Tag Archives: Monsanto

Action Alert: Kamloops Picnic Rally To Stop GM Alfalfa

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GUEST POST by Sarah Harder

Where: 979 Victoria Street, Kamloops, BC
Date: Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Bring Your Lunch: 12:00noon-1:00pm

Genetically Modified (GM) Alfalfa may be grown in Canada as early as this spring. Commonly harvested as hay, alfalfa is a high-protein feed for animals like dairy cows, beef cattle, lambs, poultry and pigs. It is also used to build nutrients in the soil and naturally suppress weeds and is thus very important for organic farming. It is a perennial plant that is pollinated by many kinds of bees so GM Alfalfa will inevitably cross-pollinate with non-GM and organic alfalfa, contaminating farms and threatening organic certification and the livelihoods of family farmers across Canada.

Monsanto’s genetically modified alfalfa could be registered for use this April. GM Roundup Ready Alfalfa varieties have just been cleared for the last step before they hit the market — all they need now is a final rubber-stamp by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

A rally here in Kamloops will be held this Tuesday, April 9th, 12:00noon to 1:00pm, in front of MP Cathy McLeod’s office, 979 Victoria Street. Concerned citizens stand with farmers across Canada; there will be simultaneous rallies in cities across Canada. Show our support to stop the release of GM Alfalfa in eastern Canada. This rally is supported by the Shuswap Thompson Organic Producers Association (STOPA). Also bring a picnic lunch with food items that are related to alfalfa such as: meat, dairy, honey, sprouts, etc. Bring your children. There will be hay bales to sit on!

For more information, please see Canadian Biotechnology Action Network (CBAN) or email Sarah Harder at c.sharder@gmail.com.

Updated April 8, 2013: I have just received a?Canadian Action Alert from the Weston A Price Foundation calling all members to support the National Farmers Union rally to stop the release of GM Alfalfa. Please come to a rally in your area. If there is no rally in your area, you can still help:

Why is GM Alfalfa Such a Huge Threat?
GM contamination is inevitable because alfalfa is a perennial crop pollinated by insects. In Ontario and Alberta, weeds are becoming resistant to glyphosate (the active ingredient in Monsanto?s herbicide Roundup): another glyphosate tolerant crop like Roundup Ready alfalfa would increase these weeds. Alfalfa is almost always grown in a mix with grasses and establishes readily without the use of herbicides. Farmers don?t want or need Roundup Ready alfalfa. If genetically modified (GM, also called genetically engineered or GE) alfalfa is released in Canada it will have negative impacts on a wide range of farmers and farming systems, both conventional and organic.

Why is Alfalfa Important??
Alfalfa (commonly harvested as hay) is a high-protein forage fed to animals like dairy cows, beef cattle, lambs, poultry and pigs. It’s also used to build nutrients in the soil, making it particularly important for organic farming. If it’s introduced, GM alfalfa will ruin export markets for alfalfa products, contaminate family farms, make it more difficult for farmers to control weeds, and threaten the future of organic food and farming in Canada.

What Can I Do to Help?

  1. Come out on April 9! ?Bring your friends and family! Bring your home-made sign.
  2. Help spread the word about the action to groups in your community and ask them to get involved.
  3. Help publicize the action in your community by putting up posters, handing out flyers, and posting through email and facebook.
  4. Contact media to tell them about the Day of Action and encourage them to cover the rallies.
  5. Collect signatures on the petition to stop GM alfalfa.
  6. Write to your Member of Parliament and the Minister of Agriculture Gerry Ritz: Hon. Gerry Ritz, House of Commons, Ottawa, ON, K1A 0A6. Email, call or fax: E: gerry.ritz@parl.gc.ca; T: 613.995.7080; F: 613.996.8472 M.

Do we really need industrial agriculture to feed the world?

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This short video produced by www.foodmyths.org contrasts industrial agriculture and sustainable agriculture. I especially liked the commercial agri-guy selling his version of your future! It’s great to see young people dealing with such a serious issue without losing their sense of humor.

This second documentary by Teddy Bear Films is not light. It is called Bitter Seeds and is about the tragic effect of genetically modified crops on Indian farmers. The documentary states: “One farmer now commits suicide every 30 minutes and about 250,000 farmers have been driven to suicide by Monsanto?s false promises.” It is ironic that homespun cotton Khadi, once a symbol of India Independence, has been transformed into a new form of slavery with only one way out, death.

