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October 20, 2011
· Monsanto targets global veggie market
· FDA blames old equipment for listeria
· US Senate says YES to taters for tots
· Local food in school lunches not easy
· The rise of the green pesticides
Monsanto targets global veggie market
(Los
Angeles Times) – Monsanto Co., whose genetically modified corn and soybeans
have reshaped
The agribusiness giant already has quietly stepped into the marketplace with produce grown from its seeds.
Grocery customers in
Soon, people will be thumping melons bred to be a single serving and shucking sweet corn genetically modified to enable farmers to spray the fields with the company's weed killer, Roundup.
To do this, it's marrying conventional breeding methods with its vast technological resources to bring about changes in fruits and vegetables in months or years, rather than in decades.
Monsanto's goal: to dominate today's $3-billion global market for produce seeds, much as it already has done with corn and soybeans.
"This isn't a hobby.... We're serious about it," said Monsanto Chief Executive Hugh Grant, who expects the company's vegetable seed revenue to rival its $1.5-billion soybean business in the coming decade.
The move has raised the hackles of some environmental and organic farming groups that fear it will ultimately squeeze out smaller, independent vegetable seed firms.
They also worry that the company will use technology to introduce revolutionary new genes into vegetable plants, just as Monsanto scientists have done in corn, soybeans and cotton.
"Clearly, the company wants to keep its options open," said Doug Gurian-Sherman, senior scientist with the food and environmental program at Union of Concerned Scientists. "But I think they understand it's a dicey proposition to move into [genetically engineered] foods that are widely consumed, rather than foods that are highly processed or used as animal feed."
Monsanto officials said the opportunities for growth in the vegetable seed market were too good to ignore. They said there were plenty of ways to use technology to design better-tasting vegetables, yet avoid the financial and consumer hurdles that would inevitably come with rolling out genetically engineered produce for a grocery store.
The amount of arable land worldwide is dwindling, while the world's population is forecast to jump to more than 9 billion by 2050 from nearly 6.9 billion today. Shifts in weather patterns have caused recent slumps in key crops.
All this, in turn, has water-strapped countries eager to
establish secure food supplies. Fast-growing economies, such as those in
Given these factors, Monsanto is making a multibillion-dollar bet that global farming conditions are going to get tougher and farmers are going to be hungry for their vegetable and fruit seeds.
Revenue from Monsanto's vegetable seed business totaled $895 million for the company's fiscal year that ended Aug. 31. That's about 8% of its annual revenue, a figure the company hopes to grow steadily in coming years.
Monsanto moved aggressively into the vegetable business in
2005 when it bought seed powerhouse Seminis Inc. in
Today, Monsanto has about 4,000 employees — nearly a fifth of its 21,000 global labor force — working on its vegetable seed business worldwide.
It has nearly doubled the staff at its test farm and
research greenhouses in
Dozens of varieties of tomatoes, hot peppers and onions fill the 144-acre farm facility, where company researchers walk the fields each day, inspecting specimens and collecting samples to study under a microscope.
"A lot of technologies we've used for years are very
applicable to vegetables," said Marlin Edwards, chief technology officer
for Monsanto's vegetable seeds division, who is based in
Monsanto is relying on a strategy similar to the one it tapped to dominate the world of commodity crops: Use technology to speed up the breeding process. The goal is to create produce that tastes better and plants that yield more product, while letting farmers use fewer resources.
Monsanto officials are quick to stress that they are not creating genetically modified crops. In its Roundup Ready soybeans, for example, Monsanto developed seedlings with genes from a soil bacterium to help the plant to survive being sprayed with its herbicide.
With vegetables, scientists are looking for answers in the same, or similar, varieties of plants. So a trait in one pepper, such as flavor, might be meshed with the DNA of another pepper. The technique has been helpful developing vegetable plants that can withstand certain pests, said Consuelo Madere, vice president of Monsanto's global vegetable group.
Such techniques speed up the conventional breeding process, Madere said.
"Our researchers have found natural resistances in the DNA of wild-grown peppers," Madere said. "So why not breed that resistance into the seed? You don't need [biotech] for something that nature has already figured out."
But some scientists say this is genetic modification — just a different type.
"What they really are doing is creating something where
the probability is very low that it would have happened in nature without human
intervention," said R. Paul Thompson, director of graduate studies at the
Although Monsanto has made billions of dollars selling biotech corn and soybeans, which are used in animal feed and processed food, it has generally shied away from investing in biotech products sold directly to consumers.
