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  • From: robert schuler <sunnfarm AT bellatlantic.net>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] GMOs
  • Date: Tue, 02 Mar 2004 12:55:01 -0500

I can not comment about canola but I do know a thing or two about corn. I
grow white sweetcorn and always cringe when neighbors rotation moves yellow
field corn next to my fields separated by 20 feet or less. If a yellow
corn pollen gets into my white corn it can devalue my crop. I have noticed
from years of hand picking and checking, that field corn pollen seldom
travels more than 50 feet into my field with a few yellow kernels found 400
feet away. Even up close the sweetcorn seldom shows more than 10% crossing.
Corn pollen dries up very fast after pollen shed, I have seen partial crop
failures due to pollen drying on the tassel before it could pollinate the
ear...Bob.
Sunny Meadow Farm
Bridgeton, NJ.

Roger Weeks wrote:

> One thing to consider is while some of the major food crops like corn,
> wheat and canola all have airborne pollen that can be widely spread by
> weather conditions, many other vegetables do not.
>
> Tomatoes, peppers and eggplant, for instance, do not spread pollen via
> the wind, and will only be crosspollinated under unique conditions.
> I've grown jalapenos next to anaheim peppers year after year, saved the
> seed and always come back with the same variety.
>
> I'm sure this is the case for other plants as well. Even squash, which
> is a notorious cross-pollenizer, needs bees to do that work, and not
> the weather.
>
> Roger Weeks
>
> Message: 15
> Date: Tue, 2 Mar 2004 10:31:58 -0500
> From: "Paul Bock" <bockpa AT plesh.com>
> Subject: RE: [Market-farming] GMOs
> To: "'Market Farming'" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
> Message-ID: <001701c4006b$80f00210$7701ec0a@pleshcad02>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> Maureen,
> I see your point. At least the organic seed does have some controls
> on
> it. The future doesn't look good though with pollen drift issues.
>
> Maybe we should look at this from a different angle. What legal
> grounds can
> a farmer have if he can prove that pollen drift is infesting his fields
>
> and
> altering his seed's genetics? I suppose the neighboring farmer could
> escape
> by saying that it could have drifted in from any field, not necessarily
>
> his?
>
> Paul Bock
> Stone Gully
>
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