Coexistence: Organic & GMO

I drove to a customer's vineyard yesterday to do some scouting as Japanese beetles have been incessantly pesky this year. As I drove up the back lane it dawned on me that I had the perfect image and topic for a blog, one that I've mentioned in the past, and that is of the coexistence of both biotech and organic crops.

Perfect example of organic and biotech crop coexistence.
The right is organic corn.
The left is biotech corn.
They cannot "drift" or "contaminate" each other, read on to find out why.

In the rhetoric of social media, you wouldn't know it, but along the back roads of rural America, biotech and organic crops get along, and so do their farmers (at least the ones I know). I love living and being neighbors in the farmland of rural America. We hear the "noise" of social media, but it doesn't usurp our world. Our world is open, quiet, and peaceful. Neighbors still know each other and wave as they pass by. The polarization of our food and farming systems is on our phones, our iPads, our TVs, our laptops, but not in our fields.

This farm is not mine as I've written before, we no longer farm organically. It is the farm of a landlord I know who is not a farmer. He leases the farm out to different farmers, and it just so happens that one is certified organic and the other is conventional. You wouldn't know this if you passed by the farm. There's no billboard  or signage announcing one or the other. There are no battles or controversies surrounding these fields. There is just peaceful coexistence. I know because I personally know the landlord and the farmers. Just 2 farmers farming the land and trying to make a living doing what they love.

So why can these 2 corn crops coexist?

Biotech corn past pollination. 

This biotech corn is fully developed. If you read my "corn sex" (AKA #50shadesoffarming) post on my Foodie Farmer Facebook page, you are aware of the fact that the way corn has "sex" is by dropping  pollen from the tassel at the top of the stalk to the silk which is the hair on the ear of the corn in order to reproduce and form kernals. This biotech corn is way past pollination because the silk has dried up and turned brown. Pollination happens over the course of about 10 days to two weeks given good pollination conditions such as no extreme heat, no excessive rain, etc...

So you're still wondering why this organic farmer would risk putting his corn next to  the biotech farmer right? (Or vice versa as the case may be).

Organic corn not yet having reached pollination.

This organic corn is not in pollination stage yet. There are no tassels and there are no ears of corn with silks yet. There is no way for the biotech corn to pollinate this organic corn because 1) the biotech pollen is gone, this corn is well past pollination, it has no "male sperm" so to speak, 2) the organic corn has no ears of corn so no "female" parts by which to receive the "male" pollen. So to be biologically correct, the male pollen just like sperm, has a short life. Once released, it is only viable for 18-24 hours.  Pollen is not able to reproduce indefinitely. So once the silks on the ear have dried up, the pollen is pretty much past its ability to contribute to reproduction.

Given the different stages of growth these 2 fields of corn are in, it is biologically impossible for them to "drift" to one another. That's the management of field planning, something all we farmers do.

Coexistence is an extremely manageable situation and happens more often than you are lead to believe by the media. We practiced organic, conventional, and biotech farming systems simultaneously for 7 years and continue to do specialty seed production which still requires the same level of management to ensure purity. That's all coexistence is, management and planning.

So despite what you may hear in the media, know that it is very doable and happens often. We farmers have been managing it well despite those who would lead you to believe otherwise.

Likewise, when we have specialty grains or seeds, that needs storage, we clean, then we clean, and then we clean some more.

We clean this.

We clean these.

And we clean these.

We clean what I refer to  as our farm "infrastructure", the grain tanks, the grain trailer, the seed carts, the planters, the combine, anything that comes in contact with multiple crops that need to be kept segregated. Again, tedious work but simply just a management tool to allow for coexistence of commodity crops with specialty crops, those that need to be kept segregated from the rest. 

We recognize that there are pros and cons to all types of farming. There is no "one" best farming system that is without flaw. There is no "one" cookie cutter system that all farmers should universally follow because we all have different soil types and microclimates that impact what and how we grow. But know that we do respect each other, coexist with each other even when we farm with different methods. 

We farmers coexist and so do our crops. The world would be a better place if others followed suit.

Food Fight: Organic or Conventional?

This week a study from Stanford University created quite a buzz about our food and our food supply system. The study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine was entitled: "Are Organic Foods Safer or Healthier Than Conventional Alternatives?: A Systematic Review." (Smith-Spangler et al, Ann Intern Med. 2012;157(5):348-366). The authors looked at 45 years worth of published research comparing the nutritional differences between the two farming systems. The crib notes version of what they found was that there was no significant difference in nutritional value between organically produced foods and conventionally produced foods.

