posted by: Beth Buczynski 1 day ago
Just days ago, the USDA announced that it had once again approvedMonsanto’s GE alfalfa for commercial sale and planting, despite a prior government ban and public outcry.
Now, it seems that rather than fight for the purity of the organic ingredients they claim to cherish, Whole Foods, Stonyfield Farms, and Organic Valley have all bought into the USDA’s false claim that GE and non-GE alfalfa can coexist without contamination.
Organic Valley has always been 100% against GMOs, and has by no means “bought into” a USDA claim about the safety of GMO alfalfa.
Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack had asked for stakeholders to weigh-in on the USDA’s impending decision regarding GMO alfalfa over the past several months, and we were a part of these talks. Organic Valley has advocated to keep GMO alfalfa off the market from the start, and this was originally an option according to the USDA. However, as of December, they had left only two options on the table: allowing unrestricted commercial growing, or partly restricted growing. When we understood the only options the USDA were open to considering involved the legal planting of GMO alfalfa, we knew we had a responsibility to advocate for the most restrictive set of regulations possible, so that farmers would have legal recourse in the face of contamination, and contamination could be avoided by mandating sizable buffer zones and geographical planting restrictions. To have taken any other route at that juncture would have been a clear abdication of our responsibility to our organic farmers and consumers. Walking away from the table was not an option, and would only have furthered Monsanto’s interests.
Organic Valley will continue to fight against GMOs along with several of our friends and partners in the organic industry, and encourage consumers to take action as well. More information can be found here: http://ov.coop/3gz
Leslie Kruempel
Organic Valley