Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

livingontheland - [Livingontheland] Green Chile Lovers Fired Up Over Genetic Modification

livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Green Chile Lovers Fired Up Over Genetic Modification
  • Date: Mon, 05 Dec 2011 13:26:12 -0700


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

------------------------
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."

____




  • [Livingontheland] Green Chile Lovers Fired Up Over Genetic Modification, Tradingpost, 12/05/2011

Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page