Bitter Seeds is worth watching for the beautiful and sometimes gritty images of everyday life in a small village in rural India. The film documents the tragedy of Indian farmers that get into debt buying expensive genetically modified seeds. The seeds give hope for a better crop and increased wealth. Many of these farmers need extra money for a bride price so their daughters can marry. The inability to pay the bride price can be the final shame that makes the farmer commit suicide. If the better crop does not occur, the farmer is not able to pay back the debt and may lose his land, nor does he have the money to pay the bride price for his daughter to marry. The farmer commits suicide by drinking the pesticide used for the genetically modified crop. This terrible story has played out all over India.

If this terrible human tragedy wasn’t enough, there is also the loss of the genetic diversity of the local conventional seeds. The local people stop using the conventional seeds because of the big promises that the genetically modified seeds will produce better crops and more profit. It has been the experience in India that in just a few years all of the local conventional seeds are gone. It becomes very difficult for farmers to go back to traditional seeds. After watching this film you will understand why many members of the Weston A Price Foundation have renamed Monsanto to Monsatan.

It is FREE to watch Bitter Seeds until November 3, 2012.

bitter-seeds

The Globalization Trilogy: Store Wars, China Blue, and Bitter Seeds.

If you would like to learn more about the work of Dr Vandana Shiva and her seed saving project in India please see Navdanya. If you would like to learn more about genetically modified food crops please see these videos produced by the Institute for Responsible Technology. In California, people concerned about genetically modified food crops are working to get Proposition 37 passed for mandatory labeling of genetically modified ingredients in food. Presently, no labeling is required.

Updated November 3, 2012: Do these videos make you feel confused about what is right and wrong? Are you confused about how to proceed? Well, so am I. Please listen to CBC Ideas: The Science of Morality: Part 1. It may not make the situation any clearer but the ideas are worth thinking about.

If you would like to learn how to stop the demonizing of the other side please see The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt.

Kamloops Seedy Saturday

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Seedy Saturdayis a local event to exchange seeds and enjoy free gardening seminars. Bring your saved seeds or leftover packaged seeds. If you do not have any seeds, don?t worry. There are plenty available for everyone!

Date: Saturday, February 26, 2011
Where: Sahali Centre Mall, ?945 Columbia Street West?, Kamloops, BC
?Time: 11:00am to 2:00pm
Contact: Leslie Welch: plants444(a)gmail.com
Cost: Free, but a donation to the Kamloops Food Bank is greatly appreciated?.

Schedule of Free Gardening Seminars:
11:10am – 11:55am
Dr Penny Powers is a market gardener and will explain preserving foods with a root cellar.
11:15am – 12:00pm
Afke Zonderland is a raw food chef for Food Alive and will explain the process of dehydrating.
12:10pm – 12:35pm
Ann Sutherland is a horticulturalist and will explain storage methods without a root cellar.
12:15pm – 1:00pm
David Wides is a sustainable agricultural specialist with Sorrento Farm and will discuss Heirloom seeds.
12:35pm-1:00pm
Kendra Bessinger is a vermiculturist and will explain worm composting. Here is a link to a Kamloops business for people interested in vericulture called All Things Organic.
1:10pm – 2:00pm
Anne Grube will explain the process of canning your produce for home storage.
1:15pm – 2:00pm
Dr Joanne Harness will explain the science behind composting and biosolids.

Updated February 23, 2011: Here is another good reason to save local seeds and grow your own food. If you haven’t heard, on January 27, 2011 the US Government has allowed Monsanto to release their GM alfalfa. Please read Scientists warn of link between dangerous new pathogen and Monsanto?s Roundup and note the letter from Dr Don Huber to Secretary Tom Vilsack of the USDA. Please note some of the possible dangers of this GM perennial being released in North America. Here is an interview with Dr Don Huber called Scientist warns of dire consequences with widespread use of glyphosate. Here is an article explaining why organic and pastured based foods will become contaminated with Monsanto’s genetically modified organisms. Please read GM alfalfa will be everywhere.
According to a paper by Geertson Seed Farms, one of the biggest potential problems is that GM alfalfa will cross pollinate with wild alfalfa, which will become the dominant weed variety because it has the Roundup Ready herbicide tolerant trait. Weedy GM alfalfa will in turn become a source of pollen and seed that will contaminate conventional and organic alfalfa fields.

Updated February 26, 2011: I hope you had a chance to get to Seedy Saturday. There was a LOT of people! If you couldn’t make it, the organizers said that videos of all the seminars will be available at some point on the Salhali Mall website.