Part of the reason is simple economics. Biotech seeds
typically take years to clear government regulatory systems in the
Part of the reason, too, is to avoid the headaches of public controversy. The company ran into that problem in the 1990s and early 2000s with its NewLeaf potato.
The bio-engineered potato was developed to repel the Colorado potato beetle. But major French fry manufacturers and McDonald's, which were worried about the public debate over whether biotech crops were safe, barred their growers from raising the genetically modified potatoes.
Monsanto ultimately shelved the product line.
Now the company is focused on its better-breeding approach.
Consumers now can buy Beneforte broccoli, which Monsanto claims has twice as much antioxidant benefit than typical broccoli varieties. There's the company's EverMild onion, which has lower sulfur levels and causes fewer tears when cut. And there's the orange grape tomato, which is bred to be sweeter, with a lower acidity level and a richer fragrance than conventional grape tomatoes on the market.
Monsanto, however, hasn't completely ruled out the idea of
genetically modified vegetables. After all, genetically engineered produce has
already made some inroads into
The
Monsanto's entry into biotech sweet corn will hit
FDA blames old equipment for listeria
(AP
via FoxNews.com) – Pools of water on the floor and old, hard-to-clean
equipment at a
Government investigators found positive samples of listeria bacteria on equipment in the Jensen Farms packing facility and on fruit that had been held there.
In a six-page assessment of the conditions at the farm based on investigators' visits in late September, the FDA said Jensen Farms had recently purchased used equipment that was corroded, dirty and hard to clean. The packing facility floors were also constructed so they were hard to clean, so pools of water potentially harboring the bacteria formed close to the packing equipment.
The equipment – purchased in July, the same month the outbreak started – was previously used for a different agricultural commodity, the agency said, and the listeria "could have been introduced as a result of past use of the equipment," according to the report.
The agency said the contamination likely happened in the packing house, but the way the cantaloupes were cooled after coming off the fields may have also contributed to listeria growth. The farm did not use a process called "pre-cooling" that is designed to remove some condensation, which creates moist conditions on the cantaloupe rind that are ideal for listeria bacteria growth. Listeria grows in cool conditions, unlike most pathogens.
FDA said that samples of cantaloupes in Jensen Farms' fields were negative for listeria, but bacteria coming off the field may have initially introduced the pathogen into the packing house, where it then spread. Listeria contamination often comes from animal feces or decaying vegetation.
Another possible source of contamination was a truck that frequently hauled cantaloupe to a cattle operation and was parked near the packing house. Contamination could have been tracked into the house by people or equipment, the report said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says 123
people have been sickened in the outbreak, including the 25 who died. It is the
deadliest known outbreak of foodborne illness in the
The tainted fruit, which Jensen Farms recalled in mid-September, should be off store shelves by now. But the number of illnesses may continue to grow, as the symptoms of listeria can take up to two months to appear.
The CDC on Tuesday confirmed a sixth death in
US Senate says Yes to taters for tots
(AP)
"Common sense does prevail sometimes," said Donald Flannery, executive director of the Maine Potato Board, which opposed the plan to put limits on spuds.
U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines would have eliminated potatoes altogether from school breakfasts and drastically reduce the amount of potatoes served in lunches.
But the proposal, lauded by many nutritionists who believe kids eat too many french fries and need diversity in their diets, stumbled in Congress.
Following a bipartisan agreement on the issue, the Senate
accepted an amendment by Republican Sen. Susan Collins of
Back in
"I can't see anything better and more nutritious and
cheap than potatoes," said Bill Doyen, part of the family that runs
Willard C. Doyen and Sons in Mapleton, who recalls eating potatoes every day
for lunch as a boy in northern
Doyen acknowledged criticism of greasy french fries as being unhealthy but says that's no reason to take away potatoes. "They can stop serving french fries, but they don't have to take away potatoes," Doyen said. "Baked or mashed is probably the most nutritious way to serve them."
Craig Bouchard, whose family runs the 400-acre Bouchard Farm in Caribou, which is Collins' home town, said the farmers appreciate Collins for going to bat for them.
"I appreciate her fighting for `the county,'" he
said, referring to
Collins, who picked potatoes as a girl, noted that the USDA proposal carried a hefty price tag of nearly $7 billion and would've place difficult limits on school lunch administrators. "The lion's share of these costs would be incurred by the state and local agencies," Collins said.
Local food in school lunches not easy
(SJ-R.com) – The idea is simple enough: build more locally grown produce into the lunch offerings in schools.
The effort encourages school districts to raise their own produce or buy it from local growers.
However, area school districts have found the reality of Farm-to-School programs is much different.
