The Environment Myth
"Genetically engineered crops are the best way to deal with pests, weeds, droughts, and floods."
What are the most environmentally sound ways of growing food? Are genetically engineered foods better for the environment?
The makers of genetically engineered seeds like to claim that this new technology makes farming lighter on the planet, reducing pesticide and herbicide use, for instance. But are genetically engineered seeds really better? What does the data and farmers experience show? This section explores the ways we can best farm with nature at heart.
Take Action
Congress Passes The Monsanto Protection Act. All hands on deck!
We regret to inform you, but yesterday morning Congress succeeded in passing Section 735, aka the Monsanto Protection Act, in the Continuing Resolution spending bill. We need you to contact President Obama before he signs it and HR 933 becomes law.
Food Heroes
Food Hero: The Nelson Family
The Nelson Family in Minnesota used to raise their cattle conventionally, until illness and financial difficulties made the alternative path obvious. They switched to organic and selling milk though Organic Valley, a cooperative of farmers. Now they run a thriving family farm business. See them reflect on their transition and where it’s led them.
Q & A
Question:
Is there really a connection between Roundup Ready crops and no-till?
No-till is one form of “conservation tillage,” a variety of techniques by which farmers plant without first plowing. The idea is to minimize soil disturbance, leave last year’s crop residue on the soil, and so reduce soil erosion. USDA reports show clearly that use of conservation tillage jumped from the 1980s through mid 1990s, then leveled out. Soil erosion likewise plummeted over this period, only to level out from the mid 1990s on. RR crops, introduced in the mid 1990s, have not promoted con-till. Instead, it was policies in the 1985 and 1990 Farm Bills that tied subsidies to use of soil-conserving practices. (See this link, pp. 43-51.)
Featured voice: Bill Freese, Science Policy Analyst
Question:
I’ve heard farmers can be sued for saving GE seeds to replant. Is this true? And how do the companies get away with this?
A series of U.S. Patent Office and court decisions in the 1980s allowed firms to patent living organisms: first, a GE bacterium, and soon after plants. Monsanto has exploited its patents on GE seeds to outlaw seed-saving, as a form of patent infringement. This forces farmers to return to the market each year to buy new (patented) GE seeds. Because the biotech giants now own half the world’s seed supply, and public sector breeders are dying out, farmers have ever fewer non-GE, non-patented seed choices. Monsanto has sued and collected tens of millions of dollars from thousands of farmers for allegedly saving the company’s patented seeds. Seed patents would be even more disastrous in developing countries, where poor farmers cannot afford commercial seed and are vitally dependent on seed-saving for survival.
Featured voice: Bill Freese, Science Policy Analyst
Question:
I’ve heard both that GE crops increase and decrease pesticide use. What’s the story here, both can’t be true!
The best independent study to date, based on gold-standard USDA data, shows that GE crops have increased pesticide use by 404 million lbs. in the 16 years from 1996-2011. A modest decline in chemical insecticide use has been swamped by a huge increase in herbicide spraying thanks to Roundup Ready crops and the “superweeds” they’ve spawned. And worse is yet to come. Biotech companies are poised to introduce a host of new crops resistant to older, more toxic herbicides, like dioxin-laced 2,4-D, which was part of the Agent Orange defoliant used in Vietnam. These crops will dramatically escalate toxic herbicide use, and foster still more intractable superweeds resistant to multiple herbicides. Totally unsustainable. Biotech industry-funded reports that purport to show reduced pesticide use are “simulation studies” based on demonstrably false assumptions.
Featured voice: Bill Freese, Science Policy Analyst
Reports and Resources
Seven Things To Tell Your Friends About GMOs
There’s a lot of opinion these days about genetically engineered foods – whether they’re safe, if they should be labeled, and how they affect the environment – to name a few. To learn more about the links to health, environmental, and food security issues at the heart of the debate, Small Planet Institute‘s newest handy guide is [...]
Agriculture and Climate Change: Real Problems, False Solutions
As countries negotiate for policies to confront to the climate crisis, agriculture is a large part of our emissions and needs to be central to developing solutions. Highlighting some of the ways that agriculture proposes to mitigate and promote adaptation to climate change through the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the authors argue that [...]
From the Blog
On Earth Day, Eight Ways to Eat With the Planet in Mind
What’s food got to do with loving the planet? Everything. The global food system — from production to consumption to waste — contributes to one-third of all greenhouse gas emissions. Agriculture is the single largest user of land, worldwide, and agricultural chemicals pollute lakes, streams, and rivers.The good news is that we can grow food abundantly without hurting the environment.
