Farm Bureau Money Dominates in Butte County CA GE Ban Ballot Initiative

Butte biotech allies hold home-grown funding edge

By Mike Lee -- Bee Staff Writer - (Published October 7, 2004)
OROVILLE - Without taking money from biotech companies, Butte County farmers
have raised more than $102,000 to defeat a November ballot measure that
would ban biotech crops, according to financial records released Wednesday.

The movement's home-grown cash means anti-biotech forces have lost the
chance to cast the debate as corporate outsiders vs. family farmers.

"The support in agriculture to oppose this measure is unprecedented in
politics in Butte County," said Oroville olive grower Jamie Johansson. "You
see ag group leaders who couldn't share a cup of coffee coming together on
this issue."

Supporters of Measure D have raised $15,251. Their largest donation -
$10,000 from the Minnesota-based Organic Consumers Association - is the only
major gift from out of state reported by either side.

The big question now is whether the appeals of anti-biotech forces can
overcome their opponents' substantial fund-raising edge. That feat was
accomplished earlier this year by anti-biotech activists in Mendocino
County, who successfully sponsored the nation's first biotech crop ban and
spawned copycat efforts statewide.

"Mendocino ... proved that it can be done," said Scott Wolf, spokesman for
Citizens for a GE-Free Butte.

Anti-biotech measures are on the Nov. 2 ballot in four counties - Humboldt,
Marin, San Luis Obispo and Butte - but Butte is widely considered to be the
most significant. If a county in the heart of production farming rejects
genetic engineering, it likely would slow development of high-tech crops in
a state that prides itself on innovation.

Some California farmers would like to see genetically engineered crops gain
more acceptance in key world markets before they are widely planted here.
But many also say it's foolish to reject a technology that could eventually
wean farmers from dependence on a suite of toxic chemicals.

Biotech critics question the human and environmental safety of genetically
engineered foods, which are pieced together in ways not possible in nature.
Their argument in farm-friendly counties, such as Butte, is that consumers
in Asia and Europe are skeptical about biotech, and it doesn't make sense to
offend buyers by introducing controversial products.

Despite Butte's significance, it's unlikely Measure D will come close to
matching the money spent on Mendocino's March measure. Biotech companies put
up more than $600,000 to fight the nation's first biotech ban. Partly
because of anti-corporate sentiment in the liberal county, Mendocino voters
approved the biotech ban, 56 percent to 44 percent.

Instead of letting companies be the defenders of biotech promise in the
Sacramento Valley, farmers have taken over - a move that even opponents
concede was savvy.

Virtually all of the No on D money - more than 100 donations total - came
from Butte County farmers, ranchers and farm companies.

"We don't need it," Johansson said of corporate money.

Financial records show that the Butte County Farm Bureau put up $35,000 to
defeat Measure D - by far the largest of all Measure D donations reported to
date. Farm Bureaus in the nearby counties of Glenn, Shasta and Placer also
donated money.

The well-stocked war chest has allowed Measure D opponents to plant signs
that say "Food Not Politics" along Highways 99 and 70 in the county, where
about 116,000 residents are registered to vote.

"We are defining what the issue is," said Johansson, spokesman for the
Citizens for Accountable Agriculture, which opposes Measure D. "We are not
going to have it defined for us."

In recent weeks, both sides have sponsored visits by national speakers, and
both have churned out a flurry of press releases.

Since July, supporters of the biotech ban have reported seven contributions
of $100 or more. They report less than $2,650 in cash going into the
campaign homestretch, compared to more than $57,000 left in opponents'
account.

Wolf said donations are relatively meager because the group's lead
fund-raiser - a wine grape farmer - is consumed with the harvest.

Still, he remains hopeful that new donations in coming days will spark the
campaign and attract what he views as a large contingent of undecided
residents.