Contents
- New UCS report: CAFOs cost taxpayers billions
- Organic yields rival conventional yields for some crops
- Engineered seeds can survive in soil for 10 years
- “Superresistant” bacteria eat antibiotics for lunch
- Maine law will protect farmers from lawsuits
1
. New UCS report: CAFOs cost taxpayers billions
The
news has been full of stories recently about the rising cost of food.
But when it comes to most meat, milk, and eggs sold in the United
States, consumers have paid more for years—they just didn’t know it.
CAFOs (confined animal feeding operations) are massive facilities that
create costly pollution and public health problems as they produce most
of the nation’s food animals. Our new report documents the billions of
dollars of hidden costs that CAFOs foist onto taxpayers and
communities, and the misguided government policies that enable and even
encourage it. From taxpayer subsidies for cheap animal feed to federal
programs that help CAFOs manage their pollution problems, our report
reveals how expensive our current CAFO system really is. Meanwhile, we
found that modern, environmentally sound alternatives can be
cost-effective if given a chance. The report,
CAFOs Uncovered: The Untold Costs of Confined Animal Feeding Operations,
recommends that the government provide incentives for more sustainable
and efficient ways to raise animals, including pasture systems. Read the report.
2. Organic yields rival conventional yields for some crops
Farms
that avoid synthetic fertilizers or pesticides can be just as
productive as conventional farms, according to a multi-year comparison
of cropping systems in Wisconsin. The study found that crop yields were
just as high, both in volume and in quality, for organic alfalfa as for
conventional alfalfa. Yields for organic corn, soybeans, and winter
wheat were about 90 percent as high as conventional yields. The major
limitation on organic yields was weeds. The study concluded that
diverse, low-input farming systems (farms that grow a variety of crops
and avoid using synthetic pesticides or fertilizers) can match the
production of the conventional farming systems that dominate the
Midwest today. Read the study in
Agronomy Journal
3. Engineered seeds can survive in soil for 10 years
Scientists
in Sweden found genetically engineered canola plants springing up in a
test field 10 years after engineered seeds were originally
planted—despite efforts over time to clear the field of transgenic
plants. The canola plants were engineered to tolerate the herbicide
glufosinate. In the years following the canola planting, the field was
plowed and used to grow wheat, barley, and sugar beets, and farm staff
routinely searched for and removed canola plants. Yet after a decade
canola plants were still sprouting in the field. The persistence and
dispersal of genetically engineered plants into the environment is one
of the serious problems with this technology, and may contribute to
contamination of conventional crops. Read more about engineered crops, or read the study abstract in
Biology Letters.
4. “Superresistant” bacteria eat antibiotics for lunch
Harvard
scientists found bacteria in soil from sites across the United States
that not only tolerate antibiotics, they subsist on them as their sole
source of carbon. The bacteria can survive concentrations of
antibiotics 50 times the level that defines antibiotic resistance. None
of these soil bacteria causes disease in humans, and no human pathogens
eat antibiotics so far, but it is possible that superresistant bacteria
might share their resistance genes with bacteria that cause disease in
humans. Read the abstract in
Science, or read more in the
New York Times (reg. req’d).
5. Maine law will protect farmers from lawsuits
A
new law in Maine will protect farmers from being sued for patent
infringement if genetically engineered seeds accidentally wind up in
their fields. Prior to this law, farmers were vulnerable to lawsuits if
they saved seed for the next year’s planting that turned out to be
contaminated with genetically engineered material that blew in from
their neighbors’ fields. The legislation also instructs the Maine
Department of Agriculture to develop Best Management Practices for
cultivating engineered crops. Opponents of the law claim that it is
unconstitutional and plan to appeal. Read more in the
Bangor News. In a related story, the Maine town of Montville made headlines for banning the cultivation of engineered crops—the only community outside California to do so.