Farmers Association
Site Design by Pendragon Enterprises
- Hawaii
Organic Farmers Association....
- Why Genetic Engineering is an Inappropriate Technology for Organic Farming
- Organic Crop Inspector Training
- HOFA's Apprenticeship Program
- HOFA's Certification Program Update
- HOFA's Policy on Genetic Engineering in Agriculture
- Oahu Happenings
|
Volume 7, Issue 2 - Summer 2001 Rural Connections is published quarterly. |
Why
Genetic Engineering is an Inappropriate Technology for Organic Farming
By
Martha L. Crouch, Ph.D., Bloomington, Indiana
mcrouch@bluemarble.net
Although I used to be a research scientist engaged in genetic engineering
of crop plants, and thus understand the details of the technology, I no longer
believe that moving genes from one species to another will solve any of the
major problems facing agriculture today. In fact, I quit doing genetic engineering because I think it
is based on a dangerously narrow view of nature that can only result in
further deterioration of the farming environment.
First, in order to solve a problem using genetic engineering, the
engineer has to be able to define the problem in a very simple way, so that it
can be fixed by moving one or a few genes.
For example, if Colorado Potato Beetles are causing leaf damage, the
problem is defined as beetles eating leaves, and the plant can then be
designed to have a new gene added from a bacterium that makes an insecticide.
The insecticide is now made in all the cells of the potato plant, and
in theory kills the beetles.
What is wrong with this simple linear logic? From decades of experience with insecticides, it is certain
that the beetles will quickly become resistant to the internal insecticide,
just as they have to externally applied chemicals, and the solution will no
longer work. Nature is smarter
than that. Instead, the problem
with serious pest infestations is large-scale monoculture.
Organic farmers address the basic problem with various polycultural
practices, such as interplanting, rotations, and so on.
Perhaps the pest outbreak is related to poor soil fertility or other
suboptimal growing conditions, which can be alleviated by building a healthy
environment. These organic
solutions to the problem of pest infestations tend to solve several problems
at once and for a longer term, whereas the addition of a single gene will
address a very small, narrowly defined issue and only for the short run.
Another basic problem with genetic engineering is that it assumes that
organisms act like machines. The
gene to be inserted is designed to have an on/off switch, so that it will
direct the making of a protein in large amounts where and when the engineer
wants the gene to act. For
example, a corn plant engineered to be resistant to root nematodes needs to
have the gene active in the root cells, making lots of the new protein there.
It should be obvious that no organism is a machine.
Organisms grow, metabolize, reproduce, interact, and change in many
ways during their lives. The engineer may have designed a gene to behave in a
predictable way, but when the plant gets that gene, the plant may have
different ideas. One common
response of a plant to foreign genes is to turn them off, in a process called
gene silencing. No one knows why,
how, or when a plant will do this, but it can cause havoc for engineered
crops. If the nematode resistant corn plant suddenly silences the
engineered gene, the plant will now be susceptible to the nematodes.
This inherent unpredictability means that farmers take financial risks
when planting the engineered crops.
The third false assumption of genetic engineers is that organisms are
little islands unto themselves, so that when a crop is engineered, the new
gene will stay on the island, within the engineered variety.
In fact, the amount of interaction between organisms of various species
even within monocultural fields has been vastly underestimated.
Pollen is carried further and by more kinds of insects than predicted. Genetic material lasts longer in the digestive systems of
herbivores, and in the soil; and genes can move between unrelated species
without sex by more mechanisms than scientists thought just a few years ago.
The rapid contamination of the corn supply by Starlink genes in the
last few years is an example of this, and represents the canary in the
coalmine, in my opinion.
For organic farmers, contamination by errant engineered genes is a
serious issue, since the crop is not organic if it contains man-made genes.
This issue alone makes genetic engineering everyone’s business.
Of course, anything related to agriculture is everyone’s business,
because how we grow food affects the soil, water, air, and future for all of
us, and the other species as well. This
leads to my last point.
Genetic engineers are fond of saying that their method of crop
improvement is more precise and thus more predictable in its consequences than
traditional plant breeding, where thousands of genes are rearranged.
Although it is true that genetic engineering adds just one or a few new
genes to the tens of thousands of genes in a plant, these small changes can
have large consequences out in the world.
The new gene often gives the organism a radically different capability
or chemical, thus leapfrogging millions of years of evolution in an instant.
Evolution does not occur in a vacuum; it is an intricate dance between
species and their environments. The
milkweed plant is a good example. It
contains toxic glycosides that kill most insects, but some insects have not
only learned to survive but also have come to depend on the milkweed poisons.
Thus a group of species, the milkweed and all of the organisms that
depend on it, are affecting each other’s evolution and are traveling through
time together, changing in response to each other.
The monarch butterfly is one of the insects that requires the milkweed
plant, and its caterpillars must have only milkweed leaves to eat.
Other leaves are toxic to the monarch caterpillars, just as the
milkweed leaves are to most insects. What
happens if suddenly the milkweed leaves contain a new toxin, in addition to
the ones the monarch has learned to love?
No one has engineered a new milkweed, but if pollen from Bt corn is
dusted on milkweed leaves, the insecticide engineered into the corn cells will
kill or slow the growth of monarch caterpillars. The monarch has not coevolved
eating the Bt protein, and is thus unprepared by evolution for it.
