GMOs

Any story sounds true until you hear the other side. This might loose me a few customers, but I want you all to know our view of GMOs. Please read this whole post regardless of what you currently believe.  There is a lot of stuff going around about how they cause disease, infertility, alien abductions ... Here's the truth:

Farmers and seed companies have been breeding plants for certain traits forever. Mixing two varieties is called creating a hybrid. This process takes lots of time. The breeder will select plants to breed based on the specific traits he is looking for. It usually takes several generations to come up with the desired results. The  typical hybrid takes 5-10 years to develop. Some hybrids create infertile seed and some go on to become heirloom varieties after several generations. Many heirlooms are known to be insect resistant,  drought resistant, resistant to a certain type of disease, etc. In the past this type of breeding has taken years to accomplish. With GMO technology, the genetic selection process that in the past has been a hit or miss proposition can be targeted and accomplished in the lab without having to wait 5-10 years.

We farmers have been feeding GMO grain to livestock for years. Most breeding herds and flocks of cows, pigs, chickens and other animals have been fed no other grain than GMO for many generations. If the all the hype about how dangerous GMOs are was true, The United States would no longer have any livestock industry.

If you don't, select, store and cook your food it properly you will get food poisoning sooner or later. Most animal feed isn't cooked, but grains can be infected with disease. Some diseases occur in the fields, some happen with improper storage or handling. I am willing to bet that if any disease or infertility problem attributed to GMO was really investigated, tainted food would be the true cause.

We feed GMO grains. It's a matter of availability. We do have some ethical problems with GMOs, and would feed non-GMO if it were practical but non-GMO feed costs a lot more. We think our prices are high enough.

If that is so, why are all the bees disappearing? Well, I'm not exactly sure, but my bet is that it has something to do with the push to get farmers to practice no-till farming. Years ago, there was great concern about the loss of top soil. It's a valid concern. So, more and more farmers no-till their land. It's good for the soil, but you have to dump a ton of chemicals on it to kill the weeds that aren't killed by plowing. The chemical companies tell us that herbicides won't affect insects, but every container has warnings not to get the stuff on your skin or breathe the vapors. I'm sorry, but I have a hard time believing they don't affect insects. I don't know the answer to this one. Permaculture would solve it, but that involves getting pretty much everyone producing food. That ain't gonna happen.

The real problems with GMOs are legal. When it is nearly impossible for a farmer to put in a crop without paying a fee to one giant global  company, that's a problem. Monsanto has a strangle hold on agriculture.

Anyone who tells you that this process causes infertility or seed that will not reproduce is misinformed. Some people read that farmers can't save the seed from these crops and replant them so they think the reason why is because there is something wrong with the seed. One good indicator of the healthiness of  any food is how well it will reproduce. Seed from GMO plants will reproduce if planted in the ground. In fact, this stuff is so prolific most organic farmers are having problems with GMO contamination.  The problem is that if a farmer saves seed from his GMO crop and plants it, Monsanto can and will destroy him financially. Monsanto is even going after a lot of organic farmers who through no fault of their own have crops contaminated with GMOs. This is wrong and dangerous!

So there you have it. I am a traitor to the hysteria that surrounds GMOs.


God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

We have one of these row planters. Makes seed so much easier to plant!