THE GMO SCRAPBOOK: US FARMERS TURNING FROM GMOs TO ORGANIC IN RISING ...
This important story comes to us from Ms. M.W. The topic is evident from the title of today's blog, but the real story is in the reasons for this rising tide of farmer/producer opposition to the cultivation of GMO crops:
Record US Farmers Switching to Non-GMO Crops in 2015
You'll note there are two interconnected concerns here, the first being cost-effectiveness: lower costs and higher yields are occurring now with ordinary, non-GMO seeds. This is a story we first blogged about last year after the University of Iowa published a report suggesting that initially, and only for a very short period, do GMO crops show marked increases of yield. But as mother nature more quickly adapts than can the scientists of Mon(ster)santo and Synkrudda, the yields of those crops dramatically decline, while the costs remain the same. Thus, in the long run, non-GMO crops represent the more financially viable and productive alternative. The article above appears to be confirming those findings:
"Mac Ehrhardt, president of Minnesota-based Albert Lea Seed reports that he is selling more conventional (he describes conventional corn as non-GMO) corn seed by the end of November than he did all of last year. He says that farmers are turning to non-GMO to cut costs and to earn more money for their non-GMO yields.
"Ehrhardt says:
'There is a continued increased demand for non-GMO.'
"His observations are corroborated by Wayne Hoener, vice president of sales for eMerge, an Iowa-based seed company, as well as Tim Daley, an agronomist at Stonebridge, Ltd., an Iowa-based buyer of non-GMO soybeans who are also seeing a marked demand for non-GMO seed by farmers.
"Daley says:
'Some companies have seen a 50 percent increase in sales of non GMO seed, and some have said they’ve sold more non-GMO seed this year than in the last five.'
“On (non-GMO) corn, we’ve got a slight increase on sales over last year,” he says. “Non-GMO has emerged as the new niche. It’s about 4-5 percent of total corn production.”
The other reason for the apparent rise in non-GMO seed sales is that farmers themselves are noticing that the claims of the "science" of big GMO firms like I.G. Farbensanto is running counter to what they're actually seeing in their fields, and they are beginning to question not only the claims, but (one suspects) the underlying "science" as well:
"Other farmers are considering the switch because they are tired of super-weeds. One corn breeder who preferred to remain anonymous for a recent interview stated:
“The insect and herbicide traits are losing effectiveness with increased resistant rootworm and weed species. Growers are tired of paying for input costs that are reduced in efficacy and funding additional forms of crop protection.”
Iowa State University weed specialist Bob Hartzler seconds that sentiment in an interview with Iowa Farmer Today.
“You have people questioning the value of the Roundup gene. How many are doing it (making the switch) because of that concern, I don’t know.”
"Non-GMO seeds are also producing more competitive yields.
“The yield performance of non-GMO hybrids is similar to or greater than traited (GMO) hybrids,” says the corn breeder.
Is this why mega company, General Mills, purchased organic food company Annie’s Homegrown for nearly $1 billion. And other large food corporations are looking to swallow up smaller organic food companies?
“There is continual and accelerating growth in organic,” he says. “There has been more conversion to organic by farmers recently than I’ve ever seen.”
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Those nasty guys at Monsanto are getting the jitters, ouch, farmers are starting to revolt, and it’s about time. I’m not sure but I read somewhere, where Monsanto’ share price has taken a hit, I hope so.
Anyway, slowly but surely the world has taken a while to wake up after a long sleep, and if I could kiss the guy who started the internet I would, because it’s the thorn in the side of the elites, and they have had to swallow all the bs they have been telling us.
So true DownunderET
Cory Doctorow penned a insightful analogy.
It goes something along the lines of how animals invest a great deal of time & energy in their young, in pregnancy, in raising them. Then along comes the Dandelions[Internet] just letting their seeds go to the wind, and do not mourn those that do not make it.
Until now, creating intellectual content
for payment has been a mammal idea.
NOW! it’s time for creators to accept that
we are becoming Dandelions.
Meanwhile, back at the Ranch;
it’s business a usual, during alterations.
Indeed, that is their goal:
To Own It ALL –
The Good
The Bad
The Ugly.
So what happens to all the people, like myself, who are allergic to glyphosate? Guess I better learn how to farm and raise livestock.
Mercantilism was the idea from the get go. These dope peddlers game plan was to addict and hook us from the very beginning. Anyway these over schooled undereducated control freaks dream was full spectrum control. Food-read poison-medicine-read poison-education-indoctrination SLAVERY OVER THE WORLD is these blockheads motto.
It appears real market forces are still around. MonSatano has to hate this. Their want, need, desire to enslave and poision us is insatiable. I’m thrilled to see this level of push back; genuine good news. Let’s hope our fellow 99%ers continue making this kind of progress. No matter what kind of pill (Blue/Red) they take in the morning.
One of the giants recently purchased Applegate. Unilever bought Ben and Jerry’s. I now no longer buy those products…
In some ways this guy farming in North Dakota is even more suggestive; the New York Times wouldn’t mention names like Steiner or Schauberger but clearly this guy is thinking along those lines:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/10/science/farmers-put-down-the-plow-for-more-productive-soil.html
Interesting article Lost. Thanks
db
I second that Don B thanks for the link Lost.
Sage advice that too many civilizations ignored at their peril.
The “Dust Bowl’s” of old, may come again; unless this farmer’s advice takes root in the fertile soils of those who desperately need it[& not know of it], …before it’s too late.
I bet this North Dakota farmer has something like a Reichian cloudbuster in a shed somewhere on his land.
As for grasslands and soil quality, right that’s one of lesser known success of the New Deal, restoring grass lands in Kansas and Oklahoma thereby saving a good bit of farmland. The Dust Bowl of the 1930s wasn’t simply caused by drought. The dust (destroyed topsoil) came from totally inappropriately done agriculture. Similar to the Aztecs saying to the Spanish, “it’s a bad idea to plant huge fields on hillsides, terracing fields works much better”. There are related points about forestry and clear cutting say in the middle of Oregon.