsolvable through classic methods, said 
Paul Bosland, head of the university's Chile Pepper Institute.

While critics argue that genetically modified foods are unnatural, experts 
say the world would not have the varieties of chile, wheat, potatoes, corn, 
rice and other vegetables that it has today if it weren't for the genetic 
modification that comes naturally from breeding plants with one another.

"It's been 10,000 years for some crops. They don't even remotely resemble 
their wild species anymore," said Pam Ronald, a plant pathologist from the 
University of California, Davis, who is known for her work with rice.

Ronald and others say the difference with genetic engineering is it's modern 
and more precise, and genes from unrelated species can be added to a plant's 
genome.

"It's a fine line philosophically what people will accept, and there are 
reasons of course for not wanting a particular type of crop," she said. "But 
if you think about the great issues of our time – sustainability, can we grow 
more food using less land and less water as resources diminish, can we reduce 
insecticides – if genetic engineering can enhance the sustainability, then 
why not use it?"

The situation with chile in New Mexico is not unlike what happened to 
Hawaii's papaya in the 1990s. There, it took a publicly funded research 
effort to develop a papaya that was resistant to a disease that was wiping 
out orchard after orchard.

The effort was a success, and today Hawaii continues to provide most of 
California's papayas.

In Arizona, genetically engineered cotton has resulted in less insecticide 
use, and corn growers in the Midwest have realized billions of dollars in 
economic benefits from engineered corn seed, Ronald said.

Steve Hanson, a scientist at NMSU, said the goal of the work being done in 
New Mexico is to increase the sustainability of chile and make the growing 
process more efficient.

"It's one of these things that seems mysterious and supernatural, but the 
entire process is modeled after a natural event and it's not really even 
specific to plants," he said, explaining that viruses can infect the human 
body and insert their own DNA into human cells. Genetic engineering in plants 
is based on that same horizontal exchange of genes.

So does the journey of a chile pepper from seed to salsa really matter to 
those who have become addicted to the flavor?

Occupy Green/Red Chile organizers think so. They have been gathering petition 
signatures and spreading their message on social media sites. On Saturday, 
they planned to brave the winter weather for marches in Albuquerque, Taos, 
Santa Fe and Socorro.

"It's about giving us a choice about what we put in our bodies. It's about 
getting New Mexicans out into the streets," said Cynthia McDermand, one of 
the organizers. "We take pride in our chile."

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