GMO wheat found growing in Oregon

BobbyB · #41 05/31/13, 08:04 PM

To me, based on just these 2 pieces, wheat would be hard but not impossible to cross pollinate or contaminate as the case may be.

http://www.smallgrains.org/springwh/...tcrossing.html

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/81666065...heat-revisited

But corn on the other hand seems to be much easier . I am within a mile of several corn fields in any direction. And it would have to be proven to me that corn pollen couldnt double a mile distance .

The one thing I did find interesting is using the outer edges for a control buffer so to speak to capture a lot of incoming pollen.

http://ohioline.osu.edu/agf-fact/0153.html

farmerDale · #42 05/31/13, 10:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tabitha

if someone else within up to several miles away is growing GMO crops then it can contaminate yours

The wind blows....

Really? REALLY? I grow wheat, and have for my 20 year farming career. I have saved seed for years. In spite of the fact that there are thousands of acres of wheat grown within 5 miles of my wheat, I have NEVER seen an instance, or a single plant that has crossed. When I buy some Vesper Hard red spring, I can save the seed for decades. If my neighbors are growing Shaw hard red spring, right beside my field, I mean with the plants touching eachother, my wheat seed harvested will remain Vesper wheat. Wheat is a tough plant to get to cross, simple as that. You have to physically do it in a lab.

Wheat simply is not contaminated in this fashion. By pollen drift. It is a scare tactic. I wonder if any of the other people who have never actually grown wheat, much less seen it, have additional false information to add as well. Which so very sadly, in our out of touch with farming world, is the typical scenario... Non-farmers telling other non-farmers how farming works. So utterly frustrating.

Bearfootfarm · #43 05/31/13, 10:16 PM

Quote:

I am within a mile of several corn fields in any direction. And it would have to be proven to me that corn pollen couldnt double a mile distance

Again, anything "could" happen.
The PROBABILITY is that it won't, and no one has shown evidence that it HAS.

Corn pollen is heavy, and seldom goes more than 1/4 mile
Many people have problems getting their OWN patch of corn fully pollinated

Quote:

Past studies have shown that at a distance of 200 feet from a source of pollen, the concentration of pollen averaged only 1% compared with the pollen samples collected about 3 feet from the pollen source (Burris, 2002).

haypoint · #44 05/31/13, 10:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rambler

That Kraft label certainly is puzzling. While gmo wheat has been developed in the USA some time ago, and Australia/ New Zealand is working on another type of GMO wheat.

None was ever sold commercially to date, so that would be the one product that would not have to be labeled.

Something does not add up there.

I can see if soybean or corn bits (protein, sugar, gluten) were in the product, but that would be a gmo, not a -wheat- gmo.

Very puzzling.

I realize its besides the issue of the rogue wheat found in Oregon, but just a puzzle as to what that label would have been talking about, as it actually would have been mislabeled!

Paul

The anti-GMO crowd has been telling just how simple it would be for food producers to slap a "contains GMO" label on products. Perhaps someone is getting a big laugh about the label they put on a box of Kraft Dinner. Does anyone know if it is real? Any way to check it out? IMHO, more fiction.

haypoint · #45 05/31/13, 10:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BobbyB

have you got any that it hasn't. That stuff goes both ways.

Goes both ways?
Someone makes a wild false claim and when asked for proof of this wild false claim ever happening in the real world and you want proof that the wild false claim never happened?
if someone else within up to several miles away is growing GMO crops then it can contaminate yours
You refute a false claim with an expectation that I prove your dream to be incorrect?
It didn't happen. There is no proof. Not going to happen. Miles? Contaminate?

Besides, how can you demand one farmer control his pollen when your crop's pollen can cross your property line, too. Just because you believe your pollen is good and theirs is evil, doesn't cut it for me, pollen trespass is pollen trespass. Been going on since we had property lines.

unregistered353870 · #46 05/31/13, 10:53 PM

This is aside from the topic but why is the GMO wheat not on the market?

farmerDale · #47 05/31/13, 11:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jtbrandt

This is aside from the topic but why is the GMO wheat not on the market?

