There were many ways to contribute: Paypal donations, merchandise, telling your friends, and good ol’ fashioned checks in the mail. Bit by bit donations were rolling in, and I can also tell you that someone, somewhere, is the proud owner of a calendar featuring cheesecake shots of yours truly.

A week ago we got to less than $100 of our goal, but then at the end of the week we suddenly passed it and then some. With the fundraising drive now at a close, we come to the moment you have all been waiting for. How much did Biofortified raise toward our goal for 2012?

Drum roll please……

$2443.06! $2491.66! $2540.26!

That is super sweet – and I’m not saying that just because I’m an ear of corn! Thanks to the generosity of our readers, (and of other blogs as well), we have vastly exceeded our goal for this year. We have the funds to get all of these projects rolling, with a cushion to carry us into the next year. Thank you every person who contributed! You have the gratitude of a plush ear of corn – and there’s nothing in the world greater than that (or so I’m told)!

The future of this site and its growth has been secured. Now comes all the hard work of following through on all these goals. I can only type so fast with these little husks, so I’ll leave that up to the humans. Now I’ve got to look presentable for my trips to Washington D.C., so I think I’m going to need to get a tux. What do you mean there’s no room in the budget for Cobnobbing?

Clockwise from bottom left: Benny F. Broccoli, Stem Cell, E. coli, Bookworm, Chanten A. Carrot, and Frank, hanging around their metal holiday cactus!

Happy New Year one and all! Frank N. Foode here to give you an update on Biofortified’s fundraising drive for 2012. We’ve got big plans for the blog for this next year, and that means taking in some big money to make it possible. Last week, we announced that we wanted to raise $2012 for 2012, and almost one week later, I am pleased to announce that we are almost all the way there!

Donations have been coming in from all over the place. Word of mouth has spread amongst public scientists, who have been providing the bulk of donations. We’re sending along a little blog shwag to a really generous group that is part of a nonprofit breeding foundation, who not only gave personal donations, but also encouraged their colleagues to do the same! I think we may have picked up some readers in the process too.

PZ Myers, possibly the most cuddly cuttlefish in the world, stepped in to promote our effort on Pharyngula, and soon enough some science blog supporters came in and moved the needle as well! Thank you PZ, and thank you everyone from the Pharyngulation horde!

Now for the moment you’ve all been waiting for. As of today, Biofortified has raised $1765.79 toward our $2012 goal! That’s almost 88% of the way there, with only $246.21 left to go. I know we can do it! Just look at the corn plant in the sidebar – the tassels are just starting to bloom!

I spent my holiday season with some friends, as I hope all of you did. I told them how excited I am about the coming year and all the things we want to do. And they told me I should put myself out there more. I have to say as far as plants go, I’m quite the adventurous type, and one thing I really hope to do this year is a lot more traveling. See more people, attend more conferences, and travel to more exotic lands to help bring genetics cheer to all the girls and boys of the world. I’ve got many helpers just aching to take me on a trip to a museum, the farmer’s market, or to a foreign country. A small donation from each of you can help get me there.

For example, this summer I went on a trip to the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, or CIMMYT. While I was there, I had a grand old time, and you can see the whole experience here in our photo album. I just heard that I will also have the opportunity to join a grad student on a trip to Ecuador this summer, and I’m just aching to go – but we need to buy my ticket there! Luckily, I travel pretty light, and First Class for me runs about $20 round-trip. If you would like to see more awesome photo journals of my journeys like these, please consider making a donation!

There’s another way you can help, too. You can help support my travels around the world by buying your very own 2012 calendar that shows some of the awesome places I have been! From rice in Thailand, to Wheat in Mexico, and DNA helices in Chicago, each month you can join me in some place new and help me go on adventures to put in next year’s calendar. We’ve only sold one so far, but if there is enough interest in a Frank N. Foode calendar, then next year we will fill the days of the calendar with custom days like Gregor Mendel and Norman Borlaug’s birthday, and events like the World Food Prize, and Biofortified’s Birthday! You’ll never forget these important dates again! 25% of the price will go to support the blog. Everyone needs a calendar, why not make it one with me, Frank?

That’s it for now, I hope your new year was as warm and cozy as mine, and that the new year of blogging here at Biofortified will be better than the last!

Oh, one more thing, I thought I would give y’all a little teaser…

Now what am I going to do in this place?

