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Written by Truth About Trade & Technology
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Wednesday, 14 January 2009 10:39 |
AgWeek
January 12, 2009
By Bob Wisness
Agweek - Published: 01/12/2009
http://www.agweek.com/articles/?id=2076&article_id=13222&property_id=41
WATFORD CITY, N.D. — Kristine Mattis’ recent letter titled “Biotechnology Is Overkill” (Page 5, Dec. 15 Agweek) provided an interesting perspective from one side of the biotechnology in agriculture issue.
Unfortunately, Mattis is willing to use half-truths, nontruths and various manipulated “facts” to promote an anti-biotech agenda while totally disregarding true facts.
Has biotechnology really “done little to help people” as Mattis states?
Perhaps Mattis and her cohorts should ask the millions of people on this planet who are alive and living better lives because of biotech advances in medicine and crop science before she makes such an unfortunate statement.
How dumb do you think we are? Why do the anti-biotech radicals seem to have the ear of the consumer but no real sympathy for them?
The truth is that the anti-biotech crowd is “anti” a lot of other things as well — anti-property rights, anti-consumer, anti-safe food, anti-plentiful food, anti-environment, anti-progress, anti-poor people. Would a return to the good ol’ days of subsistence farming be a viable way to feed the world?
Mattis’ last paragraph says it all about typical anti-biotech tactics. With zero documentation, of course, she ties consumer protection with organic food and sustainable agriculture and then she brings up the old conspiracy theory that “agribusiness giants are on a mission to control the entire world’s food supply to the peril of us all.”
Do you actually think organic food chains get their food from Little Joe’s Organic Farm down on Sustainable Lane?
The truth is that organic food store chains get the vast majority of their food products from large commercial farms and large commercial processors that are trying their best to be the next Tyson or Cargill. Organic food chains are masters of hype and you’ve been duped into the hoax.
Dr. Barry Flinchbaugh, the esteemed professor of agricultural economics at Kansas State University in Manhattan and adviser to nearly every president and agriculture secretary since the Eisenhower administration, recently stated that “Within my lifetime, organic food is the biggest rip-off of the American people. It is a fraud.”
Flinchbaugh doesn’t mince his words, does he? Perhaps the truth will hurt some people’s feelings, but the fact is that far too many people think “organic equals sustainable” when it comes to feeding the world.
I have nothing against those who farm organically. In fact, I may try it out on my own farm if the money looks good enough.
We Americans still live in a free country and all farmers have the right to do what they think is best for their operations, don’t we?
The “sustainable” crowd, however, does not think that American farmers should have the right to choose which methods work best on our farms. When organic farming’s supporters claim their anti-biotech methods are “sustainable” in terms of feeding the world, then they have gone well beyond the truth. They want to regulate conventional farming methods out of existence and force their agenda down our throats and they are trampling on our rights to farm as we see fit and the right of consumers to enjoy a plentiful, safe and reasonably priced food supply.
For proof of how successful sustainable organic food production has been, one only has to look at how well most African countries are doing with their food production systems.
If the world went organic, the sad truth is that many of us humans would starve to death. The good news is that the relatively wealthy Americans, Canadians and Europeans would remain fat and happy while the billions of poor people around the world would die the cruelest deaths of all — preventable ones. Only then after that “organic” holocaust could the world’s agriculture be “sustainable.” I sincerely hope that isn’t what the anti-biotech crowd wants.
The ultimate question: How do we develop a sustainable, environmentally safe worldwide agriculture system that feeds all of us?
The solution requires global thinking that doesn’t leave masses of humanity behind. Progress must be sought on all fronts including rotations, varieties, energy requirements, water usage and biotechnology.
Biotech-enhanced crops provide farmers with another tool in the box to increase food production while minimizing environmental impact. That sounds pretty “green” to me. We must not abandon biotech, the biggest advancement in food production history. We must promote it and use it to make the world a better place.
Editor’s Note: Wisness farms in Watford City, N.D.
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