North Dakota Farmers Angry -
Can No Longer Buy Non-GE Seeds
http://www.purefood.org/ge/angryfarmers.cfm
By Jerry W. Kram
The Bismark (North Dakota) Tribune 3-20-1
3-27-1

Excerpts:

Wiley was informed that his sample had tested positive for genetically modified varieties. The level of contamination was 1.37 percent, which was too much for the Japanese. 'I was stunned and sick to my stomach,' Wiley said. 'I finally went into the house to tell my wife we had just lost $ 6,000 because of a neighbor's planting decision.' Other producers who sell into markets that prohibit or severely restrict the use of genetically modified crops are having a hard time finding seed.

Donald Vig, an organic farmer from Valley City, said he has talked to seed suppliers as far away as California and cannot find seed guaranteed to be free of foreign genes. 'The organic industry has a zero tolerance for genetically modified crops,' Vig said.

Rodney Nelson, a farmer from Amenia, is also looking for soybean seed free of genetically modified varieties. Nelson is being sued by Monsanto, producer of Roundup Ready soybeans, for growing their variety of soybeans without buying seed from the company. "I want soybean seed that's guaranteed not to contain genetically engineered material,' Nelson said. 'When I asked my seed dealer for a guarantee, he laughed at me..." _____

Indiana Farmers Getting The Bad News On Biotech "Why Didn't You Warn Me About GMO's?"

www.DirectAg.com articles. 3/23/2001, or http://www.directag.com/directag/news/article.jhtml?article_id=1000991

Excerpts:

"I came here this morning feeling pretty good," the farmer continued. "But now you've got me very concerned about where we're going to sell our GMO-crops in the future. It's not right that you let us all get hooked growing these GMO-crops and now tell us that maybe we should be growing something else."

Tom Bechman, Indiana Prairie Farmer, a Farm Progress Publication. Purdue Extension corn specialist Bob Nielsen didn't mince words when he addressed the issue of genetic modified organisms (GMO's) and the controversy still swirling throughout agriculture due to the StarLink Bt debacle last fall. He warned farmers that while the long-term potential for great benefits from biotechnology still existed, the short-term fall-out could actually make life more difficult, and perhaps even less profitable, for farmers who didn't manage carefully in the short term. When he finished his talk at the Wayne County Conservation Tillage Workshop in Richmond, Ind., one farmer in the crowd was quick about not mincing words, either.

"Why didn't you tell us about all of these potential negatives a long time ago," he questioned, sharply. "Where have you been for the last two or three years? "I came here this morning feeling pretty good," the farmer continued. "But now you've got me very concerned about where we're going to sell our GMO-crops in the future. It's not right that you let us all get hooked growing these GMO-crops and now tell us that maybe we should be growing something else." While Nielsen is never at a loss for words, he did acknowledge that the farmer had a point. But it wasn't just Nielsen who didn't see the controversy coming. He contended that it was all of agriculture, plus the media and even regulatory officials. "Six months ago, hardly anyone in Indiana even knew what StarLink was," Nielsen says. "It was barely a blip on the radar screen."... _____

StarLink Latest - USDA Begins To Buy Up Starlink-Contaminated Seed

By Randy Fabi 3-27-1

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Agriculture Department this week sent contracts to some 300 seed companies offering to buy seed potentially contaminated with StarLink, a bioengineered corn variety not approved for human use, in an effort to keep it out of this year's crop, officials said Thursday.

Earlier this month, the USDA said it would spend about $20 million to purchase about 1 percent of this year's spring planting corn seed suspected of being tainted with StarLink's Cry9c protein. The protein is the key component that protects young plants from destructive pests... Once the seed is purchased by USDA, the government will destroy the contaminated seed by either burying it in soil at least one foot deep or crushing and composting it. Seed companies have until April 15 to decide whether to participate in the USDA program...

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