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Can Biotech and Organic Crops Coexist?
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Farmers take steps to protect economic value
of harvests
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Don Cameron paints a rainbow of agricultural diversity on his Terranova Ranch
in Helm, Calif. He plants his 5,500 acres with biotech, organic and conventional
crops — yet goes to great lengths to keep them separate.
"We have to isolate crops because of possible pollen drifts, regardless
of being biotech, organic or conventional," Cameron says.
With the rising popularity of biotech and organic crops, Cameron is one of
a growing number of farmers who care about segregating their plantings. Economics
largely drives their concerns. Biotech crops are often hardier, generating higher
yields per acre than their organic or even conventionally grown counterparts.
Meanwhile, thanks to consumer demand, organically produced crops can bring a
significant premium for growers — sometimes three or more times the value
of conventionally grown crops.1
Can biotech and organic crops coexist without biotech material finding its
way into organic plants, compromising their economic value? What practices do
farmers follow to maintain the integrity of organic and genetically enhanced
crops?
What Does "Certified" Mean?
Many consumers and farmers take the term organic very seriously. In 2002,
the U.S. Department of Agriculture prohibited biotech ingredients from products
sold under the "USDA Organic" seal. Yet even before biotech crops
entered the American marketplace in 1995, many organic farmers, manufacturers
and consumers became concerned about organic purity due to the potential effects
of wind-blown pollen, and the unintentional commingling of different seeds and
other accidental happenings.
Just how does the USDA certify products as organic? The department has accredited
agents who certify that products bearing the official organic seal follow production
and handling standards and practices that the USDA National Organics Standards
Board has approved. The standards are process-based. For example, say that food
bearing an organic seal accidentally becomes exposed to residue from a genetically
modified organism or synthetic pesticide that conventional farmers use. The
farmer who produced the food would not have to worry about losing organic accreditation
providing he or she followed the USDA production methods.
"Growers should understand that they get paid for production protection
and not for purity," says Professor Drew L. Kershen, an agricultural law
expert at the University of Oklahoma College of Law.2
Isolating Crops
Farmers and farm communities employ many tactics to maximize purity levels of
seeds. Some farmers voluntarily practice one production method, planting only
organic or only biotech crops. Others may have acreage with biotech, organic
and conventional crops but strive to keep them separate.
Farmers isolate crops in a variety of ways. Jim Petersen, who farms 600 acres
in Knoxville, Iowa, leaves a 25-foot buffer area to separate the organic maize
and soy he grows from conventional and biotech crops.3 Farmers can plant such
a swath with a different crop or, more commonly, sow different crops on either
side of a road.
Such a buffer policy also comes into play between farms as well. Boulder County,
Colo., for example, has instituted a "good-neighbor" policy for lessees
of its parkland, encouraging farmers to keep each other informed and to make
cooperative decisions regarding plantings.4
Cameron says that he and his neighbors, too, let each other know when, what
and where they're planting. He also staggers his plantings so that they pollinate
at different times, and he rotates different crops in different years.
Cameron typically plants alfalfa, corn, cotton, grapes, herbs, oat hay, onions,
seed crops, tomatoes and walnuts — about 10 percent of which is certified
organic. He has planted biotech alfalfa and cotton and is considering planting
biotech corn.
"We haven't had any problems," says Cameron, who takes even more
care to protect crops from commingling. "We have to make sure we keep the
seed separate when we plant. We have to clean our planter so that we don't have
any [biotech] seed ending up in an organic cotton field. We have to be more
diligent at planting time and also at harvest time. We want to make sure that
we keep everything totally separate."
Some communities have taken more drastic steps to isolate biotech, organic
and conventional crops. Beginning in March 2004 with California's Mendocino
County, some areas have voted to ban biotech farming within their borders. Others
have rejected such bans based on the belief that it limits farmers' ability
to choose between safe production methods — the latest being California's
Sonoma County in a November 2005 ballot measure.5 In areas that permit both methods,
neighboring farms may have organic and biotech versions of the same crop in
adjoining fields.
Coexistence: A Familiar Challenge for Farmers
The issue of coexistence predates the introduction of biotechnology. The ease
of cross-pollination can compromise the purity of all types of seeds —
in the field and beyond. Consider supply streams. Seeds and plant material can
inadvertently mix during transportation.6 And they can commingle at local elevators,
processing plants and other facilities that house and handle organic, biotech
and conventional material at different times — or even simultaneously.7
While the coexistence of biotechnology and organic farming has received much
attention of late, farmers, producers and consumers can rest assured knowing
that previous generations successfully addressed the challenges of other forms
of coexistence. According to the International Seed Federation, which represents
the seed industry: "The farming community and the seed industry have a
long history of growing different crops side-by-side and producing pure seed
stocks."8
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