Farmers rejected it. We do not need gm wheat, at least RR wheat. Wheat is already economical to grow, and has many weed control options, unlike some of the other crops, like canola which needed nasty soil applied herbicides to be applied to grow effectively, before the advent of herbicide tolerant breeding.

Farmers do not need rr wheat. We need to keep our options open in terms of maintaining control of volunteers. Among other things. Saving wheat seed is easy. Saving wheat seed is cheap.

Bottom line, is there is simply no need to have rr wheat at this time, or in the foreseeable future. The biotech companies realize they would not have a market for this technology so withdrew...

Kstornado11 · #48 06/01/13, 01:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by farmerDale

Really? REALLY? I grow wheat, and have for my 20 year farming career. I have saved seed for years. In spite of the fact that there are thousands of acres of wheat grown within 5 miles of my wheat, I have NEVER seen an instance, or a single plant that has crossed. When I buy some Vesper Hard red spring, I can save the seed for decades. If my neighbors are growing Shaw hard red spring, right beside my field, I mean with the plants touching eachother, my wheat seed harvested will remain Vesper wheat. Wheat is a tough plant to get to cross, simple as that. You have to physically do it in a lab.

Wheat simply is not contaminated in this fashion. By pollen drift. It is a scare tactic. I wonder if any of the other people who have never actually grown wheat, much less seen it, have additional false information to add as well. Which so very sadly, in our out of touch with farming world, is the typical scenario... Non-farmers telling other non-farmers how farming works. So utterly frustrating.

How do we know the wheat (or any other crop) hasn't been genetically modified to do things that conventional crops never have? I thought that was the whole premise behind these inventions... if it is not common, everyday knowledge to the greater majority of Americans that we have been consuming these crops for years due to refusal to label, how do we know there aren't many other aspects of these altered organisms we haven' been told about?

Kstornado11 · #49 06/01/13, 01:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by haypoint

The anti-GMO crowd has been telling just how simple it would be for food producers to slap a "contains GMO" label on products. Perhaps someone is getting a big laugh about the label they put on a box of Kraft Dinner. Does anyone know if it is real? Any way to check it out? IMHO, more fiction.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=4igqCeXcyFw

arabian knight · #50 06/01/13, 01:45 AM

Oh ya if it is on The Net it MUST be true. NOT. There was a thread in I believe it is politics. It showed for many many years pictures can be and have been doctored.
Now we call it Photoshopped. and then make a video about it? wow how convenient. Ya it is on the net it MUST be true. LOL

PrettyPaisley · #51 06/01/13, 10:31 AM

FarmerDale - can you please tell me why GMO alfalfa wasn't also rejected? I understood that it also wasn't that difficult to grow.

arabian knight · #52 06/01/13, 10:37 AM

Way different when you are growing and cutting 3, 4 sometimes 5 cuttings of Alfalfa compared to ONE Cutting of Wheat Apple and Oranges.

Bearfootfarm · #53 06/01/13, 10:45 AM

Quote:

I understood that it also wasn't that difficult to grow.

Alfalfa is MUCH harder to grow than Wheat

It can take months to establish, whereas Wheat can be planted AND harvested in that amount of time

Quote:

Alfalfa is a perennial forage legume which normally lives 4–8 years, but can live more than twenty years, depending on variety and climate.[3] The plant grows to a height of up to 1 meter (3 ft), and has a deep root system, sometimes stretching more than 15 meters (49 ft).[3] This makes it very resilient, especially to droughts.[3] It has a tetraploid genome.[4]

Alfalfa is a small seeded crop, and has a slowly growing seedling, but after several months of establishment, forms a tough 'crown' at the top of the root system. This crown contains many shoot buds that enables alfalfa to re-grow many times after being grazed or harvested.

