Seed Keepers

["Woody" <wderyckx@peoplepc.com>]

Beet seed is grown in one kinda place and sugar beets are generally grown in 
a very different kinda place. Actually,  beets and chard are a bit like 
spinach and cabbage in that they are pretty specific where they really 
produce seed well - prefering mild winters and cool summers (relativelly). 
Surely there is some danger associated with volunteer sugar beets in beet 
growing regions but currently we are most threatened by the GMO pollen from 
sugar beet seed production in Oregon which so out numbers table beet and 
swiss chard seed production it is bound to contaminate.  We are looking at a 
massive GMO monitoring program to test seed lots for contamination and, as I 
reported earlier,  we are suing APHIS for non-compliance with NEPA (the 
national environmental protection act).  From the seed grower point of 
view - biennials are every bit as susceptible to contamination as are 
annuals.
The next level of concern is the seedsaver - people like you and me who want 
to exercise our freedom to save seed from our gardens without getting it 
contaminated with engineered genetics.
Then there is the big one - the huge increase in herbicide use on all those 
thousands of acres of sugar beets and what effect that has on the soil 
ecosystem etc.
I was wondering - if we could get a few big companies who buy beet sugar to 
use in making popular processed foods (I'm thinking Mars and Hershey here) 
to decide not to use GMO beet sugar,  I bet they could stop this in a day 
and a half.
All best to all on this list.
woody
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Elise Lutrick" <seedsaverslist@gmail.com>
To: "Seed Keepers" <seedkeepers@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Saturday, February 23, 2008 9:09 AM
Subject: Re: [Seed Keepers] [seedkeepers] GMO pollen and what to know...


