We’re not going to get any help from the government — either federal or state.  Food Democracy Now is causing far more damage to the GMO industry than any hope of regulation.  $20 million spent in Oregon fighting the GMO labeling ballot initiative.  $20 million in Colorado.  $20 million in Vermont.  $40 million in California.  The Monsanto spin game is starting to unravel — and becoming less profitable, let’s hope.  

And we can do what we can….  Consumer demand is what is changing Farm Bill allocations.  Support cover crops and Practical Farmers of Iowa.  Support organic and local food distribution systems.  Keep reminding “farmers” that GMO monoculture is about their least profitable use of precious farmland.  Point out that soil carbon sequestration will help solve climate change along with provide more nutritious food.  

And focus on the next generation.  The average farmer is almost 60 years old.  Women are the majority of landlords in Iowa — get a backbone, women!  As much as I believe our corrupt governments are incapable of standing up to the food monopolies, I also believe that demand for food is highly elastic — and education is not dead in the 21st Century, as much as the Empire would love to keep us ignorant consumers.

Here’s a link to a great .pdf on cover crops — please pass along to anyone who wants to earn more profit on his/her farm….  http://www.sare.org/Learning-Center/Books/Managing-Cover-Crops-Profitably-3rd-Edition

Donna




On Dec 15, 2014, at 8:38 PM, l <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Laurel Hopwood, Chair of the Club Genetic Engineering Action Team, calls this an atrocity. She is right.

Maybe Obama will fire Tom Vilsack as USDA Secretary and replace him with Andrew KImbrell. And maybe pigs will grow wings and fly.

--Tom


-----Original Message-----
From: Laurel Hopwood <[log in to unmask]>
To: CONS-SPST-BIOTECH-FORUM <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sat, Dec 13, 2014 12:30 pm
Subject: Bad News: dicamba-resistant soy and corn

Many thanks to Center for Food Safety for alerting us to another atrocity.
Laurel Hopwood <[log in to unmask]>

http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/press-releases/3655/usda-paves-the-way-for-planting-of-two-more-pesticide-promoting-genetically-engineered-ge-crops#
USDA paves the way for planting of two more pesticide promoting genetically engineered (GE) crops
Center for Food Safety
December 12, 2014

Center for Food Safety criticized the final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) released today by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Monsanto's dicamba-resistant soybeans and cotton. The EIS paves the way for introduction of new crops genetically engineered to survive spraying with the herbicide dicamba. If approved, the anticipated widespread adoption of these GE crops would lead to an over 10-fold increase in dicamba use in American agriculture, from under 4 million lbs. at present to more than 40 million lbs. per year.  Commercialization is also contingent on EPA approval of dicamba formulations for use on the new crops, which is presently under consideration.

"Monsanto's genetically-engineered dicamba-resistant crops are yet another example of how pesticide firms are taking agriculture back to the dark days of heavy, indiscriminate use of hazardous pesticides, seriously endangering human health and the environment," said Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of Center for Food Safety. "Should both agencies approve this application, Center for Food Safety will pursue all available legal options to halt the introduction of this dangerous crop."

First approved in the 1967, dicamba is a potent broadleaf herbicide that in epidemiology studies has been linked to increased rates of cancer in farmers and birth defects in their male offspring.  Dicamba is moderately persistent and frequently detected in surface waters.  Farmers are particularly concerned by dicamba's propensity to drift and damage neighboring crops.  Dicamba drift also threatens flowering plants that provide nectar for pollinators and habitat for other species.  The large increase in dicamba applications that would accompany the crops is expected to dramatically escalate these adverse impacts.

Monsanto has presented dicamba resistant crops as a quick fix to the epidemic of glyphosate-resistant weeds generated by massive use of glyphosate herbicide with the company's first-generation GE crops, known as Roundup Ready. However, USDA itself and many scientists predict that the massively increased use of dicamba with these new GE crops will rapidly foster development of still more intractable weeds resistant to both dicamba and glyphosate.

"Monsanto's dicamba-resistant crops are the latest fruits of a pesticide industry strategy to increase sales of their toxic herbicides," said Bill Freese, Center for Food Safety science policy analyst.  "Genetic engineering is making American agriculture more chemical-dependent and less sustainable than ever before."

Freese notes that USDA's EIS follows hard on the heels of its September 2014 approval of GE 2,4-D-resistant corn and soybeans from Dow Chemical Company, and approvals of similar herbicide-resistant crops developed by other pesticide companies.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To unsubscribe from the CONS-SPST-BIOTECH-FORUM list, send any message to: [log in to unmask] Check out our Listserv Lists support site for more information: http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/faq.asp
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To unsubscribe from the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to: [log in to unmask] Check out our Listserv Lists support site for more information: http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/faq.asp Sign up to receive Sierra Club Insider, the flagship e-newsletter. Sent out twice a month, it features the Club's latest news and activities. Subscribe and view recent editions at http://www.sierraclub.org/insider/

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To unsubscribe from the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to: [log in to unmask] Check out our Listserv Lists support site for more information: http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/faq.asp