Likewise, the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published a similar study in 2010 looking at over 50 years of research and reached a similar conclusion. (Dangour et al, Am J Clin Nutr. 2010: 92:203-10.)

My purely anecdotal conclusion from my own farming operation would concur with the results of these reviews. The nutritional value of what you eat is a direct result of the quality of the soil it is grown in. The soil quality is not dependent on a "farming system" ie: organic or conventional. Soil quality is contingent on the care and stewardship of the farmer farming the land. Care and stewardship are not "farming systems" but philosophies that work within both farming systems. Care and stewardship are not mutually exclusive to conventional farming. Visit a family farm and you will discover quite the opposite is true.

Soil condition and quality is a direct result of care and stewardship and will reflect the nutrients of that care and stewardship, as well as the nutrients that are inherent to that particular soil type. If a soil is low in boron, the food grown there is likely to be low in boron. If a soil is high in iron, the food is likely to be higher in iron than food grown in iron deficient soils. There is a direct correlation between the nutrients in the soil and the nutrients in your food grown from that soil regardless of whether that farmland is organic or conventional.

Some folks will say "well organic farmers take better care of their soils with organic practices." Let's take a closer look at that premise...

Wikepedia defines organic farming as "uses a variety of methods to improve soil fertility, including crop rotation, cover cropping, reduced tillage, and application of compost. By reducing tillage, soil is not inverted and exposed to air; less carbon is lost to the atmosphere resulting in more soil organic carbon. This has an added benefit of carbon sequestration which can reduce green house gases and aid in reversing climate change."

Jeez, sounds like my farm... which is conventional...

OK, let's look at those practices:

Crop rotation - yup we do that. We do that so that we build up the soils and reduce the likelihood of pest resistance by repeatedly planting the same thing in the same field year after year.

See this field of edible/tofu soybeans? Last year it was planted in corn.

Next year it will be back in corn or hay or tomatoes or green beans. We rotate our crops annually. Always have. Always will. Period. Conventionally.

Green manures & cover crops - yup, we do have and have for 40+ years.

Typically we plant cover crop wheat or rye. If we are looking to build up our soil fertility and tilth, we plant a mix of Austrian snowpeas, rapeseed, and crimson clover. If we are looking to break up compaction and tight soils, we plant tillage radish which you may also know as the Japanese delicacy Daikon radish. My husband says tillage radishes produce the most "mellow" soil. That's farmer terminology for really good soil quality. We plant the type of cover crops and green manures that the soil tells us it needs. Always have. Always will. Period. Conventionally.

No-till/conservation till - yup, we do that.

Good gosh this picture is older than I am and what a cutting edge contraption it was in its day. As I said in my last blog, this was a HiBoy cover crop seeder for no till planting. A practice started nearly 2 generations ago on our farm.

In this more current picture above is of the Comptroller of Maryland getting his first lesson in tractor driving, pulling a No-till ripper. He came for a visit so we taught him how to drive a tractor. No-till ripping is a conservation practice that breaks up the soil compaction 12+ inches below the surface with  minimal surface soil disturbance. Disturbing the soil surface creates the conditions for erosion. As land stewards, we want to keep our soil intact and in place so we do as little cultivation and tillage as possible.

Integrated Pest Management - yup we do that.

IPM is simple common sense practice. Essentially, you scout a crop looking for pests, whether insects or mildew or disease. IPM means you look for a certain level of disease or pest, also known as a threshold, choosing not to treat the problem if its below a certain threshold, or treating the problem if it reaches a higher threshold. Here my husband Hans is scouting soybeans looking for ear worms and stink bugs both of which attack the soybean pod and damage the crop. When we choose to spray, we may use an organic pesticide, or we may use a synthetic pesticide, it all depends on the level of the problem and the best way to correct the problem. When we do spray, we spray judiciously, using EPA approved organic or synthetic chemicals according to their label and making sure that the proper pre-harvest interval is followed so that no excess pesticide residue from either the organic or synthetic chemicals we use, remains on the crop.

So back to the food fight. We as conventional farmers practice very similarly to organic farmers. It is our goal to be constantly improving our soils through the many practices that are often credited to "organic" farming systems. We adhere to the pre-harvest intervals so that our buyers can trust the foods that we grow do not have unsafe levels of residues. As I've said in numerous blogs, my kids eat what we grow, and they are of utmost importance to me. If I wasn't comfortable feeding them what we grow, then we wouldn't farm the way we do.

