Blog #3 Part 2

Further thoughts on genetic enginery (GE) or genetically modified organism (GMOs). 

February 16, 2014

Food control system specifically referring to Canadian Federal Bill C -18 as reported by National Farmers Union.  As with the last blog in this month please refer to this link and Bill C-18.  Please take the time to read this and refer back to it.

http://www.nfu.ca/story/op-ed-bill-c-18-agricultural-growth-act-growth-whom.

It is important to understand ‘a’ version of what is occurring and who benefits. These GMOs are required when weeds, fungi, pests diminish our food crops. This occurs because man is subduing nature through artificial fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides, etc. leading to an unbalanced system.  Nature’s way to clean up the food crops is to destroy the sick plants.  Certain multi-nationals, etc. know this, and their gain is to control the food system to make money. Working with nature creates a well-balanced system where weeds, fungi, pests, etc. will not be such a problem, but of course no bit monies are made. Working with nature is cheaper and beneficial to human kind.

There are number of myths of GEs and some of them are:

-          Genetic engineering is not new – it is just the same as speeded up selected breeding- In fact, GE and selected breeding is world’s apart.  Breeding does not manipulate genes. It involves crossing a selected parents of the same or closely related species, in contrast GE involves extracting selected genes from one organism i.e. animals, plants, insects or bacteria and/or viruses or sympathizing copies and artificially inserting them into another completely different organism ex. Food crops. GE usually employs virus genes to smuggle in and promote the inserted genes and antibiotic resistant genes to act as markers.  All these inserted genes are present in every cell of the plant.

-          Genetic engineering is precise.   The function of only a small proportion of the DNA in a higher organism is known. Modern genetics has shown that genes do not operate in isolation. Rather they interact in a complicated way changing their behavior in response to influences from other genes.  Although a gene can be cut out precisely from the DNA of an organism, it insertion into the DNA of another organism is entirely random. This results in the disruption of the order of the genes and the chromosome and may result in random or unexpected changes in the functioning of the cells. From a case from University scientists that there is such a miserably poor understanding of how the organism develops from its DNA and they would be surprised if we don’t get one rude shock after another.

-          GE foods vary from non GE foods only in the characteristic that has been modified. The random insertion of foreign genes into the genetic material may cause unexpected changes in the functioning of other genes.  Existing molecules may be manufactured in incorrect quantities, at the wrong times, or new molecules may be produced. GE foods and food products contain unexpected toxins or allergenic molecules that could harm our health and that of our offspring.

-          GE food is extensively tested and the GE food at the present in our supermarket shelves is perfectly safe to eat.  No GE food testing is done in America at present.  We rely almost entirely on the testing carried out by the GE biotechnology companies that have spent billions of dollars developing the food and intend to make a profit selling it to us. There are serious doubts of the adequacy of the testing and the validity of the conclusions drawn from the results. Independent long term testing is required before we can be sure that GE food is safe to eat. Another health concern is the possible acceleration of the development of bacterial resistance to antibiotics due to the use of antibiotic resistant genes in the production of GE foods.

-          GE food has improved nutritional value.  No GE food produced to date has been shown to be more nutritious than non GE food.  Most GE crops are only designed to be resistant to specific herbicides to produce their own insecticides or to have an increased shelf life.

There are a number of other myths which I will speak to in the next blog.  Your comments are welcome because of the uncertainties we face.

Blog #2  Food/Seed Control System (Part 1)

February 9, 2014

Food control system specifically referring to Canadian Federal Bill C -18 as reported by National Farmers Union.  The next few blogs in this month of February will be referring to this link and the impact of Bill C-18.  Please take the time to read this and refer back to it.

http://www.nfu.ca/story/op-ed-bill-c-18-agricultural-growth-act-growth-whom

Consider that the majority of the Canadian population lives in metropolitan areas where growing one’s own food is not an option – at least not food to feed the family year round. Therefore, there is a significant reliance on the food market to provide consumers with a year’s worth of food. When you pick out your head of lettuce or bag of potatoes, are you asking yourself about the quality of soil health, the health of the farmer, or if the seed that produced the produce was high quality and energy.  Thinking at the micro-DNA level of the seed that produced the groceries in the shopping cart is usually the furthest thing from one’s mind, with the introduction of Bill C-18 such questions are important to start educating yourself about, and as a consumer, bringing to the attention of your supplier.  Why? He who controls the seed business will control the food system.

Having been a conventional farmer for over 20 years, originally, then gradually moving over to organic and biodynamic farming over 33 years, the impact of this bill could not be clearer to me.  In essence this bill supports the conventional/factory (multi-national corporate) type farming and the result is a controlled food production system where the end user (the consumer – you) is victim of higher prices, restricted quantity (and variety of food), reduced quality of food, and the growing power of seed controllers.

