Update: GMO Wheat in Oregon aka Mystery Wheat

This Round-Up Resistant wheat issue is bizarre.

A FEW reasons why:

1. The last test in Oregon of GMO wheat was in 2001, on average wheat seed would only stay viable in the ground 1 -2 years after the harvest.
2. The farmer used the same seed planted in 2011 in several fields not just the one where the “Mystery Wheat” was.
3. The wheat found was a different variety than the farmer had planted. Volunteers being sprayed was winter wheat and “GMO wheat” variety was spring wheat.
4. 60% of the parent lines have been tested and no round-up resistant gene has been detected.
5. It’s unclear whether the test Oregon State/USDA performed is the most accurate one. The “typical/usual” test has a tendency to throw false positives.
6. Pollen of wheat does not travel very far, gene flow tests conduct suggest a maximum of 120 feet.
7. Field is 125 acres and “Mystery Wheat” was in less than 1% of the field, sporadically placed.

Common Question: Why the farmer was spraying glyphosate (Round-up) ?

Spraying for volunteers is a common practice on our farm and other farms too, particularly in “No-Till” fields. Often times volunteer plants sprout before planting. Volunteer plants are mostly seeds that escaped from the combine during harvest. We kill them for many reasons. They are established competition for the new seeds being planted, they may be a different variety or it could be just plain old weeds needing eradicating. Basically, we want the cleanest, purest seed bed for the new plants as possible to ensure survival and growth in the best conditions.

Bottom Line

This appears to be an isolated incident. We still do not know how the seed got in the field, but we can eliminate quite a few possibilities based on the reasons listed above.

How do you think the “Mystery Wheat” arrived in the field? What am I missing?

Some of our 2013 wheat crop

Reference Material:

• Capital Press Wheat Articles
• Monsanto Conference Call
• Biofortified

Other People’s Perspectives

• GMO Wheat in Oregon – NuttyGrass
• The Oregon GM Wheat Mystery: A Summary – Sleuth 4 Health
• Rogue Wheat Now Found In 127 Countries! – Applied Mythology

GMO Wheat found in Oregon

Genetically Modified (GM) wheat, also known as round-up resistant wheat, was found in a farmer’s field in Eastern Oregon at the end of April.

At this time GM wheat has not been approved for commercial production. However, many field trials were completed between 1998-2005 on this variety of wheat. During this period studies on potential health impacts were completed. It was determined by the agencies involved that this wheat is safe for consumption by both humans and animals.

I know GMOs are a hot a topic, particularly here in Oregon. There will be and already is a lot of opportunistic rhetoric being shared about this wheat. There are still many questions that need to be answered. The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is in charge of investigating the “mystery wheat”. The federal agency has come out with a fact sheet to answer some questions.

Please read & watch the below links before jumping to conclusions. I think we all agree that we need to get answers before any rash decisions are made on the subject.

• APHIS Fact Sheet
• APHIS Video

Related Information

• Oregon Department of Agriculture Statement
• NAWG and U.S. Wheat Associates Statement in Response to USDA Announcement on May 29, 2013
• Monsanto Statement on USDA GM Wheat Report
• Genetically engineered wheat found in Oregon field, federal investigation under way (oregonlive.com)

My dad and I in a wheat field today. Look hard and you’ll notice my dad is standing in a lighter colored wheat and I am in the darker. These are two different varieties growing side by side as sort of a test.
Please note we do not grow GM wheat nor were we part of any trials.

Eugene’s Monsanto March

On Saturday May 25th there were rallies, protests & marches held around the world against Monsanto, a biotechnology, seed & chemical company.

I disagreed with the whole premise of the “march”.  I disagree with their view about biotechnology.  I disagree with their view about chemicals. I believe in multiple methods of farming.   However, I attended the rally in Eugene anyways because I always find it valuable to get first hand experience.

The entire plaza smelled like body odor, weed and cigarette smoke.  I am sorry that the smell cannot translate through the photos and video*.

Picture #1: IRONY.  The people who are protesting Monsanto and advocating for burning crops are the same people who protested against field burning.  A practice my family did on our farm for decades until it was outlawed in 2009.  Also, I was trying to capture the cigarette in her hand…last time I checked cigarettes increased your risk of cancer…

What you don’t see is the cigarette in this lady’s hand…

Picture #2: My farm doesn’t need your saving…Thanks, but no thanks.