There is not a food fight between us as farmers. We have good friends and neighbors who are certified organic. We all get along which is why it amazes me that this choice between organic and conventional is so polarized amongst consumers. As a farmer, I want you to support farmers of all kinds. If you choose organic foods, your supporting a farmer. If you choose conventional foods, your supporting a farmer. As a dietitian, I want you to eat healthy foods and know that you can do so from both organic and conventional. Despite the media frenzy around the study, I don't think this really is a food fight. It is your choice as a consumer and we are fortunate to have as many safe and healthy food choices as we do thanks to all the American farmers, organic and conventional.

Finding Our CommonGround

I just returned from a 3 day trip to New York City volunteering for an organization called CommonGround, (www.findourcommonground.com) a group of farm women whose mission it is to tell folks about what we do (and don’t do) on our farms. Our goal is to connect the face of America’s farmers with the food you all buy from the grocery store. There is a misperception that the food you find in the grocery store is grown by “corporate” farms. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Here is a picture of our “corporation”:

Do you know that 98% of all the farms in the US are family owned & operated?  The bulk of the food you buy at the grocery store, unless it was imported, was grown by an American farm family.

So back to my trip to New York City. Each day was filled radio interviews and deskside meetings with magazine editors, all to promote agriculture and family farms. We got some really interesting questions but three in particular standout to me: During one radio interview, the radio personality asked “So are you the anti-organic agriculture organization?” Oh my goodness no! While I’ve blogged about the similarities between organic agriculture and the way we farm, I believe there is a market for both agricultural systems. My point however, is that studies have not shown that organic farming produces safer or more nutritious foods. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published a review of 50 years worth of data which though limited, did not show a significant difference in nutrient value between organic and conventional foods. The nutrient content of food is derived from the nutrient value and quality of the soil. Sustainability is not based on a cookie-cutter system, nor does one farming system “lay claim” to certain practices as being “theirs”. We de-certified our organic ground specifically because it was not sustainable for our operation. I can’t stress enough – you cannot have a cookie-cutter system that applies across all farms. We do not believe in plowing and the susceptibility to erosion that plowing creates. Soil is our farm’s greatest asset. We need to keep it and build it, not expose it and erode it. For that reason, we no longer farm organically. We do use both organic and synthetic chemicals to control for pests and diseases. To us, that is the measure of sustainability, not whether something is organic or conventional. Its a balance of economics and environment, not an either-or situation.

The other episode that surprised me was when I was at our booth at the Editor’s Showcase, which is a tradeshow for editors. A woman approached our booth and said that she no longer ate meat since she watched a video of inhumane treatment of livestock. I responded by asking “You do know that does not represent the majority of family farmers and is not the “norm” for livestock farmers, right?” She said “No, really?” She honestly appeared to be utterly convinced by a single video that the bad apples in farming were representative of all farmers. I am not going to sit here and tell you that all farmers are doing the right thing, just like not all doctors, lawyers, police, or teachers are doing the right thing. But a few bad apples do not represent the entire profession. It was a message that repeated itself several times. Honestly, these were sincere, well-educated people who seemed to have been totally swayed into believing that what they saw on a video was the standard treatment of farm animals. How sad that folks are so disconnected from the farm that they will believe misinformation about an entire profession.

I feel fortunate to have been asked to attend this outreach effort on behalf of CommonGround. If what I said helped one person understand where their food comes from and the faces behind American farmers, then I will have accomplished a great deal.

Another interesting question that came up frequently – who funds you? CommonGround is funded by checkoff dollars from soybean and corn farmers. What this means is that when a farmer sells corn or soybeans, a portion of the sale price of each bushel goes into a fund that pays for research, marketing programs and promotion of those commodities. So American farmers are funding their own progress and programs. A really recognizable use of checkoff dollars is the “Got Milk” mustache campaign, which is a dairy funded checkoff program. It is the soybean and corn farmer checkoff dollars that support the programs of CommonGround, but the women in the organization are all volunteers. CommonGround is funded by farmers, it is our message that we are communicating, and no one else's message.

To find more information about your food and who grows it, I encourage you to visit CommonGround’s website www.findourcommonground.com and watch some of the videos made by other farm women who are also volunteering their time to educate folks about food and farming. It is a great resource to learn about your food.