For this community contest, the stakes were high. With two tote bags, two books, and a Norman Borlaug coin up for grabs, it took ingenuity, creativity, and sewing acuity to make an entry that stood out. We had Luscious of Borg dress as a living work of art with her Son of Man outfit, and an aptly-named and mustached “flavor saver” pumpkin by Richard R. and son. So far, excellent! (One judge was forced to recuse himself as he painted the apple on Ms. of Borg’s face.)

"I find your lack of pith disturbing"

Then CulturaBiotech pulled some maize out o’ the old packet and whipped up a Bt Corn Darth Vader. Stepping outside the pumpkin box, (and into a freeze dryer flask?) it sure caught the attention of the judges.

Then SkepticalVegan posted his entry… Frank N. Foode. Hey that’s my name. Wait, what?

Holy Compost! It’s me, but I’m like almost 2 meters tall! He’s got my hair, eyes, and lab coat with a name tag.  I hear he also passed out cards on Halloween advertising our blog. I don’t know about you, but I don’t need to hear any more!

The decision of the editors was swift, so I am pleased to announce the winners for Biofortified’s second annual Carving and Costume Contest:

Human by day, biotech corn by night

First place goes to Skeptical Vegan for being the first person with tassels of steel to dress as Frank N. Foode for Halloween! He will receive a blog tote bag, a Norman Borlaug coin, and a autographed hardcover edition of Denialism by Michael Specter!

Second place goes to Cultura Biotech for showing us the power of the dark side of The Force with her Bt Darth Vader. She will receive a blog tote bag and she also chose our second paperback copy of Denialism.

Science denialism must have everyone scared this Halloween, and now we’re out of that book! There are still so many more to choose from in future contests! Also, both of our winners have blogs of their own – check em out and see what they’re talking about!

So now with the second annual carving and costume contest done, I had a lot of work to do getting this pile of prizes ready to go. Armed with some cotton thread, the new tote bags have been finished, stuffed with goodies, and are on their way to the new winners’ (and previously mentioned winners’) places of residence, research, or world domination. And just in time for Cornmas!

This is the first time that biotech food actually involved a needle!

Thank you everyone for participating, and also thank the Non-GMO Project for letting us advertise this contest in their event calendar. It doesn’t look like any entries came from there, but who knows about next year?

And stay tuned this week, because we’ve got some important things to talk about as the blog continues into the new year, and some great news, too!

But, first things first. In our last community contest, we wanted to find the most co-existing community member who has provided helpful and productive comments. It was a difficult decision for the editors to make, but the winner of our fourth community contest is none other than Ewan R! His contributions to the community have been a delight, from long comments breaking down arguments piece by piece, to clever witticisms that always bring a laugh.

For his prize, he chose to receive a copy of Tomorrow’s Table, which is on its way to him along with a tote bag. Four cheers for Ewan! (Because three are not enough.)

So lets get to this year’s extravaganza.

In 2006, this was a really scary costume.

Last year, we held a contest for who could make the most awesome and creative carving. This year we will also open the contest up to costumes on the same theme!

Here are the rules:

• This contest is open to everyone – you need not have ever commented on the blog before the day you enter in the contest. But, you will need to register for the blog to enter.
• Carve any fruit, vegetable, grain, or heck, fungus into the scariest creature imaginable. While you may carve the classic pumpkin, extra points will be awarded for creative use of alternatives. Feel free to do a little genetic engineering and splice different plants together.
• OR – carve yourself a killer plant or genetics-based costume. Whichever you choose – if you can include a reference to recent news, genes, or something we’ve talked about on the blog, that will certainly set you above the rest!
• Upload a photo of your mad creation to your profile page, and mention it in the comments on this post below.
• To give you time to upload a picture from Halloween, the contest is open until November 4th, at midnight Pacific time in the US.
• Biofortified’s Editors will decide on a winner and announce it on Sunday the 6th.

I'm honored to be invited to your dinner party. So um, who else did you say was going to be there?

And what will you win? Besides eternal glory, we do have some prizes for you:

First place: A Biofortified tote bag, first pick of one of the books on our prize page, and a Norman Borlaug commemorative coin.

Second place: A Biofortified tote bag, and second pick of one of the books on our prize page.