The gardens must be maintained, in some cases with volunteer labor. It also can be challenging to make sure locally grown food meets federal guidelines and county health standards.
Lindsay Record, executive director of the Illinois Stewardship Alliance, which promotes local food systems and is part of a Farm-to-School task force, said the aim is, little by little, to increase healthy food choices in schools.
“I don’t think any school district has gone from not using any local foods to buying it all locally,” Record said. “I have heard of school districts often starting small, like one product, like having local apples, for example.”
The challenges will be the subject of the Sangamon Area
Farm-to-School
But for the
“With buying locally, you can’t just go to a farmers’ market
on the weekend and buy all the broccoli,”
Healthy choices in schools
Farm-to-School programs involve integrating nutrition into schools’ curricula, planting school gardens, procuring local food from farmers and farm visits, Record said.
“We know that there are some school gardens and some nutrition curriculum, but not all schools have those things,” she said. “We wanted to look at examples of those, as well as this hugely terrifying idea of actually buying from local farmers -- not that the idea itself is scary, but the ‘how to’ is sometimes.”
Farm-to-School programs are based on the idea that students will choose healthier foods, including more fruits and vegetables, when they are fresh and picked at the peak of their flavor, according to the Illinois State Board of Education. Those healthy choices also have to be reinforced with classroom lessons.
Schools say more students eat fruits and vegetables because of the program, and it improves school meal participation rates, according to the ISBE. As of last year, more than 2,000 Farm-to-School programs existed nationwide.
The task force is also trying to build an online directory of educators and farmers who work together to provide local and regional foods for schools, according to the ISBE’s Mark Haller. To register, farmers and teachers can go to www.farmtoschool.org/IL.
“Schools can go out and try to make connections with farmers or to be able to go out and say, ‘I’m looking for a certain product, does anybody have that product that they can get to school?’” Haller said. “I think what’s really happening is we’re working on systems in order for schools to find products more readily. It’s difficult for them to just start asking farmer after farmer or go to a farmers’ market.”
Gardens sprout change
“One of the hardest things about it is getting people to maintain it, partly because growing season is during the summer, so you have to have someone there all summer tending to it,” he said. “You’re talking about something that requires a lot of maintenance and tender loving care.”
Ball Charter’s garden is proof that students learn to eat healthy by taking an interest in agriculture, according to Mary Ann Rupcich, a primary teacher who takes care of the garden.
Rupcich and the school’s custodians tend the garden during the summer. Students help once school starts.
“I think it helps the kids to try some things that they wouldn’t try,” she said.
Rupcich uses vegetables from the garden for a lesson about “Stone Soup,” a story in which people contribute ingredients. At the end of October, her first- and second-graders cook their own soup from garden vegetables.
In the
Once school started, students continued to tend the garden with the help of teachers and parent volunteers. Fruits and vegetables from the garden are incorporated into the lunch menu.
Hard to handle
Getting local foods into schools hasn’t been easy.
“What’s happened over the last couple of years is, with this movement toward local farm-to-school type products, the USDA has come out and clarified some of their procurement rules to basically make it allowable for school districts to spend the money they receive through the national school lunch program on local products,” Haller said.
The USDA hasn’t really changed any of its regulations, but has made clarifications that allow school districts to conduct informal bidding to find local vendors and incorporate locally grown produce into their programs, he added. Despite the USDA’s clarifications, local school districts still have many hurdles to jump when it comes to getting fresh fruits and vegetables into their schools.
“I think the biggest issue is for local school districts to find enough of a local product to purchase enough to feed a number of kids,” he said.
And even once a district has found local products, it still has to work with public health officials to make sure the food is safe. Portion size and consistency are also issues.
“If they’re looking for a certain sized apple, for instance, you’ve got to have enough consistency from the grower to give you that size of apple,” Haller said. “Some of that is because of the requirements on the National School Lunch Program. They have to serve certain quantities of food in order for that meal to be considered reimbursable, to receive those federal dollars.”
Working around hurdles
Another way to get local produce into schools is through the
U.S. Department of Agriculture’s annual Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program,
which puts fresh produce in classrooms and educates some of the district’s
poorest students about healthy eating habits. This year, 12
Buying locally often means paying more for the product, but there are ways around those costs, Record said.
It won’t be a long-term solution, Record said, but next year there will be a national grant program for districts implementing Farm-to-School programs.
“I think grant programs are part of the answer,” Record said. “I’ve also heard of some schools working with suppliers at lowering the cost because they are buying a quantity. I’ve heard of schools sort of paring down their menus and maybe offering less options.”
