From Ken Roseboro, on “The Organic and Non-GMO report”:
“The outlook for peaceful coexistence between organic and genetically modified agriculture looks bleak if the chilly reception given to an organic industry expert at a recent conference is any indication.
Lowell Rheinheimer, farm resource manager at Organic Valley was one of several organic industry experts invited to speak at a “Coexistence, Choice, and Sustainability in Crop Production” conference organized by Iowa State University’s Biosafety Institute on Genetically Modified Agricultural Products held at university in April.
Many conference speakers praised GM crops as a solution to “feeding the world” and agricultural sustainability.
“Life and death issue for organic industry”
Rheinheimer said the organic community believed that GM crops are about using more pesticides, that claims about “feeding the world” were just spin, and that the US Department of Agriculture’s GM crop regulations are inadequate.
“Our co-op members farm within a sea of transgenics, yet consumers expect our organic products to be free of GMOs,” Rheinheimer said.
He described the negative impacts of GMOs on organic farmers such as rejected grain loads and added costs. “Farmers are unable to protect themselves from GMO trespass,” Rheinheimer said….”
The Bovine 