Again, in order to enter this contest you will need to register, log in, and upload your entry photo. This is very easy to do, and you can find out more about it on our Community Tutorial page.

So break out your pumpkins and/or your sewing machines, and help us scare up a great Halloween! If you are hard up for carving ideas you could always check out Extreme Pumpkins. Make an extreme potato monster. Or put yourself in a potato sack and be the monster. Good luck! And be sure to let us know about your entry here in the comments. If we get a lot of great entries we might hand out extra prizes!

I’m here to answer the call for a de-lurking post, so I thought I would break the ice and show a couple pictures from my recent trip to Madison, Wisconsin, to  attend the March Procession of the Species. Humans of all shapes and stripes were dressing up as their favorite species to celebrate the work of Charles Darwin. And here he is – the years have been very kind to Chuck, but I didn’t realize he was so big!

Karl went dressed as a giant ear of corn, and isn’t that a walking pitcher plant in the background?

And here I am with a lovely peacock and a huge dragonfly. Hey aren’t peacocks male – so this is cross-dressing too?

What are some of your favorite species? Here’s a great opportunity to say hi for the first time in the comments – and express some inter-species love!

Gosh, it has been too long since our last contest in November, the first annual FrankenFood Carving Contest – and I have a bit of a confession to make: I forgot to announce the winner! While several fantastic pumpkins were carved, one entrant thought outside the jack-0-lantern varietal box and went with a Spaghetti Squash. Still Cucurbita pepo, but hilariously carved and lit up! I think this is what I looked like when I read what Andy Kimbrell said way back when. Check out the head splitting, string-vomiting action!

So our third community contest, the carving contest goes to GregH, who is also an undergrad horticulture and finance major with quote a collection of plants listed on his profile page. Is that popping sorghum as well? Coolness. Greg wins an embroidered cotton canvas shopping bag (complete with custom pocket with a pen-holder), along with a Norman Borlaug commemorative coin! Maybe belated but just in time for farmer’s markets in the spring, no?

Back in October, I really jumped on this community contest concept, probably too many at once, and the winner of our second contest also got lost in the shuffle. They found out that they won by email, mind you, but all of you need to know as well. The theme for this contest, if you recall, was to nominate someone you disagree with. And for being a thoughtful and courteous commentator we have awarded the victory bag to the one and only Bernarda! This is what Anastasia had to say in her nomination:

[Bernarda] has contributed greatly to conversation by bringing new perspectives and presenting them in a non-argumentative way. I feel that a lot of times we all just talk past people we disagree with, which is frustrating and unfruitful. But with Bernarda, particularly on the Miracle Plants: Fallacy or New Frontier post, I think we’re not talking past each other any more but actually having some real discussion.

Isn’t that what we’re here for? I’ll keep to one contest per month from now on, but hey I’m just a plant – so please remind me at the end of the month if I forget! Give a round of congratulations to our winners, and on to contest number 4!

Community Contest #4: Feel the Love

There have been lots of discussions here lately, and in the last couple of months, we have had some great posts and comments on the topic of coexistence between genetic engineering and organic/non-GE farming. I don’t know about you but I would like to see more of this! Each community contest has a special theme to it, and I would like this to be the theme for our fourth contest. Here are a list of posts that touch on the topic of coexistence to get you thinking about who deserves your nomination:

Coexistence isn’t easy

Vilsack looks for solution on Coexistence

Coexistence takes Conversation

What the Heck is Alfalfa Anyway?

Biofortified on the Alfalfa EIS

Organic Infighting over GE Alfalfa

Can we Coexist?

Here are the rules for contest #4:

• Anyone can nominate someone for this contest, but must link to at least one comment (can be several) by that author.
• Editors (and me) are ineligible for the contest – but contributing authors can get in on the action.
• Comments can be from any date in the past, present, or future. They can be comments on posts or in the forum.
• Preference will be given to comments discussing Coexistence – but awesome comments that do not fit this description will also be considered.
• In order to accept the award, comment author must be registered, fill out at least some of their profile, and have a picture uploaded for their avatar. (Profile can be done after the winner is announced. Picture need not be a human photo – how about a cool plant?)
• The winner(s) will be judged on how awesomely smart, cool, funny, and productive their comments are. We want to reward people that help elevate the discussion and give them a special status in the community.
• Nominations will close on Saturday April 9th at midnight Pacific Standard Time. (End of the day, not the beginning!)
• Winner(s) will be decided by Biofortified’s editors, and will be announced on Monday the 11th.