One type of seed does not fit all! For a seed to produce the best product, it must come from within 100 miles of where it is grown.  In Atlantic Canada, many can at least attest to a variety of climate differences in just 60 miles of road.  This is the same for seeds that adapt each year to the conditions of the soil where it grows, and that adaptation is cumulative with nature making needed changes for next year’s crop to flourish.  It is nature’s nature to grow abundantly.  However, when control and restrictions are imposed such as would happen with Bill C-18, this nature habit is all but overridden. So, one seed does not fit all – an example of a similar restrictive approach was the resulting potato famine in Ireland years ago.

The bottom line, though, is that the food you purchase is less than likely to come from local seed, and if from a multi-national corporate farm, the impact of Bill C-18 will affect the pocketbook at check out, with likely impacts on one’s health.

Here is what happens when, let’s say, you are farmer of conventional-factory size.  You have two options in the beginning of a new farm, to get your seed from a local producer, to get your seed from a large seed producer. If you opt to get seeds from a large producer, it is unlikely the seeds will be from local areas, thus the seed will not be able to adapt quickly enough to be a cash crop the first year. It is more than likely that the large seed producer will require that you use a herbicide… a common one used is  called Roundup.  Roundup kills weeds (weeds are an indication that the soil is lacking in certain elements for balanced health), and contains inerts which have been considered to affect health. Using the seeds of the large seed producer, the farmer must sign an agreement that he never passes seeds from his farm on to anyone else (impact: price increase due to lack of competition). Once this herbicide is applied to the ground, it ruins the naturally occurring organic matter in the soil.  Further, weeds, which are nature’s way to correct imbalance in the soil, either will flourish or become resistant to the herbicide. The farmer is told when using these non-local seeds that weeds are not permitted in the crop so herbicides are mandatory. Herbicides are designed to kill weeds, in so doing the condition of the soil remains unaddressed.  The controlled seed system is totally unnatural, and because it must be used in subsequent years, the resulting grain/produce is unbalanced and the costs climbing considerably for both the farmer and the consumer. Ultimately, the land itself, with all living parts, is decimated. As the land gets sicker, some weeds start to become resistant against the herbicides.  The devastation can only be reversed with years leaving the land dormant and other agricultural healing approaches to get land back into health.  In the meantime, that land would not be able to be used to produce crops.  So much land in Canada is now so affected that if there would be a large scale crisis requiring acres to be taken off the herbicide dosing regime, starvation would result.

Adding to this situation the farmer faces, there are “terminator seeds” that he is required to use.  Such seeds do not germinate in a following year, and the farmer is forced to buy back next year’s seed for next growing.  For a seed to act in such an UNnatural way, it has to be changed slightly so it will not germinate.

So we understand when something impacts our pocketbooks, but there is also an impact when we eat food that has been chemically treated.  Imagine further, the impact of eating “terminated” food –  studies done on the effect on human health would be most interesting.

When such controlled seed food system is used, it takes Nature out of Natural. Bill C-18 refers to patenting future seeds which means

• extinction a wide variety of seed which restricts food needed for health and if a species of controlled seed becomes unusable there are no other varieties to fall back up,
• seeds supplied away from the growing area will not be able to adapt to local soil and weather conditions (seeds should be from within 100 miles of where they will be grown),
• seed life is being “patented”, life should not be patented as it is the public domain.

A good example of just how critical it is to have local seeds is Peru where in one field and mountains on one farm there must be different varieties of potatoes growing in different levels of a field.

So next time you are going for groceries, consider the farmer, the land, the soil, and… the seed – for all this effort was put into either producing a product that feeds you, or a product that in whatever subtle, but cumulative ways, takes from you for the benefit of the few. 

Summary of this and future blogs

Blog #1

This blog will cover topics such as 

- current food crises, and what we can do about it,

- comments on global agriculture and food issues that concern us now and in the future, especially  here in Atlantic Canada,

- asking questions such as , "Who will produce food?", self sufficiency (given that statistics indicate that Nova Scotia alone imports 90% of it food at this time), 

- exploring how food is grown and our health and the related social issues, 

- looking at the importance of revitalizing the countryside to create a better balanced relationship between town, village and countryside for the creation of organic communities,

- how we can save money on society's needs and create real wealth,

- exploring organic and biodynamic food systems, including alternative practices, Small Farm Policies (which will be so important for the future), and show what we are actually doing in our farm gardens at Shinimicas Rogation Centre, and

- comments regarding numerous related happenings both globally and locally and the effects they have on us here.

I find more and more people are growing concerned about the food they eat and sustainability, and are not sure what to do.  Hopefully, these blogs will help.  

We must have a shared vision for our future which is not articulated at the present.  We need conversations and ideas to obtain this share vision and how to achieve it. 

There is hope.

There is hope that we can.

Farmer Charles Hubbard

Feb 2, 2014

Next week's topic: Alternative futures for agriculture.

Thank you for taking the time to read this blog and I welcome your comments and sharings.