Media

[grassfarmer]

Watched the news story about GM alfalfa that has
been covered by Global National the last couple of
nights and how it will affect "organic farmers". Hard
to believe that they stated tonight that the advantage
of GM alfalfa is that it "resists weeds". Wow, what a
wonderful product it must be! I bet Monsanto were
pleased to see their product marketed in such a
positive light and I wonder how the publics
perception might be altered if they were told the
truth? As far as I know GM alfalfa was developed to
"resist being killed" when sprayed with glyphosate,
allowing for application of this product to kill weed
species in the crop. I wonder what the public would
think of increased applications of glyphosate in the
light of Dr Huber's findings? Come on media do your
job - report the news and expose the truth - isn't
that what journalism is supposed to be all about?

[nicolaas]

In the age of soundbites and the publics short attention span, you cannot expect any better. In the past maybe they could spend more than 1/2 hour on a story and actually research it a bit??

[15444]

Mainstream media doesn't care about agriculture. If their story is 50% correct, then they've done a good job in their mind.

Teen suicides, presidential elections, and maybe the odd murder or natural disaster is a good news day.

[ASRG]

I wonder if the horses being fed this crap will develop big tumors like the rats who were fed GM corn?
Too much roundup being sprayed all ready. Most of the farmers around here now dessicate their crops with RU just before harvest.

[brian99]

There isn't really a story here. I've asked numerous hay growers as well as ABP if the wanted RR alfalfa and every time the answer was no. The first question was "how do I take the hay stand out?" Right now the feds have made RR legal in Canada. We have an agreement with Forage Genetics International(not Monsanto)not to produce or market RR hay in western Canada. In the east it's all systems go. All seed is tested (I think)twice for the RR gene before it comes into Canada. And yes, main stream media doesn't care about agriculture unless it affects urbanites and inevitably does a horrible job covering ag stories.

[kato]

I have one alfalfa plant in my garden that has been haunting me for three years now. It seems it can not be killed. This is a tough plant, with roots that go on forever. Roundup would be the only way, and that garbage will not see my garden. No way!

Our neighbours took out a hayfield with roundup this fall, and offered us the sprayed hay for free.

We turned them down.

[brian99]

Well, the alternative is something with lontrel in it. (I think Lontrel is around $600 for a little tiny jug)...or get out the plow.

[grassfarmer]

brian, I think there is a story here, a big story. You
rightly identified that there is little grower demand
for it so why approve such a product?
In reality though the genie is already out of the bottle.
Whether or not this is used in Eastern Canada it is
approved in the US. Nature doesn't respect
boundaries drawn on a map by humans - how do you
stop it coming into western Canada in hay from the
US or eastern Canada if we hit a drought here again?
How do you prevent birds from spreading seed, or
the seed being transported inside animals, either
bovines or wild game? seed being hauled in bedding
in a stock trailer or on truck tires.
This stuff will get here just like the RR canola is
everywhere - as was likely the intention of Monsanto
when they released it. How long until the first
Canadian gets sued for growing RR alfalfa without
paying a technology fee - on a crop they didn't
intentionally seed?

[brian99]

Sorry, but I've been dealing with RR alfalfa since the US court injuction years ago. I guess I'm jaded.
Why is RR alfalfa being marketed? In my opinion it's not an agronomic system, it's a business model. It's the most efficient system for extracting money from the grower while maintaining control of the genetics. The contracts and court cases are in place.
As t ohow can it get here,generally speaking, hay produced as forage doesn't contain seed. Seed takes a minimum of 3-4 weeks after being pollinated to produce viable seed, assuming there are pollinators around to do it. Hay cut that late is real junk and unlikely to be trucked far. Honey bees don't pollinate alfalfa, it has to do with the flower structure that I won't get into here. Seed generally isn't in bedding, around truck tires, etc.
More likely, an illegal field planted for hay or seed will be the source of RR contamination in western Canada. I agree, it's only a matter of time. There have been two incidents of RR here so far(that we know of), one accidental, one deliberate. Both were destroyed.
Every bag of pedigreed seed brought into Canada is sampled and tested for RR. All pedigreed alfalfa seed grown here is tested for RR, so if there is an outside source we should find it,(in our own contaminated seed). I have no illusions, it's only a matter of time. RR will get in. The best answer for now is buy good seed. Don't buy generic or blended. Tell your MP, they wont listen to me.
There has been questions about whether this was a plan by Monsanto and FGI to contaminate the seed stock and ruin their competitors markets. I don't think that matters at this point. RR alfalfa is legal in the US and Canada. The feds said there is no way to remove registration. CFIA intransigent, who would have thought?
So thats where we stand today. I figure we have 4-5 years, maybe less, until roundup ready alfalfa is in every bag.