Bees were a popular topic

Picture #3: Sir, GMOs do not cause Bee Deaths, there are potentially many factors and no one is quite sure why.

Occupy Eugene had a strong presence

Picture #4: Many entrepreneurs showed up, they were people selling t-shirts, drug paraphernalia, knives…Capitalism at it’s finest. Wait…what are they marching against?

There were two separate tables selling drug paraphernalia and knives…Capitalism?

Picture #5: Hmmmmm

Sign speaks for itself

Picture #6: I wonder if that person is supposed to be out of their wheelchair.

Some of the crowd

More of the crowd

A nice little song about violence being the only answer:

Here are others’ perspectives on the march, please take the time to read them as they all offer valuable content and links to other sites as well:

• How To Really March Against Monsanto 
• Want to stick it to Monsanto? March for public investment and open data
• Rebels without a cause: ‘Marching against Monsanto’ 
• GMO Activists March Against Monsanto – Farmers’ Perspective 
• March Against Monsanto: Be careful to consider the facts
• Let’s March for Something March Worthy
• The Cartoonish March Against Monsanto
• So much rhetoric. So little fact.
• March Against Monsanto: My “AHA!” Moment

*None of the content of these photos or video have been altered in any form.

What is that white flower in the fields along I-5?

One of the prettiest sights & smells this time of year is a blooming field of Meadowfoam!

It is harvested for seed, then crushed for oil and used in cosmetics. The meal, the byproduct from crushing, is used to feed cattle.  Bees are used to help pollinate the flower and in return make delicious honey!

Not All Bills Are Bad

On Tuesday, I testified in front the Oregon Senate Committee on Rural Communities and Economic Development  in support of Senate Bill 633, Seed Preemption.

This bill would keep legislation and regulation of agriculture seed at the state level.

Why is this bill needed? Recently there have been activists in the county level who seek to ban the growing of certain types of crops.  If passed on a county level it would require the county to regulate & enforce the new ban.  Counties simply do not have the resources, expertise nor money to make this even remotely possible.

Why do I care? As I explain in my testimony, we farm in two counties.  In Lane County there are groups of people who do not believe I should grow grass seed because it causes hay fever and is not a food crop.  Never mind the part that grass fields are a primary source of feed for sheep and cattle.

Also generally speaking, I despise regulations on farmers as they seem to grow in number each year.  If counties or even cities start making laws on seed that would mean we as farmers have to follow city, county, state & federal laws.  Seems a bit ludicrous.  This bill if passed would ultimately help ease the regulatory burden on today’s farmer.

We need less legislation and regulation and more conversation with our neighbors. You know that whole coexistence thing.  However, after hearing some of the testimony yesterday I would seriously question the reasoning and open-mindedness of the opponents of this bill.

My friend & fellow blogger, Brenda Kirsch also testified in support of the bill.

Here is my testimony:

Dear Senate Committee on Rural Communities & Economic Development,

My name is a Marie Bowers and I am a 5^th generation farmer in the Southern Willamette Valley.  I recently have returned to the family farm in hopes to continue our century long tradition. We farm meadowfoam, wheat and grass seed in two counties, Linn and Lane.

I am here today in support of SB 633.  Typically I am not in favor of bills that enact regulations on farmers.  However, ultimately this bill will result in less regulatory burden on farmers and on counties.

As I mentioned my family farms in two counties, I cannot imagine what kind of nightmare it would be if either Linn or Lane County decided to create their own seed policies.  What would that mean for our seed transportation, seed cleaning facility, our land values, and our marketability?  What about my future?  Which potential county policy will allow a young farmer to succeed?

Our rural counties are struggling for funds.  Their first obligation should be to the basic public services and economic development, not enforcing regulations that should be done at a state level.  Oregon Department of Agriculture has the resources and scientists to make sure ALL regions of Oregon have what they need in terms of regulations.

While I am proud I come from the Grass Seed Capital of the World also known as Linn County, Oregon, I am an Oregonian first. This bill serves and promotes all Oregonians to be successful.