It's generally seeded in Spring, when most weeds are growing, whereas Wheat is more often planted in Fall, and can survive a hard freeze that kills most weeds

farmerDale · #54 06/01/13, 12:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PrettyPaisley

FarmerDale - can you please tell me why GMO alfalfa wasn't also rejected? I understood that it also wasn't that difficult to grow.

It was in Canada. I am neutral on rr alfalfa. I see some merit. I also think it is less necessary than for other crops...

Controlling weeds in the establishment year of alfalfa is very tricky. There are very few effective herbicides available to ensure a clean, weed free crop. RR alfalfa would generally only see a glyphosate application once during the establishment year. Thereafter, once established, the need for more glyphosate would be minimal, as alfalfa is a competitive crop once well established.

In Canada, there is this Europeon style knee jerk fear put forth by "organic" farmers who say it will contaminate their hay crops. If someone can tell me how it could ever possibly contaminate their hay, I would dearly love to see that theory. Nevertheless, so far, Canada has said no to rr alfalfa. Again, I am neutral on it, because it to me is far less necessary than it is for a crop like canola which prior to gm technology required all kinds of nasty soil applied herbicides and massive tillage to control weeds. The advantage then with alfalfa is far less than with other crops, so whatever. Neutral I will be.

farmerDale · #55 06/01/13, 12:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kstornado11

How do we know the wheat (or any other crop) hasn't been genetically modified to do things that conventional crops never have? I thought that was the whole premise behind these inventions... if it is not common, everyday knowledge to the greater majority of Americans that we have been consuming these crops for years due to refusal to label, how do we know there aren't many other aspects of these altered organisms we haven' been told about?

There is no gm wheat allowed to be grown for sale. I do not understand your point, sorry.

Kstornado11 · #56 06/04/13, 10:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by farmerDale

There is no gm wheat allowed to be grown for sale. I do not understand your point, sorry.

Sorry, I meant that we simply don't know WHAT these plants can do/are capable of. We don't know enough about them, heck, they don't even tell us what foods they are in, why tell us all the other details? I would think us EATING them would be a significant detail to disclose openly.

Kstornado11 · #57 06/04/13, 10:14 PM

Saw this today... wondering if this is legit?

Quote:

WICHITA, Kan., June 3, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- A Kansas wheat farmer today filed a civil lawsuit against Monsanto alleging gross negligence and other causes of action following press reports last week of the discovery of unapproved genetically modified wheat in an 80-acre field in Oregon. The farmer seeks compensation for damages caused by the discovery, which sent wheat export futures prices spiraling downward. The case may be the first of many Monsanto faces over alleged wheat contamination.
Susman Godfrey, one of the nation's leading trial firms, along with co-counsel the Murray Law Firm and Goldman Phipps, PLLC, filed the case before the Honorable Monti Belot, in the United States District Court for the District of Kansas.
"Monsanto has failed our nation's wheat farmers," said Stephen Susman , Susman Godfrey's lead attorney on the case. "We believe Monsanto knew of the risks its genetically altered wheat posed and failed to protect farmers and their crops from those risks."

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-relea...210019871.html

PrettyPaisley · #58 06/04/13, 10:33 PM

Monsanto has failed the human race.

Kstornado11 · #59 06/04/13, 10:49 PM

Ever since I saw that about the Kansas farmer, that (Alabama?) song keeps going thru my head, where it goes ... "...Kansas wheat field farmers let me thank you for your time...."
I sure hope all of this mess doesn't destroy our farming industry, & our environment. I know (mostly) everyone here really loves the land,and growing stuff, be it plants or animals.... it would be a horrible tragedy if we lost the right/ability to simply FARM, due to patents, experimentation, bureaucracy, destruction of the environment, regulations, deceit, greed, etc. I don't get why it all has to be SO complicated. Common sense dictates that you work WITH Mother Nature, and not try to enslave/exploit her.

AngieM2 · #60 06/05/13, 09:58 PM

Okay - since people cannot discuss but tear each other down this is CLOSED.!!!