Vilsack looks for solution on coexistence

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack has some pretty complicated problems facing his Department. On the one hand, he has biotech companies developing products that have been determined by science to be safe and many farmers who wish to use them. On the other hand, he has a small but growing group of organic farmers who claim that biotech crops will “destroy their ability to farm organically”. He’s looking for coexistence between both types of farmers.

At this time, coexistence between organic and conventional farms is worked out individually by neighbors. On a national scale, organic groups have initiated multiple lawsuits against the USDA in what some say are blatant attempts to prevent biotech crops from being grown at all (sugar beets, alfalfa).

In an effort to solve the problem, a creative potential solution has been devised – partial deregulation of biotech alfalfa. This would “include isolation standards from other crops, set geographic restrictions on where the crop is grown, spell out harvest periods and regulate equipment use,” writes Charles Abbott on Check Biotech. One problem with this plan is that the USDA might be overstepping its regulatory authority. The USDA is charged with determining the potential pest status of any biotech crops submitted for deregulation, but doesn’t have requirements or authority to say what farmers can and can not do with a crop once it is deregulated.

Today, this issue is being debated in the House Agriculture Committee.

For more about the debate in real time, follow Philip Brasher, Chris Clayton, and Sara Wyant on Twitter, among others.

Edit: while researching for the post What the heck is alfalfa, anyway? I found the document where the specific conditions for conditional deregulation are laid out. The recommendations aren’t as bad as I thought they would be. They should be more than enough to satisfy anyone who knows even a little about alfalfa biology.

Peace with agriculture

Brownfield (Ag News for America) posts a lot of news that doesn’t make other media sources. One of my recent favorites pairs two of my life’s loves: the US Army and agriculture.
Nebraska Army National Guard takes ag to Afghanistan
Tuesday, May 13, 2008, 3:36 PM
by Peter Shinn
One of the keys to winning the war in Afghanistan may be helping farmers there grow enough food to feed their families. Doing so will help take land out of opium production, the profits from which are helping to maintain the Taliban as a serious military threat.
That’s why the Nebraska Army National Guard is taking a team of Guard members who are also agricultural producers to Afghanistan later this year, to help make Afghan farmers food self-sufficient. Colonel Mike Johnson is commanding the mission.
“They can raise some opium, but even that with the income, they can’t get enough food to take care of their family for a year,” Johnson told Brownfield. “So if we can go over and help them expand their operation a little bit, and get them enough food from one growing season to the next, they’re going to be a lot better off.”
As for the Nebraska Army Guard members who are going to Afghanistan, Johnson noted they’re making some serious sacrifices to help improve ag production there. And Johnson emphasized it’s not just the Guard members themselves who will bear the burden of their commitment.
“We’re leaving in the fall time-frame, so they’re going to rely on some other folks – good folks in Nebraska – trying to help them out, getting their harvest in as we get ready to go over,” Johnson said.
And Nebraska’s farming and ranching Army Guard members are eager to help. According to Johnson, he had more than twice the number of volunteers for the mission to Afghanistan as he could take. Those selected will be in pre-deployment training for the next few months. The Nebraska Army National Guard joins the Army National Guard of Missouri, Texas, Indiana and Tennessee in sending agricultural support missions to Afghanistan, Johnson added.
Editor’s Note: 1Lt Peter Shinn is a member of the Iowa Air National Guard.