Thank you for your time today and I hope you support this bill for young farmers, Oregonians and all of our futures.

Related Articles: 

• Bills Seek to Regulate (nearly) Everything (capitalpress.com)

 

Farming Smarter with Cover Crops

Reblogged from The Farmer's Life:

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Last September we seeded our first round of cover crops on roughly 200 acres.  These crops that we will never harvest are probably the most exciting thing on the farm right now for me.

What is a Cover Crop
A cover crop does just what it says.  It covers the soil during the period between the time you harvest one crop and plant the next.  

Read more… 1,162 more words

Oregon grass seed farmers have been promoting annual ryegrass as a cover crop in the Midwest for nearly twenty years. My friend Brian Scott, who I met through my social media networks, blogs about why they chose to use cover crops this year. Lucky for him he happened to know an annual ryegrass farmer. :)

The Huntresses

Remember when there were only bull elk and no cow elk?

Well that changed.

Late Wednesday night I was woken from a dead sleep by a phone call from my mother:

Mom: Did you see them?

Me: Huh, bleh, See…what?

Mom: The elk, they’re in the field…Let’s meet at 6:10 and go hunting!

Me: What time is it…bleh…ugh…err…ok.

I could not figure out why mom was looking at her text messages at three in the morning.  Then I realized it was only 11:20 PM and I had only been asleep for an hour, nothing like sleep disorientation. The elk had been photographed by our game camera and had sent picture via text message to my mom, dad & me. Remember we are High Tech Rednecks.

Here’s the catch, my dad was out-of-town. He’s the master hunter, seriously the man has successfully hunted on three different continents and in multiple states.  The first time I shot an elk it involved a lot of him whisper yelling about “eyesight” & “shoot that one”.  Needless to say, my dad is a experienced hunter and has a plan for every step.

Woman Power. My mom and I got this. We roll out of the driveway at 6:20…I know we said 6:10.

We get to our spot along the fence line. We might make more noise than what would’ve been tolerated by my dad. But he’s not there so we don’t have to listen to “Think you’re making enough noise?” – Dad in whisper yell.

We waited for about 45 minutes when I saw them jump the fence at the bottom of the field.

A minute or so later, which seemed like 20 minutes, a herd of 40 elk came up over the ridge. I told my mom to get ready.

The next 30 seconds was an adrenaline packed blur. I singled out the cow I wanted, when she turned sideways I shot. As quickly as it had begun it was over. We were successful in our efforts and had two dead cow elk.

It. Was. Awesome!

Bulls when you need Cows…

This morning I went elk hunting.  I have a damage tag for a cow elk,  which is a female antler-less elk.  Damage tags are issued to landowners because when the elk come through they tear up the crops, disrupt the soil and make an overall mess of the fields hence the name “damage tag.”

It is typical in hunting to see the animal that you do not have a tag for. This was the case this morning. The bulls, male elk, in the below picture, at one point, were less than 40 yards from where I was sitting on the fence. There was about 15 of them, all bulls from what I could tell. (It was foggy & cold)

The game camera captured a few of them.

Roosevelt Bull Elk, bigger bodies than Rocky Mountain Elk

Loser and Failure but not a Quitter

Well that sucked.

Measure 84, to End Oregon Death Tax, failed.  The majority of candidates I wanted in office failed.

It makes me feel like I failed and maybe I did.

I could go through a lot of “What ifs” about what happened on Tuesday, November 6th 2012, Election Day.

However, I have come to this conclusion:  Americans & Oregonians are truly ignorant to the full scope of how government works. We have become a nation where our feelings of jealousy of others success rule, which in return causes us all to fail. We apparently love the feeling of the word free but have no perception of the true cost of freedom.  And most have no idea what goes on in terms of the regulatory process in order just to get food on the table.

I am upset and angry about Tuesday’s results. Trying to keep my chin up is hard this week.  However I am surrounded with like-minded women who are just as, if not more passionate, than I am about issues that face our country.

I am in Denver, CO for the American Agri-Women annual meeting. I am slowly getting revived.  These women inspire me, the speakers inspire me.   In fact, we heard from James Owen, author of Cowboy Ethics and The Try.  He offered us Ten Principles to Live By and what goes into “The Try”.

