Why former organic farmer, food inspector turned against Big Organic to embrace GMOs

Mischa Popoff | July 30, 2015 | Genetic Literacy Project

There was a time, not so long ago, when the American organic movement actually stood for something.  I grew up on an organic grain farm and worked from 1998 to 2003 as a USDA organic inspector. Organic farmers were still in control during this time, and were nearly unanimous in supporting the development of no-till (or min-till) methods that don’t rely on synthetic herbicides, which are banned in organic production. Sadly, the effort failed, thanks entirely to the rise of a new, rabidly anti-GMO, urban organic leadership.

Natural substances were experimented with to replace Monsanto’s herbicide Roundup, but all proved ineffective, leaving the roots of weeds to regenerate, or proving more toxic than Roundup, turning an organic field into a moonscape devoid of beneficial insects and microorganisms.  Not a single peer-reviewed article was written admitting to the failure. …… The organic industry is now bigger than Major League Baseball, based in part on cheap imports from countries like China, where standards and enforcement are even lower than in the US, and paranoia…… urban activists who had never worked a day on a farm simply redoubled their attack against…….GMOs……Meanwhile, since organic crops are not tested under the Clinton-Bush USDA NOP, a whopping 43 percent of certified-organic food now contains synthetic pesticide residue……To Read More….