Roundup Ready alfalfa contested | Federal agriculture minister’s Sask. office one of the sites targeted for protests April 19
A day of action against the release of genetically modified alfalfa is scheduled April 9 with lunch hour protests outside MPs’ constituency offices.
The Ontario branch of the National Farmers Union has initiated the protest, which is supported by the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network. As of April 1, protests had been confirmed in 27 locations, 14 of them in Ontario and 10 in Western Canada.
The NFU contends that Roundup Ready alfalfa, if registered for use in Canada, will inevitably cross-pollinate with non-GM varieties, eliminating organic alfalfa and destroying export markets that demand non-GM product.
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Glenn Tait of the NFU’s Saskatchewan branch is organizing a protest outside federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz’s office in North Battleford, Sask.
“Very few if any farmers really want this,” Tait said.
“There doesn’t seem to be a big demand for it. There is a great deal of objection to it, however.”
Tait said there is no way to contain GM alfalfa genetics because pollen is spread by bees, other insects and wind.
He said all alfalfa will eventually carry the GM trait, eliminating domestic and international organic alfalfa markets and eliminating international sales of organic honey.
“This is another in a long list of tragedies that have befallen agriculture since the Conservatives have gained power,” Tait said.
Forage Genetics International has the rights to commercialize Roundup Ready alfalfa in Canada, but a company official said last month a decision to do so had not yet been made.
Eastern Canada and Atlantic Canada are expected to be the initial targets if the variety is commercialized.
Mike Peterson, global traits lead for FGI, said in late February that the company doesn’t want to rush the product to market.
Lucy Sharratt, co-ordinator with CBAN, said the day of protest is a response to the lack of formal input Canadian farmers have into registration and approval of GM alfalfa.
“In the absence of a formal mechanism to discuss farmers concerns, the farming community is having to make up some kind of response to Roundup Ready alfalfa,” she said.
“At the moment, seed companies are saying they will restrict release to Eastern Canada, and one or more of the seed companies will ask for registration. We just don’t know which seed company or when.”
Sharratt said lack of transparency is one reason the Ottawa protest will take place outside the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s variety registration office.
Karl Slomp, president of the Alfalfa Seed Commission (Alberta), said although the group is not part of the April 9 protest, it opposes the release of Roundup Ready alfalfa primarily because of export concerns.
“We produce a lot of seed for the U.S. market and there’s a lot of U.S. companies up here too, and they are also looking for places to produce seed for sensitive markets,” he said.
“As long as we can stay (free of GM alfalfa), it does allow us to have that niche of producing seed for areas of the world that don’t want GMO seed.”
FGI has a plant in Brooks, Alta., where Slomp said it intends to process seed for its markets that are sensitive to GM presence.
“They are on record as saying that they would like us to stay GE free as long as possible too, so that it makes it work for their production,” said Slomp.