Prizes

Biofortified just got a wonderful stack of books that we thought you might enjoy reading. So for this contest, the winner gets to choose either a Biofortified canvas bag as usual, or one of any of the books listed on our new Community Contest page. Some titles include:

• Denialism, How Irrational Thinking Hinders Scientific Progress, Harms the Planet, and Threatens our Lives, by Michael Specter.
• The Conscientious Gardener, Cultivating a Garden Ethic, by Dr. Sarah Hayden Reichard
• Empty Pleasures: The Story of Artificial Sweeteners from Saccharin to Splenda, by Dr. Carolyn de la Pena
• Tomorrow’s Table, Organic Farming, Genetics, and the Future of Food, by Dr. Pamela Ronald and Raoul Adamchak

There are a whole lot more books on our list a – little something for everybody, so check em out. And if we get a good turnout for this contest we might be forced to give more away! So remember, comments made up until the last minute count – so there’s still time to put in a fantastic comment and earn the love of your peers!

Andrew Kimbrell, the dude who runs the Center For Food Safety, just typed up some opinions about genetically engineered crops like me. In The GMO Reality Check, and it was published in Organic Connections Magazine. I must say that I was quite shocked at some of the things he said, especially about genetics:

Faulty Science

“There’s a very good reason we haven’t seen these promises come about,” Kimbrell explained. “The theory behind genetic engineering, which is the understanding of what a gene is and what a gene is not, has changed dramatically over the last decade. The idea that DNA—and particularly the part of DNA that we call a gene, which is a little above 1.5 percent of DNA—somehow controls traits is now not scientifically valid. Today most major scientists realize that DNA is not an actor, but is acted upon. There are millions of what are called epigenetic markers—various proteins and chemicals—that control how DNA is expressed in the cell. This idea that the DNA contains a trait such as drought resistance, size or nutrition is naive—and it was wrong.

Whoa, Nellie! That’s an incredible expression of incredulity about the genetic origin of traits. Now, I know everyone will just love to jump on this one, but the interview touches on some other things that I would like to highlight to give you a flavor of what this lawyer thinks about lil’ ole me:

“I don’t think GMOs should be regulated at all; I think they should be eliminated,”

Now I don’t think Kimbrells should be eliminated, but maybe they ought to be regulated. I think he tells us quite clearly what he (and his organization) are trying to do. But why?

“What exactly have these crops done for us?” Andrew Kimbrell, founder and executive director of the Center for Food Safety, posed to Organic Connections. “What has this technology really given anybody? There’s not a single human being on Earth who gets up in the morning wanting to buy genetically engineered food.”

Not being a human being, I thought I would ask some of my human twitter feed followers what they thought about this. Do any of them wake up in the morning and wish that they could buy a genetically engineered food?

Here are some of the answers I got so far:

@_Lucibee: @franknfoode I’d love to buy #GMO food or even grow it myself – but the EU won’t let me!

Uh oh, you mean they are denying your right to choose?? :-O

@w1ld3rn3ss: @franknfoode when can we get GMO blight-resistant potatoes?? And will they taste good with garlic mayo?

I bet they will. Wait, who puts mayo on a potato?

@szintri: @franknfoode I actually wake up lots of mornings wishing I could have a GFP banana for breakfast!

And that might have the added benefit of helping you find it in the dark – a win for energy efficiency! Can we get the DOE on it? Go tap on some of those Berkeley biofuel shoulders, James!

So you see, in a very short span of time, already three human beings on this planet say that they do wake up in the morning and want to buy a GMO. I know Andy Kimbrell loves big percentages, so that’s 200% more than is required to prove him wrong. But let’s pile it on, shall we?

"Genes don't exist, man!"

