The vegetables stopped coming last week. This year Adrienne and I bought a farm subscription and for a scandalously low price we received a half-bushel of organic vegetables, starting in late spring, running through summer and into autumn.
It’s a good deal for us, but hard work for the farmers. The words “organic farm” hold no magic for people who engage in organic agriculture and sweat out the warm months trying to outmaneuver bugs and blights without resorting to heavy doses of pesticides.
The organic farmer does have one little trick in his bag for those times when his back is pressed to the wall. It’s Bacillius thuringiensis, or Bt. Bt is a naturally occurring bacteria which is lethal to insects, but not vertebrates like birds, fish, animals or humans. Organic farmers use Bt in very small doses, because they know through mutation, a few of those billions of bugs will be naturally immune to Bt, and if we use too much, those strains will become dominant and soon we’ll have Bt-resistant insects.
Pesticide makers know all about this. In the half-century that we’ve been using chemical pesticides, insects have become immune to one poison after another. The marketing department loves this, because all those farmers who use pesticides are forced to switch products every few years. Farmers who use pesticides are dependent on the chemical companies to produce new products, which are often more potent and more expensive. If it sounds like a serious case of chemical addiction, it is.
But now the pesticide makers are moving beyond chemicals and into genetic engineering, developing artificially manipulated crops that kill insects without the application of pesticides.
The Monsanto Corporation of St. Louis, Missouri has developed a genetically-altered potato it calls New Leaf Superior. It has been altered to include the gene for Bacillius thuringiensis – or Bt – in every cell.
Of course, this will lead to the same problem one gets with conventional pesticides. If acres and acres and square miles of industrial farms are planted with Monsanto’s genetically-altered potatoes, then in about 10 years, insects will be immune to the effects of Bt.
Monsanto knows this, and by then will have another genetically-altered product ready for market, to keep the profits rolling in. But what about the organic farmers, the people who for years have been measuring out Bt by the thimbleful as a last-ditch resort for bringing in a healthy crop? Well, in 10 years, Bt won’t work for them, either.
Monsanto knows this too, and I imagine this knowledge had something to do with the decision to incorporate the Bt gene into the New Leaf Superior potato. Organic farming, while it still represents only a tiny portion of American agriculture, is gaining in popularity. Organic produce is making its way into the major grocery store chains. More and more people are shopping in co-ops and taking subscriptions to local organic farms.
It seems clear Monsanto cannot tolerate competition from organic farmers and are deliberately seeking to undermine their livelihood, and they may get away with it. The organic farmers could, and perhaps, should sue, but Monsanto has more legal firepower than Yale law school. Other corporations usually don’t stand a chance against them, so what can farmers do?
There will be no help from spineless federal regulators at the Food and Drug Administration or the Environmental Protection Agency, but where, I ask, is the Federal Trade Commission?
Altered Harvest
The vegetables stopped coming last week. This year Adrienne and I bought a farm subscription and for a scandalously low price we received a half-bushel of organic vegetables, starting in late spring, running through summer and into autumn.
It’s a good deal for us, but hard work for the farmers. The words “organic farm” hold no magic for people who engage in organic agriculture and sweat out the warm months trying to outmaneuver bugs and blights without resorting to heavy doses of pesticides.
The organic farmer does have one little trick in his bag for those times when his back is pressed to the wall. It’s Bacillius thuringiensis, or Bt. Bt is a naturally occurring bacteria which is lethal to insects, but not vertebrates like birds, fish, animals or humans. Organic farmers use Bt in very small doses, because they know through mutation, a few of those billions of bugs will be naturally immune to Bt, and if we use too much, those strains will become dominant and soon we’ll have Bt-resistant insects.
Pesticide makers know all about this. In the half-century that we’ve been using chemical pesticides, insects have become immune to one poison after another. The marketing department loves this, because all those farmers who use pesticides are forced to switch products every few years. Farmers who use pesticides are dependent on the chemical companies to produce new products, which are often more potent and more expensive. If it sounds like a serious case of chemical addiction, it is.
But now the pesticide makers are moving beyond chemicals and into genetic engineering, developing artificially manipulated crops that kill insects without the application of pesticides.
The Monsanto Corporation of St. Louis, Missouri has developed a genetically-altered potato it calls New Leaf Superior. It has been altered to include the gene for Bacillius thuringiensis – or Bt – in every cell.
Of course, this will lead to the same problem one gets with conventional pesticides. If acres and acres and square miles of industrial farms are planted with Monsanto’s genetically-altered potatoes, then in about 10 years, insects will be immune to the effects of Bt.
Monsanto knows this, and by then will have another genetically-altered product ready for market, to keep the profits rolling in. But what about the organic farmers, the people who for years have been measuring out Bt by the thimbleful as a last-ditch resort for bringing in a healthy crop? Well, in 10 years, Bt won’t work for them, either.
Monsanto knows this too, and I imagine this knowledge had something to do with the decision to incorporate the Bt gene into the New Leaf Superior potato. Organic farming, while it still represents only a tiny portion of American agriculture, is gaining in popularity. Organic produce is making its way into the major grocery store chains. More and more people are shopping in co-ops and taking subscriptions to local organic farms.
It seems clear Monsanto cannot tolerate competition from organic farmers and are deliberately seeking to undermine their livelihood, and they may get away with it. The organic farmers could, and perhaps, should sue, but Monsanto has more legal firepower than Yale law school. Other corporations usually don’t stand a chance against them, so what can farmers do?
There will be no help from spineless federal regulators at the Food and Drug Administration or the Environmental Protection Agency, but where, I ask, is the Federal Trade Commission?