Do you live by these principles?

While election day sucked for a lot of us we must continue to live by our guiding principles and continue to do what we know is right, best and true.  I have no doubt we are fighting an uphill battle.   It is going to be hard and frustrating but we cannot quit. We cannot give up for the future of our food & fiber supply and the future of our country.

One last thought, I am truly grateful and feel very blessed for the support network I have. Thank you to those people. I appreciate it more than you know.

 

Worth the Fight, Always

There is never any lack of challenges being a farmer and they never seem to take a break when farmers are busy in the field.

A few things have occurred in the last two months while I was on my harvest hiatus.

Death Tax

Some awesome news, the initiative to End Oregon’s Death Tax, that I wrote about here and here, made the November 2012 ballot!  Finally Oregon has a chance to join 31 other states that have already abolished the State Estate Tax.  This is huge news for family farms, forests, ranches & small business.  However we still have to deal with the federal death tax which is set to return to pre-2001 levels, a million dollar exemption. Stay tuned for more information on this between now and November!

Canola

In August the Oregon Department of Agriculture opened “hundred of thousands” of acres for canola production in the Willamette Valley.  Previously, many acres had been restricted until research was conducted by Oregon State University to determine the potential of interfering via cross-pollination/contamination with Oregon’s specialty seed industry, which include radish seed, cabbage seed, sugar beet seed plus more.   The specialty seed growers are very concerned about the possibility of hurting their current markets.

Interesting enough anti-GMO groups took interest in this issue as well.  The majority of canola produce in the United States is genetically modified to be able to resist certain herbicides and was deregulated by the federal government several years ago.  The “Center for Food Safety“, “Friend of Family Farmers” and a few specialty seed companies filed a lawsuit together to block the potential production.

Here’s the thing, GMO is not the issue.

The issue is the potential of canola to cross pollinate or contaminate with other Brassica crops, such as radish or cabbage.  There also is a concern for increased disease in the those crops.   This situation is very unique, as two of the groups in the lawsuit prefer that GMOs be eliminated from Oregon while the other group, the specialty seed growers, utilize GMOs when available.  They grow Round-up Ready Sugar Beet seeds.

The problem is that one group is anti-technology.   They do not want ANY genetically modified crops in Oregon. End of Story.  If they succeed in “banning” canola in Oregon they will see this as a win for getting biotechnology out of Oregon.  It is potentially a very slippery ugly slope.  I would hope that resolve can come between the Oregon Agriculture community that is divided on this issue. Farmers against farmers means no one wins.

Department of Labor

Our federal government in the past few years has abused their power.

Recently the United States Department of Labor came into Oregon blueberry patches and held their perishable crop hostage until farmers paid a fine.  Instead of allowing the farms due process and a chance to prove their innocence they assumed guilt.  The farms were forced to pay the fine, one being $170,000, so they could get their crops to market and get paid.   They didn’t bother to give a courtesy call to Oregon’s Labor Commissioner or the Oregon Department of Agriculture Director.  This is an example of government out of control.

Worth the Fight

I often question is being a farmer really worth the fight.    Farmers, ranchers and foresters have many obstacles in their paths from unfair taxes, groups who seek to end their business and governments that abuse their power.  However,  I come to the same conclusion every time: It is worth it.  It’s worth it because I know what we do is right and a life and legacy that I wouldn’t trade for many others.

I must thank my friend Dairy Carrie for helping this post to happen. She and I share similar taste in music and while I’ve been too tired to blog lately a group, Cody Canada and the Departed, who we both enjoy released a new single today, “Worth the Fight”.  She challenged a few of us to write if what we do is really worth it. As you can see I clearly think it is.

A few of our  friends do too:

• Agriculture Proud
• Heim Dairy
• JP Loves Cotton
• Dirt Road Charm
• NorthView Dairy 
• The Magic Farmhouse
• Wag’n Tales
• From Heels to Boots
• Slow Money Farm
• Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Country Life
• jldphotography
• The Farmer Feeds Us All
• Calves, kids and my crazy, beautiful life
• Farming America
• Farmer on a Mission