And here’s why. Regular readers of Biofortified know that there aren’t many traits that directly benefit consumers right now. Maybe no one really wakes up in the morning and thinks, “Gee, I wish I could buy tofu made from Roundup Ready 2 soybeans,” it doesn’t benefit (or harm) you so why bother? Maybe you’d like to have sweet corn that is not worm-bitten (thankfully as a Bt corn I am relatively worm-free), but again, not too much to get in a stink about. But there are traits coming down the pipeline of these various companies and government agencies that people will want the benefits from. Folks were just talking about soybeans with a better oil profile here, and not to mention various biofortification projects as well. (And what about the surprising excitement over the non-browning apple?) Michael Pollan also told me, Anastasia, and Karl over dinner that these consumer-oriented traits will change public opinion. But Kimbrell is on a mission, you see, to eliminate everything genetically engineered before that has a chance to happen. Call it a husk, I mean hunch, but I think he might be afraid that when these traits become available and more common, that many more people might wake up in the morning and say, “I want to buy a GMO today.”

So how about it, do you wish that there was a particular GMO that you could buy? Do you actually wake up in the morning and think that you would like to buy something that has been genetically engineered? The trait doesn’t have to exist yet, or be commercialized for that matter. Tell us all about it!

(As for the genetics stuff, don’t worry we’ll have a post to discuss that stuff coming on the blog soon!)

First, I am (belatedly) proud to announce the winner of the second Community Contest, and that illustrious distinction goes to Bernarda, who swept the competition in a landslide! Any moment now they will be the proud owner of a new Biofortified tote bag. Thanks for disagreeing with someone with politeness and respect and above all – constructively!

Second, it seems that no one has yet entered our inaugural annual frankenfood carving contest, and the deadline was set for this coming Wednesday. Now I’m sure as you ghosts and goblins go to bed tonight on Halloween, there are scary pumpkins smoldering outside on your doorstep. Don’t throw them out – take a picture and upload them to your profile and have a chance to share in a glorious victory. As of now, the contest deadline has been extended to Sunday, November 7th, at midnight Pacific, as always. And to sweeten the pot, the winner will not only get a cotton canvas tote bag with the blog emblem emblazoned on its side, they will be the first here to receive a very special gift – A mint-condition Norman Borlaug commemorative coin! Fantastic!

This special prize is courtesy of MaryM. A big thanks to Mary’s generosity! The coin is in its original plastic wrapper for you crop coin collectors.

So now’s your chance to carve up something fun – you have until the 7th! Comment here to enter.

Next, of course, I have to say a thing or two about our second birthday here at Biofortified. *Sniff* It seems like so long ago when there were a few lonely voices out there trying to educate people about plant genetics, and then we started to find each other and wound up starting this blog. We won a contest together last year, and this year the posts and comments have really been rockin’! With post syndication, new guest posts, and readers coming from all over the place, we’ve got a great discussion going and it will get better and better. And then look what happened to our readership this year:

Biofortified is here to stay!

Heh, if this blog was a beet, it would be setting seed now, seeds to spread across the blogosphere! Pat yourselves on the back.

And while we’re talking about the perennial permanence of this blog, finally, I have an announcement to make. And that is that on Tuesday, November 2nd 2010 we will have an announcement! So now that I have announced the impending announcement, you need only wait for the announcement. Once post-announcement, you will see why this needed a pre-announcement. Ok that’s this corn’s best impression of John Stewart. (He was awesome at the Rally to Restore Reason. We need that for GMOs.)

I must be a little jet-lagged. This week, in all my travels, I find myself in Long Beach, CA, attending the ACS (ASA-CSA-SSSA) Annual Meeting, filled with thousands of scientists who study agronomy, crop, and soil science. Karl Haro von Mogel is also here, but he’s been so busy up until now with his research and making sure his oral presentation for Monday morning is perfect that I guess he forgot to put something up on the blog. I’ll be sure to prod him tomorrow after his talk about plant sex videos. For those who may be attending the ACS Meeting, there will be a photo op with Yours Truly from 4-6 pm on Tuesday at poster board number 716. That’s right, at the Biofortified poster! Sweeet. Happy Birthday all!

For those who feel like grabbing a cutting tool when talking about genetic engineering, this next contest is for you – the first annual Biofortifed Frankenfood Carving Contest!

GMOs are often depicted harshly. For some reason, moving a couple genes around is supposed to make a plant grow teeth and attack the hand that waters it. Greenpeace turns onions into spiders and others turn corn into grenades. While I could be offended at such cultural misunderstandings, I want to turn this hyperbole around on its stalk! Let’s make veggies really scary!

