NEW ORLEANS, La. — The American Soybean Association has issued a call to arms to all U.S. farmers.
It wants every grower to pick up the phone and call their senator to encourage them to vote in favour of a voluntary GM labelling bill wending its way through Congress.
“This is the tipping point for biotechnology in the agriculture sector,” association chair Wade Cowan told reporters attending Commodity Classic 2016.
“A few thousand people isn’t going to do this. It’s time to rock The Hill.”
Read Also
Canada’s plant hardiness zones receive update
The latest update to Canada’s plant hardiness zones and plant hardiness maps was released this summer.
The bill introduced by Pat Roberts, chair of the Senate agriculture committee, would establish a national voluntary labelling system for foods containing genetically modified ingredients.
“The bill would block the ill-crafted mandatory labelling law in Vermont from taking effect on July 1,” said association president Richard Wilkins.
The Corn Refiners Association estimates Vermont’s law would add $1,050 per year to the average American family’s annual grocery bill as food manufacturers reformulate products with non-GM ingredients.
Wilkins said Roberts’ bill would prevent a patchwork of state labelling laws from driving up food costs and threatening farmers’ freedom to operate.
The bill received unanimous support from the Republicans on the Senate agriculture committee, but it was the votes of three Democrats that allowed it to pass through the committee.
“We know this wasn’t an easy vote for them, and we thank them very, very much for their leadership on this issue,” said Wilkins.
Cowan said mandatory labelling laws like the one in Vermont are the first step toward farmers losing access to GM crops.
The Center for Food Safety has said it will organize campaigns once food products are labelled to convince consumers to avoid buying products containing GM ingredients.
It’s why the association wants farmers to call its toll-free number, where a professional lobbying firm will put growers in touch with their senator and coach them on what to say.
“It doesn’t do anything to get a form letter. What it needs to do is it needs to be personal,” said Cowan.
“We’re all busy people, but we can’t allow that to hold us back anymore.”
Tom Vilsack, the U.S. agriculture secretary, surprised some farmers and reporters when he addressed the labelling issue during his annual speech to conference delegates.
“We need to get this done. It needs to be flexible. It needs to be mandatory,” he said.
Reporters later asked Vilsack if he really meant to say mandatory.
He said there is an urgency to get a national labelling law in place before a confusing patchwork of state labelling laws is enacted or companies start doing their own thing. Campbell’s Soup recently announced it will be listing GM ingredients on its soup cans.
A national labelling law would require 60 votes in the Senate.
“At the end of the day, I think the way to get 60 votes is to have a label that is required,” said Vilsack.
“My goal ultimately is to make sure that you don’t have the chaos that would potentially ensue if you don’t get something done very soon.”
His preference would be smart labelling, in which interested consumers could scan bar codes with their phones to obtain information on food products, including whether they contain GM ingredients.
He said food manufacturers would need ample time to institute the national labelling program, and it would have to be accompanied by an aggressive consumer education campaign.
“There is nothing to hide here. There is everything to be proud of,” said Vilsack.
However, soybean growers want nothing to do with mandatory labelling legislation.
“We refuse to get behind a bill that gives any life to the misleading activists propagating falsehoods that biotechnology is anything less than safe, sustainable and part of the solution to global food security,” said Wilkins.
