Word Spreads about GMO

Farmers Union Holds Informational Meetings 

MIKKEL PATES / Grand Forks Herald 6mar04

FARGO—A short series of informational meetings in the past two weeks by the North Dakota Farmers Union on genetically modified wheat played to relatively small audiences, according to an official of the organization.

Mark Watne, a Velva, N.D., farmer and development specialist for the group, said four meetings were scheduled as a follow-up to the state meeting where members "asked us to get both sides of the story on GMOs out to the public."

Monsanto has indicated it could commercialize Roundup Ready wheat—varieties genetically modified to be tolerant of the glyphosate herbicide—by 2005 or 2006, but that it would wait until markets are ready.

Commercialization is opposed by groups because some major customers don't want it, and because of concerns about whether it can be kept separate in the marketplace.

A Farmers Union meeting in Devils Lake, N.D., was canceled because of bad weather. About 15 attended a meeting in Jamestown, N.D., about 20 in Minot and about 40 in Dickinson, N.D.

"What tended to happen was we got the die-hard people on either side," Watne said.

The meeting featured representatives from the Northern Plains Sustainable Agriculture Society, the North Dakota Grain Dealers and North Dakota State University.

Initiated measure

The North Dakota Farmers Union is driven by its policy, which supports research of GM wheat, but opposes its commercial release until issues of market acceptance, segregation and liability are settled, Watne said.

"That's really the big concern of the people," Watne says. "They're not fearful of the technology, but whether you can isolate it. The other issue is whether we should always adopt every new technology, or whether we should research technology that's not accepted in the marketplace. We want liability clarified, so it doesn't fall back on the producer."

A group, led by James Kusler of Beulah, N.D., plans to file an initiated measure that by mid-March that would require any biotechnology commercialization in the state to first go through the state agriculture commissioner and an expert panel.

Watne said the Farmers Union has not been approached for its support on the measure, which would create a law through a vote of the people, probably in November.

Mike Brandenburg, an Edgeley, N.D., farmer and former state legislator, has organized a meeting at 10 a.m. March 10 at Big John's restaurant in Edgeley, sponsored by the LaMoure County Farm Bureau, which showcases advocates of GM technology to "tell the other side of the story."

Brandenburg says North Dakota's skittishness over GMO wheat is making the state a "laughingstock," in world agriculture, and that it's chasing away corporate research dollars.

Watne said this is a sign of a public relations struggle by opponents on the issue.

"I see it (a PR struggle) breaking," Watne says. "It's not led by us. We had people on both sides, with panel discussions, at our meetings. Our members told us not to taint the information if you can."

source: http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/news/8120260.htm 27mar04