> Lucy,
>
> Are you absolutely sure that NONE of those GMO beet plantings are
> being done for the purposes of producing GMO seeds for sale to
> gullible farmers? They have to be raising them in a massive manner
> SOMEWHERE, and where ever that place is will have GMO beet pollen in
> an abundance plentiful enough to contaminate every beet field for
> miles.
>
> Also, I don't know that I quite buy the claim that 100% of all such
> beets will be harvested in the year in which they are planted.
>
> I garden about 2 acres. I have had turnips reappear in the spring and
> bloom after they have been plowed under. And I pay attention to
> detail. These folks will not care about the details. Profit is the
> goal.
>
> As an analogy, in commercial chicken houses there are always some
> birds that are not harvested because they run around the periphery of
> the house. At some point the cost of gathering the last few more than
> offsets the benefit of catching them, and so they are left behind.
>
> It will be the same thing with the beets. People are fallible, and
> they are sloppy. Life (and death) sometimes gets in the way. Harvest
> does not always occur. Rains come and wash planted seed downstream and
> they sprout and grow outside the area maintained by mechanical
> cultivators or seed is accidently scattered in unplanned places. In
> large-scale commercial farming, harvest will only be done on a scale
> that is fiscally profitable. I just do not buy the suggestion that any
> extra effort will be expended to round up any plants that grow outside
> the designated mechanical harvest area.
>
> On top of that, Mother Nature is fickle. There is the way she usually
> does things. But there is also usually an exception.
>
> The effects of even a small-scale contamination of this sort will be
> cumulative to those who save their own seeds. And contamination of
> this sort will not be easily contained or reversed.
>
> Elise
>
>
>
> On Sat, Feb 23, 2008 at 6:49 AM, lucy Owsley <boulderbelt@voyager.net> 
> wrote:
> > i know about the Monsanto vs Schmieser case. But canola is an ANNUAL crop
> > that makes flowers/pollen/seed/ the same year it is planted. beets are
> > BIENNIAL which means they have to be over wintered in order to make
> > flowers/pollen/seed the following year after they have been planted.
> >
> > My point is the GMO beets grown for the suugar trade will be harvested 
> > long
> > before they go to seed.make pollen. Thus should not be a problem for 
> > anyone
> > growing out beets or chard for seed. And if this becomes a problem 
> > Isolate
> > the flowering beets with hoop houses (this is what I do with my chard I 
> > save
> > for seed)
> >
> > Thus the argument that GMO beets are bad because they will cropss 
> > pollinate
> > is not a good argument and we can come up with much better ones. I have 
> > been
> > in the anti-GMO fight a long time (15+ years) and one thing I have 
> > learned
> > is if you come up with a bad arguement that the Biotech shills can poke
> > holes in they will and they will turn the argument back on you quickly 
> > and
> > with devistating effects. they are good at what they do. So choose your
> > arguements and examples carefully. beet pollen can be shot down too 
> > easily
> > (I just did it using the fact beets are beiennial and that a food crop 
> > will
> > be 100% harvested the 1st year so no pollen to contaminate non GMO beets 
> > the
> > second. this is basic plant sex people, don't get blinded by your rage)
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On Feb 22, 2008, at 5:13 PM, mayo.eh wrote:
> >
> >    You might want to read about Percy Schmeiser, a Canadian grower sued 
> > by
> > Monsanto because their GMO pollen contaminated and ruined his crop!
> > http://www.percyschmeiser.com/
> >
> >     The website above explains the reason for, and the beginning of, the
> > lawsuit.  The movie by Deb Garcia "The Future of Food" brings the story 
> > up
> > to date, explaining how Percy lost (not only the lawsuit but his life
> > savings) and Monsanto won this ridiculous suit.  There are interviews 
> > with
> > other farmers as they experience the problem themselves and show their 
> > anger
> > at first, then do an about-face after Monsanto gets to them.   It's
> > definitely worth watching.   http://www.thefutureoffood.com/
> >
> > Greenly,
> > Mayo
> >
> > By the way, it's great to have this up and going with seed and plant
> > questions.  Thank you, Lawrence.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Because when I grow beet or sweet chard seed organically to supply 
> > organic
> > farmers and gardeners, some of the GMO pollen will get into the female
> > flowers of my organic beets or chard and then my organic seed will be
> > contaminated.  Then someone tests the seed and finds GMO and then it 
> > would
> > no longer be organic nor pure and I would have my crop rejected.  I did 
> > not
> > ask for the pollen to come and contaminate my table beet seed or swiss 
> > chard
> > seed - it is trespassing on my place - but I (or other organic seed 
> > grower)
> > would be the loser - the victem.  Don' t think that is worth caring 
> > about?
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: lucy Owsley <mailto:boulderbelt@voyager.net>
> > To: seedkeepers <mailto:seedkeepers@lists.ibiblio.org>
> > Sent: Friday, February 22, 2008 1:28 PM
> > Subject: Re: [seedkeepers] Thanks to Lawrence
> >
> > I am unhappy about GMO sugar beets but why is everyone paranoid about GMO
> > Beet pollen flying around. Beets are biennial and so will be harvested 
> > long
> > before they go to flower so should not be a threat in this way.
> >
> > If we are going to fight this do not give bad reasons for banning these
> > seeds/plants because this just gives the genejockys fuel to keep on going
> > with this.
> >
> >
> > On Feb 22, 2008, at 3:50 PM, Woody wrote:
> >
> > Did you know that the few companies that control sugar beet production 
> > (and
> > beet sugar production) in the USA are quietly switching over to ROUNDUP
> > READY     sugar beets with MONSANTO technology?  Yes, right now as we
> > converse,  beet seed growers in Oregon's Willammett Valley are 
> > transplanting
> > planting vernalized plugs for the first mass seed crop of GMO seed.
> > This means:
> > Beet Sugar and all products that contain this ingredient will most likely 
> > be
> > GMO
> > Pollen from GMO sugar beets will soon be flying all over the sugar beet 
> > seed
> > growing regions potentially contaminating table beet seed  and swiss 
> > chard
> > seed.
> > Organic seed growers are threatened by GMO contamination!!!!
> > The Organic Seed Alliance along with High Mowing Seed and the Center for
> > Food Safety and others has filed suit against the USDA APHIS for allowing
> > this without proper environmental impact review  but there will be no
> > imediate injunction against the planting out of this GMO material.  See
> > www.seedalliance.org for more information.
> > I wonder if  B.T. Cabbage won't be next.  And then what?  The government
> > continues to approve these monsters without due process and prudent 
> > review.
> > The government continues to resist demands to require labeling of GMO
> > products.
> >
> >
> > Lucy Goodman
> > Boulder Belt Eco-Farm
> > Eaton, OH
> > http://boulderbelt.blogspot.com
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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> >
> > Lucy Goodman
> > Boulder Belt Eco-Farm
> > Eaton, OH
> > http://boulderbelt.blogspot.com
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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