Shell Cancels Plans to Drill in Arctic!

Planetsave - Feb.6 '11

Shell announced that they’ve...

An Appeal to Farmers! From Yukon Farmer, Tom Rudge

Please send around and read his great letter to Members of Parliament.

 Date: February 4, 2011 1:46:08 PM GMT-05:00

Subject: My future and Bill C-474: Your future too?

There is a vote in Parliament on genetic engineering this Wednesday February 9 that could help support the future of my farm.

Below is the letter I sent to Michael Ignatieff , Wayne Easter and my Member of Parliament, Larry Bagnell.  I've asked them to support Bill C-474 this Wednesday and I hope my MP also speaks up in the debate on February 8. I urge all farmers who have a concern about genetically engineered crops or who already have negative experiences with GE crops  to send a letter to your MP as well. Now is the time  to tell our politicians how genetic engineering has already cost us or could harm our businesses and our families. Bill C-474 would support Canada's farmers by requiring that “an analysis of potential harm to export markets be conducted before the sale of any new genetically engineered seed is permitted." We will not grow GE alfalfa here in the Yukon but it will contaminate my farm and I have no choice.

(You can look up your MP at www.parl.gc.ca) I also sent my letter to Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff (Ignatieff.M@parl.gc.ca) and Liberal Agriculture Critic Wayne Easter (EasteW@parl.gc.ca) because the Liberal Party needs to take a stand. 

Thanks! Sincerely, Tom Rudge, Yukon

-------------------------------------------------------

Member of Parliament

As a farmer in the Yukon who raises certified organic poultry, market garden vegetables and mixed hay, I ask you to be present and vote in favor of Bill C-474 on February 9, 2011. 

Bill C-474 would support Canada's farmers by requiring that “an analysis of potential harm to export markets be conducted before the sale of any new genetically engineered seed is permitted.”

Alfalfa is an essential source of nutrients and

organic matter for any organic rotation including feed or soil building green manure. It is grown in many places and is a major export regionally, nationally and internationally as pellets, cubes, fodder and seed.

As is quite evident with canola, no containment is possible and growing it organically is impossible.

It would be worse for alfalfa. With the flax crisis export markets were severely affected. There has also never been any epidemiological study done on genetically engineered alfalfa either.

 

Here, in the Yukon, we have possibly the last buffered region in Canada to prevent the contamination of pure seed and we also have feral alfalfa growing in several communities that wildlife relies on for nutrients into the long harsh winters. Organic farmers and chemical farmers alike grow alfalfa here for a burgeoning local livestock market and for green manure. With the protection offered in this bill our farms could be saved from any contamination. We don’t export alfalfa, however, alfalfa feed and seed is shipped up the highway to the Yukon to supplement our own small production and if genetically modified alfalfa seed is ever approved in Canada, the Yukon will be contaminated even if it is not cultivated here. Organic growers will lose their ability to grow one of the best crops available to them and possibly lose their livelihood in the process. There is zero containment possible, canola proved this. My choice as a farmer has been unilaterally taken from me, I will have contamination, my livelihood is taken away and no one is held liable. That is a devastating scenario.

I cannot stand against any company like Monsanto and their billion dollar budgets for marketing, lobbying and legal enforcement. There are thousands of small farming families across Canada who cannot possibly stand up against the multinationals. This is why we rely on the due diligence of our elected representatives in the house of parliament. My MP, Hon. Larry Bagnell, understands this issue for us here in the Yukon and will vote in favor of this bill to protect his constituency. He has my thanks, my support and my respect for representing us in the Yukon and protecting the future of my two children.

The growth of the organic sector and for sustainable locally grown feed and food is reaching a tipping point where it will become mainstream and the pride of every jurisdiction in Canada. In European countries, there is a satisfaction in the individual regions producing their specialty food; a cultural distinction based upon food produced. With any genetically engineered seed this is not possible and the farmers loose their right to save any seed.

