Promoting sustainable agriculture, renewable energy and conservation, environmental quality, and community self-reliance.

 RR Alfalfa and You

January 2007 KUFM Commentary

By Kiki Hubbard

 

Think for a moment. Can you trace alfalfa—the forage crop that often makes up the hay bales dotting the rural landscape—to your dinner plate? If not, remember that alfalfa is food for dairy cows and beef cattle, for lambs, pigs, and even honeybees. Even if we don’t see alfalfa on our dinner plates, it plays a crucial role as the starting point for many of the foods we eat.

Across the United States, farmers grow over 22 million acres of alfalfa. It is the fourth most widely grown crop behind corn, soybeans, and wheat, and third most valuable to U.S. agriculture. But a new genetically engineered alfalfa variety poses unique agricultural, environmental, and economic risks to American agriculture and consumers. In June 2005, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced its approval of Roundup Ready alfalfa. This plant is herbicide-tolerant, meaning it is genetically engineered to survive applications of the Monsanto Company’s trademark herbicide, Roundup. Monsanto produced Roundup Ready alfalfa in partnership with the country’s largest alfalfa seed company, Forage Genetics International (a subsidiary of Land O’Lakes).

The use of Roundup Ready alfalfa has several drawbacks. Many farmers now produce alfalfa with minimal, if any, herbicides, but RR alfalfa encourages the use of more chemicals on our food and in our environment. In fact, the National Center for Food and Agriculture Policy estimates that in California alone RR alfalfa could result in the application of 200,000 more pounds of herbicides a year. An increase in herbicide use has already occurred in other Roundup Ready crops. USDA data indicates that the rapid adoption of RR crops has increased herbicide use in the U.S. by over 60,000 tons.

There are also market concerns associated with RR alfalfa. RR alfalfa can cross-pollinate with alfalfa plants in neighboring fields, meaning that pollinators, especially bees, can transfer genetically engineered material in pollen to non-genetically engineered plants. Markets for alfalfa that ban genetically engineered seeds and feed are at risk. The USDA National Organic Program does not allow the use of genetically engineered seed and feed in certified organic farming systems, but no regulations require farmers who plant RR seeds to implement practices that prevent cross-pollination with neighbors’ crops. USDA says that farmers who provide crops to markets that reject genetically engineered crops are solely responsible for preventing contamination of their crops. Cross-pollination of RR alfalfa could increase production costs, reduce profits, or even eliminate markets for organic alfalfa producers.

Proponents of RR alfalfa believe that opposition to this new RR variety will be minimal because it is one step removed from the dinner plate, while opponents see the use of RR alfalfa as the silent introduction of another genetically engineered ingredient into the food supply. The Grocery Manufacturers of America estimates that 70% of processed food on grocery shelves contains a genetically engineered ingredient. Because these ingredients are not labeled in the U.S., consumers are left to make the connections between field and plate.

In February 2005, a coalition of farmers, farm groups, and environmentalists filed a lawsuit calling the USDA's approval of RR alfalfa a threat to farmers’ livelihoods and a risk to the environment. The suit was filed shortly after USDA’s own Inspector General released a report stating that the agency’s regulations and policies do not go far enough to ensure the safe introduction of genetically engineered crops.

As consumers, choices we now enjoy—milk and ice cream derived from cows not fed genetically engineered hay, for example—will be limited if RR alfalfa is widely adopted. Please support brands and markets that pledge to avoid genetically engineered ingredients. Talk to or write letters to livestock producers and food processors and tell them you do not want products derived from genetically engineered alfalfa. Maintaining the integrity of non-genetically engineered food can begin with maintaining the integrity of alfalfa.

I'm Kiki Hubbard for the Alternative Energy Resources Organization. AERO welcomes your comments and perspectives. AERO is a grassroots membership organization working to help create farm, food, and energy solutions for communities throughout Montana. For more information about our programs call us in Helena at 406-443-7272.