Leasing land becomes a GMO question

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Who should get to rent land from the County of Boulder, Colorado? Farmers who promise to grow only non-GMO crops, or . . . those other guys.

It's turning into an election issue, with two county commissioners' seats coming up in November. In December, Boulder County's three commissioners voted unanimously to allow Roundup Ready sugar beets and genetically modified corn to be grown on about 16,000 acres of cropland the county's open space department leases to farmers, according to Boulder Colorado Business Report. The farmers pay $1.6 million in lease fees annually.

Two commissioner spots will be coming open this fall and GMO-Free Boulder, a local organic and natural group, is selecting candidates it thinks will support its cause. A December study completed by the Business Research Division of the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado says the local impact of natural and organic agriculture is considerable and amounts to as much as US$2.49 billion statewide. A survey by GMO-Free Boulder says 71 per cent of voters don't want genetically modified crops grown on the county's open space.

Many farmers grow feed for Boulder-based Aurora Organic Dairy, a company which is often criticized for operating practices associated with conventional milk production, such as confining cows in large numbers rather than placing them on pasture. BF