Living above the land

There’s an Op-Ed in the New York Times today by Dickson D. Despommier: A Farm on Every Floor. Dr. Despommier is Professor of Public Health in Environmental Health Sciences (and Microbiology) at Columbia University. One of his interests is vertical farming, as can be found on his website The Vertical Farm Project. The op-ed is brimming with enthusiasm that I heartily share.

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What’s in a label?

Marion Nestle’s post Labeling GM foods: if the U.K. can do it, we can too! has been passed around the internet many times in the past few days by opponents of biotechnology. I appreciate their desire to know more about what they are eating, and I appreciate that Dr. Nestle admitted that “GM labeling as an issue of consumer choice, not of science”. However, I think these efforts are misguided. To help demonstrate why seeking mandatory labeling of ingredients derived from GM crops is inappropriate, please consider the following example:

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Vision

I had the good fortune today to participate in a sweet corn tasting for Kevin Montgomery of Montgomery Consulting. Within a few days, I’ll post more about what I learned at the tasting, but I just had to share the very best part immediately.

I’ve eaten a lot of tasty sweet corn, but rarely knew the name. Since moving to Iowa, I’ve had “Ambrosia” and “Peaches and Cream” within an hour of picking. They were good, but not spectacular. Today, I had a variety called “Vision” that was unbelievably delicious. It is sweet, but not too sweet. The corn flavor and aroma are just strong enough without being overbearing. The kernels have the perfect amount of bite, not too tough, not too soft. It’s delicious raw. It’s delicious boiled for a few minutes and served with butter and salt.

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Looking for the truth

Timothy LaSalle, CEO of the Rodale Institute, has an article in the Huffington Post: Organic Agriculture Beats Biotech at its Own Game. Despite obviously being a very smart man, he doesn’t seem to be thinking very much as he goes through the same old weak talking points that attempt to boil a complex issue down to black and white. Let’s see what he has to say:

Real question #1: Why bother?

To this point, biotech crops have not produced the yield advantages or biological resilience to multiple stressors.

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GE to cause food prices to go up?

Only a day after my last post about a bizarre argument against GE wheat that argued that Australian non-GE wheat producers would need to be protected from prices being lowered by a hypothetical frost-free wheat, the opposite is reported in the UK. The Daily Express reports that GM crops could send food prices rocketing. Wha?

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Biofortified's volunteer authors are devoted to providing factual information and fostering discussion about agriculture, especially plant genetics and genetic engineering. The site is written by grad students, professors, and guest experts. Meet our authors on the Authors page.

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