This isn’t about the just the health safety of a feed, this is about the culture of food production, the future of sustainable farming, and the export capacity our farmers have been recognized for world wide.

This is not about feeding the world; this is about marketing at its worst. To offend peoples’ intelligence by saying that genetically engineered seed will save us all is a fallacy. For the last twenty years of production there has been zero health benefits to this genetically engineered seed industry, there has been only the promotion of ever increasing amounts of carcinogenic chemicals to sustain quarterly earnings of multinational chemical companies. No drought tolerant crop has been produced, no frost hardy seed has been developed, and it is quite simply the sale of chemicals disguised in marketing terms with an incredibly forceful lobby power.

I would ask you to vote for Bill C-474 to ensure there is an assessment done to protect the producers and value chain participants, the environment, the future of the strongest farming sector in the world, the organic sector, and our children’s future. This bill does not say no to genetic engineering, it works for the people of Canada to make sure the choices we make are based upon sound research into the impacts of questionable technology and marketing. Utilize the precautionary principle and act for the people of Canada who you represent.

Thank you for your time reading this and for being present to vote in favor of Bill C-474.

Please feel free to contact me.

Tom Rudge

 tom@yukonfood.com

Aurora Mountain Farm

PO Box 20228

Whitehorse, Yukon, Y1A 7A2

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Let's Kill GE Alfalfa! Please!

Last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that it will once again allow unlimited, nation-wide commercial planting of Monsanto’s genetically-engineered (GE) Roundup Ready alfalfa.  This is a profoundly disappointing and disturbing decision. It was hoped by many in the organic farming community that the Obama USDA would recognize the major threat that GMO alfalfa represents to the survival of the thriving organic dairy industry.  But instead the agency decided to appease Monsanto and a handful of other companies that will profit from the additional sales of herbicide that are used on these gene altered plants.
The good news is that we’ve stopped GMO alfalfa and beaten Monsanto and the USDA before. And we need your help to do it again.
In 2007 we won a reversal of the approval of GE alfalfa.  The court ordered a halt to all sales and planting until the agency could ensure that the environmental and economic impacts could be adequately addressed.  Now after four years of this ban, the USDA has finalized an environmental impact statement that utterly fails to take a hard look at the dangers these plants represent to conventional alfalfa farmers, the organic dairy industry and consumer choice.  These plants will also increase the crisis in “super weeds” resistant to herbicides that are now infesting millions of acres of American farmland.
So CFS is going back to court in the coming weeks with the hope of once again stopping GE alfalfa and prevailing against the government, Monsanto and other biotech companies. And it’s not just alfalfa -- we anticipate we’ll have to also litigate in the coming weeks to stop the planting of GE sugar beets and other GE crop approvals as well.
CFS is the first line of defense against the invasion of these crops.  However, we have a small legal team to fight these difficult and drawn out court battles, compared to the USDA and numerous corporate law firms at Monsanto’s disposal. While we are confident that we will continue to succeed in these legal battles, your support is needed now more than ever to help us continue our fight to defend the rights of farmers and consumers and protect the integrity of organic dairy products.
This is a crucial time in the fight to preserve the integrity of organic crops and foods, protect consumers’ right to know, stand up for organic and conventional farmers, and protect our environment from the hazards of GE crops. In the coming months, we will be seeing USDA proposals to allow unrestricted plantings of GE corn and soy crops designed to resist highly toxic pesticides such as 2-4D and Dicamba, pesticides that pose a serious threat to our health and the environment. CFS will also challenge all these approvals.

So join us as a united front against the USDA and Monsanto. Help stop GE alfalfa NOW.

Please support CFS today by making a donation to CFS’s Legal Fund!
Thank you for your support 
P.S. – Don’t forget to choose a thank you gift when you donate! Get a copy of CAFO: The Tragedy of Industrial Animal Factories, the film about Rachel Carson “A Sense of Wonder,” and more! All donations over $35 will get you a NEW True Food Shoppers Guide!