Here are the rules:

• This contest is open to everyone – you need not have ever commented on the blog before the day you enter in the contest. But, you will need to register for the blog to enter.
• Carve any fruit, vegetable, grain, or heck, fungus into the scariest creature imaginable. While you may carve the classic pumpkin, extra points will be awarded for creative use of alternatives. Feel free to splice different plants together to enhance the phenotype! Do a little genetic engineering.
• Upload a photo of your mad creation to your profile page, and mention it in the comments on this post below.
• To give you time to upload a picture from a Halloween carving party, the contest is open until November 3rd, at midnight Pacific time in the US.
• Biofortified’s Editors will decide on a winner and announce it on Friday the 5th Tuesday the 9th.

And what will you win? Like both previous community contests, you will get your very own Biofortified Tote bag. Look how happy MaryM looks with hers at the farmer’s market!

Update: The contest winner will also receive a mint-condition Norman Borlaug commemorative coin.

Boo!

Start thinking of some ideas right away. You could carve a likeness of your favorite GE commentator, and browse around Extreme Pumpkins for techniques. Grab that rotten celery from the back of your fridge and transform it into a Frankensteinian Freak! As art is often commentary – make yours mean something about some aspect of the debate and you’re sure to be noticed. Give your creation LIFE!

Here I am with my entry, which I carved out of a Delicata squash! I think it has evil powers. (Obviously an unintended side effect of the transformation process.) Next to this vegetable, I’m downright cuddly. It’s gonna get youuuu!

Good luck!

Both Pdiff and MaryM were nominated in the comments of the contest announcement,and it was a tough choice. Both have been providing superb input and support in comments and in the forum. So who won?

The winner of Community Contest #1 goes to a person who has been helping out for a long time (in corn years) with providing links, digging up sources, and helping to populate our list of GE companies, for example. They helped dig up an obscure article that undermined a persistent myth about soy allergies and GE crops, all while being friendly and funny. And that person is none other than MaryM!

So congratulations Mary, your very own Biofortified Schwag Bag will be on its way for you to fill with groceries, carry your lunch in, or hold while snoopy dancing! Give her a round of applause!

Community Contest #2

With contest #1 now over, it is time to announce the beginning of contest #2. This will be the same as contest #1, but with a twist. One of the things that we want to see here is healthy disagreement. C’mon, you don’t have to be a genetically modified organism to know that some of the things we talk about on Biofortified can lead to some heated arguments. Words flying everywhere, food rights breaking out in local cafeterias, crops getting ripped out of the ground – almost anything can happen. So there may be some disagreement about what are the best seeds to plant, I think we can all cultivate our ideas together. So the twist to our second comment contest is, you need to nominate a comment that you disagree with.

Here are the rules for contest #2:

• Anyone can nominate someone for this contest, but must link to at least one comment (can be several) by that author.
• Editors (and me) are ineligible for the contest – but contributing authors can get in on the action.
• You must nominate someone that you disagree with. Tell us why you disagree with them, but also why you believe that the comment(s) they made deserve(s) notice. Did they point out something you didn’t think of, or state their case in a logical, civil, and productive way? Did they change your mind about something, or give you some new ideas?
• Comments can be from any date in the past, present, or future. They can be comments on posts or in the forum.
• In order to accept the award, comment author must be registered, fill out at least some of their profile, and have a picture uploaded for their avatar. (Profile can be done after the winner is announced. Picture need not be a human photo – how about a cool plant?)
• The winner(s) will be judged on how awesomely smart, cool, funny, and productive their comments are. We want to reward people that help elevate the discussion and give them a special status in the community.
• Nominations will close on Wednesday October 27th at midnight Pacific Standard Time. (End of the day, not the beginning!)
• Winner(s) will be decided by Biofortified’s editors, and will be announced on the 29th of October.

The winner will receive their very own Biofortified canvas tote bag!

You know, with all this fiber I really don't think you need the Metamucil.

It comes complete with an embroidered shopping list pocket with an elastic pen loop so you can check things off as you shop. (Note: Veggies, shopping list, pen, and Frank not included.)

Nominate your entries in the comments below. (Due to the fact that multiple links can get your comment caught up in our voluminous spam queue, we recommend making nominations while logged in.) If you have been nominated, filling out your profile right away will help your chances of winning. And you can also second nominations and root for those whom you think really deserve to win! Good Luck, and remember it’s not too late to make a winning comment!