LAKE COUNTY — The Lake County Farm Bureau decided at its meeting Monday to oppose any local regulation regarding genetically engineered (GE) crops, Executive Director Chuck March said.
Two members voted against the policy, with 94 percent of the 18 board members voting in favor of adopting the pro-GE policy, which is in line with the California Farm Bureau Federation”s (CFBF) stance.
The board also voted to support Supervisor Rob Brown in the District five county supervisor race.
“The board endorsed Rob Brown because of his history with the farming community,” March said.
“My Board of Directors passed a motion last night that the Lake County Farm Bureau opposes any type of localized regulation governing the use of GE products. This passed with over 93 percent of the directors expressing opposition to local regulation,” March said.
CFBF spokesman Dave Kranz said of the 53 county farm bureaus, none have dissented from the state policy. “Basically we work for them, so they set the state policy,” Kranz said.
Last week, the county Board of Supervisors held a workshop on genetically engineered crops. The Lake County Coalition for Responsible Agriculture has asked the board to pass an ordinance to ban genetically engineered crops in the county.
An ordinance was previously voted down in 2004, 3-2.
Rising food prices and shortages mean more and more farmers are less resistant to genetically engineered crops, which contain genes from other organisms to make the crop impervious to insects, disease or herbicides.
March said the board discussed adopting the policy in March, and many members think it is a freedom of choice issue. “One of the directors mentioned, ?what”s going to stop them from asking us not to spray with lime sulfur because it stinks?” If they start regulating what we can grow, what”s the next one on the line? The products need to be profitable for them, so they want to be able to utilize it (GE),” March said.
While the county doesn”t have major GE crops such as soybeans, cotton or canola, March said there is a small amount of GE corn grown in the county, and with GE companies constantly devising new gene-splicing techniques that make crops more resilient, including newly-devised drought-resistant crops, “we”ve got this technology available, and agriculture should be able to utilize it.”
Opponents to GE crops generally think they have not been studied enough or that they could pose risks to health and the environment.
“The motion last night was separate from the state policy, we have our own that opposes any kind of local regulation, we didn”t want to go just with the state”s policy,” March said.
Contact Elizabeth Wilson at ewilson@record-bee.com