The rise of green pesticides
(GreenBiz.com) – When people think of organic food, the assumption is that it's healthier, tastier, better for the planet, and grown without the use of chemicals. The first three are generally true, but there's a widespread misconception about chemical use on organic foods, namely that there is none.
While the constantly growing demand for more organic produce from shoppers is generally a good thing for the planet and for business, the misunderstanding that organics are chemical-free by definition could lead to dashed expectations and sullied reputations.
Initiatives such as Safeway's O organics line and Walmart's foray into local and organic produce are
reactions to the continued growth in demand for organics; the
Although organic agriculture is still a corner of the overall field, it's big business -- and getting bigger. And that growth may require at least a short-term increase in the use of organic-approved pesticides and fertilizers.
But organic farmers and those transitioning to organic can't just toss any old chemical onto their crops or land. The point of organic agriculture is to go input-free, eventually. But sometimes chemicals, even synthetic ones, are needed. That's why the National Organic Standards lists synthetic substances that are allowed for use on organic crops.
When a manufacturer develops a new formulation it wants to market to organic farmers, it must be submitted for approval to one of two organizations: the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or the Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI). The vast majority of the applications go to OMRI, which maintains a list of more than 2,000 products [PDF] currently allowed for use in organic systems.
OMRI currently receives about 30 to 40 applications every month. That's a big jump from 10 years ago, before the National Organic Standards were finalized. Back then, the nonprofit got just 2 to 3 applications a month, according to Lindsay Fernandez-Salvador, OMRI's program director. Even though about 10 percent of applications get rejected, OMRI's list of approved substances has doubled over the past five years, she said.
"With the onset of regulations that are published, there's more consistency," Fernandez-Salvador said. "Everyone knew where they were going to."
The growth in the market for organics is also likely a driver of this trend, she added. As farms seek to earn the organic label, they face a three-year window of adherence to organic practices before they're certified – during which time they're most likely to need to use those organic-approved products to control pests.
Many of those new certified farmers are transitioning from
conventional agriculture, according to Chris Schreiner, executive director of
Oregon Tilth, which has certified more than 750 farms
in the
"I see that as the funnel point," said Will Daniels, senior vice president of operations and organic integrity at Earthbound Farm. As they convert land, new farmers learn that using inputs is not the way to a productive organic system, he said.
The organic certification process underscores this way of thinking, Schreiner noted. Farmers must design an integrated pest-management plan that uses inputs to manage pests only as a last line of defense, he said. "I think they come to understand that organic management systems are about much more than materials. Inputs for crop production cost money."
Though there are no data on how much organic farmers spend on chemicals, there is a huge market for chemical inputs: In 2007, conventional farmers spent more than $10 billion on chemical inputs -- 4 percent of their overall farm production costs, according to the 2008 U.S. Census of Agriculture.
Companies that make these organically compliant products see the potential market for these products differently. They're not aiming for the new, small growers, but the big ones that need to scale production of high-yield, attractive produce.
"The way [the
MGK makes and sells crop protection products, including a line of botanically based pesticides certified by EPA as organically compliant. MGK reports 20 percent growth in that product line over the last three years.
The company's products and others like them are just another tool in an organic farmer's toolbox that MGK wants to sell to large organic operations. "I see the opportunity is the bigger organic operations looking to improve their yield," Buenneke said. "They are looking at products they can rely on consistently."
If the products are formulated correctly so they are environmentally friendly and targeted to address specific problems, they're likely to garner wide acceptance from farmers, according to Gwendolyn Wyard, associate director of Organic Standards and Industry Outreach at the Organic Trade Association.
"I cannot express enough the importance of mechanical, cultural and biological controls," Wyard said in an e-mail exchange. "The farmer must, however, have a toolbox of additional controls [materials] that are integrated into the management of the organic system."
Large, established organic farms are finding through experience that chemical inputs aren't necessary to produce good-looking, high-yield crops and research is bearing out that experience.
Organic systems are economically competitive with conventional systems because of lower input costs, according to Rodale Institute's Farming Systems Trial, a 30-year side-by-side study of organic and conventional farming.
Earthbound Farm and its 37,000 acres of certified organic cropland is a good example of this. It does not use inputs on the vast majority of its crops, according to Daniels. All of the produce it sells is rated U.S. No. 1 under the USDA Quality Standards, he said.
"It's not because we're spraying a bunch of stuff on the crop," Daniels said. Instead Earthbound uses a system of integrated pest management including hand weeding, trap crops and beneficial bugs. "It's a challenge that I think being persistent and being on top of is very important."
End Transmission