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ASSOCIATED PRESS
Chuck Burr grows hundreds of varieties of certified organic seed on his farm outside Ashland, Ore.
ASHLAND, Ore. » Unable to find a good solution to protecting their certified organic seed crops from potential contamination from genetically engineered crops, small organic farmers in this Oregon valley are appealing to a higher power: voters.
They wanted to protect their crops from being cross-pollinated by genetically modified ones, and asked voters in two counties to ban the cultivation of GMOs — a move that would drive producer Syngenta out of the Rogue Valley where it grows seed for sugar beets resistant to the popular weed killer Roundup.
Mail-in ballots will be counted in Jackson and Josephine counties Tuesday.
The vote is the latest example of a rising resistance to GMOs from Hawaii to Vermont at a time when genetically modified crops domi- nate the production of commodities like sugar beets, corn and soybeans. There is no mainstream scientific evidence of a health risk.
"People are becoming more aware of the fact that food in this country is genetically engineered, and they are starting to look into what that might mean in terms of health and the environment," said professor Laura Murphy of the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic at Vermont Law School.
Big agribusinesses, spending millions, and GMO opponents have traded victories in recent years.
This month Vermont’s governor signed a law to make the state the first requiring disclosure of GMO ingredients in food labels, starting in 2016. The National Conference of State Legislatures reports 84 genetically modified food labeling bills are pending in 30 states.
Since 2004, counties in California, Hawaii and Washington state have adopted bans. In 2012 agribusiness groups defeated ballot measures in California and Washington state to require statewide GMO food labeling. There is now an effort in Oregon to ask voters to require GMO food labeling.
A bill to nullify state labeling requirements is pending in the U.S. House.
The Oregon vote is the latest battle over the future of agriculture. It is set in this picturesque valley near the California border, where Syngenta has operated in near anonymity since 1993, and organic farmers have tapped a growing demand.
Farmers started gathering signatures for a ballot measure banning GMOs in 2012, and asked Oregon State University Extension to help create a mapping system so GMO and organic corps would each be free of the other’s pollen.
After about six months, talks broke down, and the organic farmers went ahead with the ballot measure.
Chuck Burr grows more than 300 varieties of certified organic seed outside Ashland and is president of the Southern Oregon Seed Growers Association. He said he could not in good conscience try to sell his crop of chard seeds after learning Syngenta had a field nearby.
"If anybody ever wanted to push small farms out of the valley, that is how they would do it, with GMO crops," he said.
Jeff Barnard, Associated Press