New genes can thus be instant monkey wrenches in the finely tuned machine
of nature. (How easy it is to
slip into mechanistic metaphors!) We
need to worry about the effects of even small gene changes when they are put
into crops that are planted on millions of acres of farm land.
How will the soil microorganisms, insects, birds, fish, wild plants,
heirloom varieties, children, pets, fungi, and so on, be affected?
Do we even know what relationships are being enacted in our farm
fields? How long will it take for us to see changes, and will it then
be too late?
Organic farming is about nurturing relationships between domesticated and wild species so that all can flourish, and be healthy as we eat each other. Genetic engineering is based on principles of machinery, isolation of parts, and simple logic. It has no place in organic agriculture, and indeed poses a threat to the complex functioning of farming.
Organic Crop Inspector Training
Co-Sponsored by the Independent Organic Inspector Association
APPLY BY SEPT. 4
September
27th-29th, Kalopa, Big Island
A
three day course in basic organic farm inspection procedures will be offered
at the Kalopa State Park facility on September 27th, 28th, and 29th.
The course provides instruction in organic standards, allowed inputs,
investigative skills, audits, report writing, risk assessment, soil fertility,
regulatory issues, on-farm processing, livestock, and testing procedures.
As part of the course, you will participate in an actual farm
inspection and write a report.
Curriculum
is provided by the Independent Organic Inspector’s Association (IOIA) and
Harriet Behar, IOIA Training Coordinator will be the course instructor.
Attendees who successfully complete the course receive a Certificate of
Completion and may be recruited by HOFA or other certifying agencies as
organic inspectors. The course is
partially funded by CTAHR, UHM.
To
be eligible to take this course, you need to have some experience in organic
agriculture and/or conventional agriculture.
Good written and verbal communication skills are important as well.
To apply, contact the HOFA office to request an application packet or
visit the HOFA website. Attendance
is limited, so please submit your application as early as possible.
Registration
for the course will be $400 for commuters (lunch and dinner only) and $450
including accommodations and all meals.
For those who need to arrive the day before, the additional night with
dinner and breakfast will be $50 extra. A
shuttle will be provided from the Hilo airport to Kalopa.
Arrangements can be made when you register.
You will also receive the new IOIA/IFOAM Training Manual, copies
of the new Federal Organic Rule and the HOFA Organic Certification
Handbook. For more
information contact Eileen O’Hora-Weir at HOFA.
HOFA’s
Farm Apprentice Program...
received
69 applicants last year. If you
are interested in being a host farm for this program, contact Kelly at HOFA.
Hosting a farm intern is a great way to breath new life into your farm.
HOFA’s
Certification Program...
has
provided organic certification to over 60 producers in Hawaii this year.
HOFA now offers livestock and processing/handling certifications in
addition to crop certification. If
you are interested in becoming certified, start by ordering a Certification
Application Packet.
Engineering
in Agriculture
The Hawaii Organic Farmers Association believes that the life of the land
and a sustainable economy will both improve without the implementation of
genetic engineering, provided that, more research and education are put forth
for organic, ecologically sustainable land care practices.
Therefore, we generally oppose the use of genetic engineering in
agriculture. Our specific
directives on the use of genetically modified organisms are as follows:
► Impose
a moratorium on the release of genetically modified organisms (GMO) into the
environment until a regulatory regime has been adopted that includes extensive
evaluation of environmental consequences and secondary ecological effects, as
well as pre-market safety testing of genetically modified foods and
ingredients.
► Liability
for any external costs to individuals and the environment caused by physical
spillover effects, such as genetic contamination from pollen drift, must be
borne by the manufacturers and distributors of genetically engineered
products.
►
In conjunction with the establishment of an adequate regulatory regime such
that the release of some GMOs for use in non-organic agriculture is justified,
the resulting products, byproducts, and derivatives of genetic engineering
must be explicitly labeled as such at every stage of manufacturing,
production, and sale to provide adequate information to growers and consumers.
The costs of such labeling and verification must completely be borne by
the manufacturers of genetically engineered products.
► U.S. certified organic products as overseen by the National Organic Program rules must remain GMO-free and the products of genetic engineering should continue to be excluded from organic production and handling systems.
By
David Bourgoin
April– The HOFA
Oahu chapter held a tour of the Ala Wai Gardens for
an environmental group, Hawaii Nature Center, on Sunday April 22nd.
The event was filmed by TCR Productions and a segment was aired during
an interview with David Bourgoin on The Morning News, Channel 2.
On April 24th, the chapter discussed a statewide recognition
of HOFA and the benefits to Hawaii of organic agriculture.
June- After several
small meetings at the Down to Earth store in Honolulu, the chapter is
currently preparing for an organic information booth at Kahuku Hospital.
Please contact Abby at (808) 686-2264.
July– Abby is
coordinating The Body & Soil Farm Health
Conference on Maui from Oahu and you may contact her or the Maui Aloha
Aina Association directly at (808) 242-7870.
August-
The HOFA Oahu chapter will again have a booth at The
State Fair in the Aloha Stadium. The event takes place over three
weekends, August 3-5th, 10-12th, & 16-19th.
This is a great opportunity to teach thousands of people about organics and
environmental issues.
Hawaii Organic Farmers Association (HOFA)
P.O. Box 6863, Hilo, HI 96720
Phone: (808) 969-7789 Toll Free: (877) 674-4632 Fax: (808) 969-7759
Email: hofa@hawaiiorganicfarmers.org
Copyright 2002