poverty and better nutrition for third world countries. So, are we now admitting some kind of guilt? Greenpeace, Sierra Club, NRDC, et al. Were they all right all along? I never understood their reasoning and probably never will, but I truly hope the Foreign Ag Service and the U.S. Trade Representative has input on these discussions. Third, why, after all these years of proven technology, are we still even entertaining the idea of GMOs versus the old way of growing crops, is beyond me. In my 50 years plus on the farm, I learned a few things and most of them the hard way. I can remember saving our own seed stocks because we thought we had something special, only to find out a few years later that sacred strain had gone a race anyhow. I can remember variety trials, hundreds of them, cross-pollinating parent stock with little paintbrushes. Trying to get a new hybrid tomato or a pepper or sweet corn and then waiting years to get a viable, marketable variety acceptable to mommies everywhere. I also remember the years of hope of speeding up the process. Now we finally can build varieties with traits that not only sustain our agriculture but to continue to give us hope that there is a future for guys like me and my 13-year-old son. Finally, I was raised to believe agriculture was a dynamic profession. It’s ever-changing, constantly
poverty and better nutrition for third world countries. So, are we now admitting some kind of guilt? Greenpeace, Sierra Club, NRDC, et al. Were they all right all along? I never understood their reasoning and probably never will, but I truly hope the Foreign Ag Service and the U.S. Trade Representative has input on these discussions. Third, why, after all these years of proven technology, are we still even entertaining the idea of GMOs versus the old way of growing crops, is beyond me. In my 50 years plus on the farm, I learned a few things and most of them the hard way. I can remember saving our own seed stocks because we thought we had something special, only to find out a few years later that sacred strain had gone a race anyhow. I can remember variety trials, hundreds of them, cross-pollinating parent stock with little paintbrushes. Trying to get a new hybrid tomato or a pepper or sweet corn and then waiting years to get a viable, marketable variety acceptable to mommies everywhere. I also remember the years of hope of speeding up the process. Now we finally can build varieties with traits that not only sustain our agriculture but to continue to give us hope that there is a future for guys like me and my 13-year-old son. Finally, I was raised to believe agriculture was a dynamic profession. It’s ever-changing, constantly
052912AC21v1.docx