Canadian Groups Urge U.S. to Stop New GE Alfalfa

Pelletized alfalfa hay. Canadian farmer and consumer groups say deregulating GE alfalfa in the United States could have an irreversible negative impact on the future of organic food and farming in Canada. (Michael Smith/Newsmakers)

Monsanto’s new GE lines could contaminate Canadian crops if approved for commercialization in the U.S., say critics
Canadian farmers are worried that a ruling prohibiting the planting of genetically engineered alfalfa in the United States may soon be overturned.

Several farmer and consumer groups are urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) not to permit the introduction of GE alfalfa in the United States, saying the move could have an irreversible negative impact on the future of organic food and farming in Canada.

The USDA is currently inviting comments on its environmental impact statement concerning the environmental and socioeconomic impacts of allowing the deregulation of two lines of GE alfalfa produced by Monsanto Company and Forage Genetics International.

If the USDA decides in favor of the herbicide tolerant alfalfa, the current court injunction on plantings in the United States will be lifted. A hearing is scheduled for April 27.

In responding to the FDA, groups including the National Farmers Union, the Saskatchewan Organic Directorate, and Beyond Factory Farming argue that commercializing GE alfalfa in the United States would result in widespread contamination of Canadian alfalfa and loss of markets.

Arnold Taylor, national president of Canadian Organic Growers, says there are several ways in which GE alfalfa could make its way across the border, including being carried by honeybees.

“Bees don’t recognize the border, they'll fly right across that border,” he says, adding that since GE alfalfa is an “approved event” in Canada (though not approved for commercial use), there’s nothing to stop people from importing alfalfa hay, seed, feed, or pellets into Canada from the United States.

“The biggest threat is importation of seed as well as the fact that if they do deregulate in the United States, Monsanto will most certainly try to introduce it in Canada. That’s the biggest threat as far as I’m concerned.”

An important rotational crop in organic and conventional agriculture, alfalfa’s many attributions make it particularly important in organic farming.

The plant prevents erosion, is a soil builder that aids soil fertility, and its competitive nature gives it the ability to crowd out weeds—making it invaluable in organic agriculture where using herbicides and fertilizers is not an option.

GE crops are also not an option. In compliance with organic standards worldwide, Canada prohibits the use of GE organisms in organic production. Contamination, says Taylor, would almost certainly destroy organic agriculture in many areas.

“This alfalfa thing is directly aimed at the heart of organic farming because without alfalfa it’s going to be a big disaster. The biggest threat to us is once that [genetically modified organism] gets into our alfalfa, we won’t be able to seed alfalfa and there’s no substitute for alfalfa for soil building,” said Taylor.

In addition, animals that consume contaminated alfalfa could no longer be classified as organic, and organic dairy production would become extremely difficult, if not impossible, once feedstock became contaminated.

The USDA supports the “co-existence” of GE crops with conventional and organic crops. In its environmental impact statement, the agency suggests that contamination is unlikely to occur because alfalfa is typically harvested before 10 percent of the plants reach full flower.

Terry Pugh, executive secretary with the Canadian National Farmers Union (NFU), says that while this may be true in theory, it won’t work in practice.

“The reality is that when you’re farming, you can’t always harvest [alfalfa] at the appropriate time. Sometimes it rains, so that means you lose a few days or a week and you can’t get at it. Then the flowering occurs and you’ve got the spread of that gene. So even the best of intentions often just can’t overcome the vagaries of nature,” said Pugh.

Pugh says the USDA is not looking at the market impact, has not provided any protections for non-GE alfalfa farmers and exporters in the EIS, and in fact puts the onus on non-GE farmers to prevent contamination by avoiding simultaneous flowering with GE alfalfa in neighboring fields.

Non-GE alfalfa farmers are also required to be responsible for removing commercial beekeepers’s hives from the vicinity of GM alfalfa fields.

“Given the fact that honey bees forage at distances over 10 kilometers [6.2 miles], the task of controlling this method of contamination is nothing short of herculean,” says the Farmer’s Union in their submission to the USDA.

Monsanto Canada spokesperson Trish Jordan says alfalfa markets wouldn’t be negatively impacted if Canadian non-GE alfalfa became contaminated because Roundup Ready alfalfa is fully approved in both Canada and Japan, which is a market for Canadian flax.

“There is zero-tolerance anywhere in the world, by any country, for unapproved events and rightly so. Once the events are approved then it’s a different situation, because there are typically thresholds and tolerance levels in place,” said Jordan.

Roundup Ready is Monsanto’s line of GE crops designed to be resistant to Roundup, the agrochemical company’s best-selling pesticide. When Roundup is sprayed on a field, it kills the weeds but not the crop.

Jordan maintains the reason the European Union blocked shipments of Canadian flax last September that were contaminated with a deregistered GE seed, was because the seed was unapproved. After the incident, flax prices fell from $12 a bushel down to about $6, dealing a devastating blow to Canada’s flax industry. Shipments resumed in late 2009 under new restrictions.

As for introducing GE alfalfa in Canada, Jordan says Forage Genetics, which handles commercialization of the product, hasn’t made a decision on that yet.

“They haven’t even looked at Canada really and from everything that I understand they don’t intend to do that until this situation in the U.S. gets resolved, because that’s their priority market right now.”

A number of American groups are also urging the USDA not to deregulate Monsanto’s GE alfalfa lines.

The National Organic Coalition (NOC), an alliance of U.S. organizations that includes farmer, rancher, environmentalist, and consumer groups, said in a statement that the contamination of non-GE and organic alfalfa hay and seed would “devastate livelihoods and the organic industry.”

“If Roundup Ready Alfalfa is permitted to be sold commercially, the ripple effect would wipe out many organic and non-GE businesses, from organic seed and forage growers to organic dairy farmers and retailers,” said NOC Director Liana Hoodes. “Every American’s right to cultivate, sell, and eat non-GE and organic food would no longer exist.”

Pugh from the Canadian Farmer’s Union fears that if alfalfa becomes contaminated in Canada, there will be a repeat of what happened with the organic canola market. GE canola was approved for commercial use in Canada 15 years ago.

“Here in Canada there is virtually no organic canola any more as everything is contaminated by genetic material,” Pugh said.

He believes the only truly effective way to safeguard non-GE alfalfa is to prevent genetically engineered varieties from getting into the environment in the first place.

“That’s the only way you can do it. Because what happens is it is a living organism, and all genetic material is driven to reproduce, you can’t stop it. So once it’s out there it’s out there—you can’t round it up and bring it back,” he said.