Letter to stop the sale of GM alfalfa seed in Canada

[grassfarmer]

I sent it a while ago and thus far have only got a reply from Elizabeth May.

[oneoff]

Well there are some pretty serious uncontrollable weeds in organic crops.


And whilst clipping off the top couple feet in an organic crop may only very temporarily reduce the noticable evidence from a very real problem; there untold numbers of coarse pepper seeds in those millions of seeds cups containing several hundred seeds each.

The only control mechanism for conventional farmers I can think of is GM tolerant alfalfa....until that weed seed bank is brough down to hand pickable numbers
It would have been way better for the original introducers (sometimes organic) farmers to not buy cheap screenings highly contaminated with weeds that are extremely difficult to control.

And I'm pissed off enough to respond to anyone who takes this out of context and attempts to tear any strips off my ass.

[chuckChuck]

Yes and there are some pretty serious uncontrollable weeds in non-organic fields due to herbicide resistance which is a growing problem all across North America including right on local farms on the prairies. Just ask weed scientists. It is well documented.

Non-organic farmers have been told to stop over using herbicides and start adopting integrated pest management methods like good crop rotation, forages, narrower row spacing, increased seeding rates.

I think farmers should be pretty pissed off over the over use of herbicides and introduction of more glyphosate resistant crops like alfalfa that will eventually make some herbicides useless. Which has already happened in the US where they have already gone back to hand weeding some of the worst herbicide resistant weeds.

[oneoff]

I don't suppose that some will ever admit that glyphosate tolerant kochia or wild oats or mustard or any other weed is likely to ever be any harder to control by any organic farmer than the original version of the weed.

If anyone has any evidence otherwise then I challenge them to provide that evidence.

Otherwise go back to pandering to your cuustomers and admit that all you are interested in is your product which has its own issues; and not all caused by your neighbors with whom you will continue to blame for all woes.

Even woes that are used to promote products which are not without contamination, residues etc.

There is no hope for some.

[oneoff]

There are many who would have no herbicide use; if they had their way.

That is the fact; and it is only that they currently won't openly say it.... but will indeed soon be leading that crusade after they get a "slightly" larger following of supporters.

[oneoff]

There are many who would have no herbicide use; if they had their way.

That is the fact; and it is only that they currently won't openly say it.... but will indeed soon be leading that crusade after they get a "slightly" larger following of supporters.

[oneoff]

There are many who would have no herbicide use; if they had their way.

That is the fact; and it is only that they currently won't openly say it.... but will indeed soon be leading that crusade after they get a "slightly" larger following of supporters.

[oneoff]

Just because organic weed seeds and screenings can be sold for more than conventional non-organic human food doesn't necessarily mean for one second that farmers should wholesale switch over to growing all the weeds possible.

For example wild mustard must surely affect anyone's net yield; and there are noxious and prohitive noxious weeds that are not meant to be ignored and allowed to spread freely just because a few people have an outlet to spread them further by selling them for top dollar to unfortunately ill informed unsuspecting and sorry to say ignorant peers.

[chuckChuck]

There are virtually no weed free fields in western Canada organic or other wise.

Weeds have been spreading since the begining of agriculture even though farmers have been using lots of herbicides for decades. Singling out organic farms for an industry wide problem is unfair. Organic acres are very small proportion of total acres.

Herbicide tolerant weeds will be a bigger issue and have greater economic impact on crop production because the majority of farms use herbicides on the majority of acres. If that system fails then we are in big trouble.

All types of farms spread weeds unless they are completely weed free.

Most seed spread occurs because of poorly cleaned seed. Some of that is caused by inadequate on farm and elevator cleaners.

Road sides, yard sites, fencelines,sloughs, river valleys, pastures, hayland, all contain weeds and are generally not sprayed and are a potential source of weed seeds for neighboring fields.

Commercial trucks also spread weed seeds by dumping their gates wherever and leaving their tarps open while driving.

Organic screenings are often sold to feed companies and pelletized which is a good method of making sure they are not viable.

[chuckChuck]

So if you can't control your herbicide tolerant kochia and foxtail and it blows across on the neighbors, you are contributing to the problem just as anyone else is, organic or not.

Denying there is a problem with herbicide tolerance or trying to shift the blame to organic farmers is very conveniently ignoring that the majority of weed problems were not and are not being caused by organic farmers.

Organic farmers generally hurt them selves more than anyone else if they don't do a reasonable job. Wild oats, green foxtail, wild mustard and many other weed seeds generally stay close to their origin and are not likely to be spread by organic farmers to non organic farms.

[checking]

Let's cut to the quick. We all have exit strategies from farming. Some of us have no desire to sell our farms.

When noxious weed seeds are inseparable from conventional alfalfa seed, and some organic farmer deliberately buys and sows that inexpensive crap to raise his leaf cutter bees on rented land right next to my conventional alfalfa, what's my control mechanism?

I'd say it is GM alfalfa. I'd also say I know who forced me to use it. So **** off with your letter promotion because you lost an ally.

[freewheat]

I have been watching this thread with great interest. I am not sure truly what the concern is about gm alfalfa? Is it that in theory markets will be closed on Canadian meat? Milk? Is it a green party initiative? Green peace?

I am not against gm alfalfa, nor am I for it. I am neutral. Is it a seed production concern mainly, or a hay with gm content concern?

Fill me in a bit more, those who are signing this and getting responses from Elizabeth May. That right there makes me wonder?

Not trying to be a dummy, I just am trying to get my head around the evil of rr alfalfa???

I personally do not see the need for it, because if you do any kind of job establishing the stuff, weeds are seldom much of an issue, and options are there for weed control already.

I dunno?