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July 10, 2009
June 2, 2009
Battle Over Beets
Corvallis Gazette Times, May 30, 2009
www.gazettetimes.com/articles/
By Bennett Hall
Organic seed producer Frank Morton has been warning people for years that genetically modified organisms pose a serious threat to the Willamette Valley’s vegetable seed industry.
Now he thinks his worst GMO nightmare may be coming true.
Roundup Ready sugarbeets — a patented variety engineered by Monsanto to tolerate the company’s widely used Roundup herbicide — have turned up in a soil mixture being sold to gardeners at a Corvallis landscaping supply business just a few miles from Morton’s fields.
He fears some of those roots may now be sprouting in area gardens. If so, they could soon start to bolt, sending out clouds of pollen that could fertilize his crop of golden chard — a closely related plant — and render it worthless for the organic seed market. It would also negate years of breeding that went into producing an especially cold-hardy line.
Worse still, Morton says, the GMO sugarbeets could cross-pollinate the fields of other chard growers in the area who supply seed to major bagged-salad distributors in California, potentially introducing genetically modified chard into the food system without the approval of federal regulators.
“I’d say we’ve got maybe two weeks to find it before it starts shedding pollen,” Morton said. “I think we’ve got a ticking time bomb on our hands.”
This is exactly the kind of problem Morton was hoping to head off in court.
Last year, at Morton’s instigation, the Center for Food Safety, the Sierra Club, the Organic Seed Alliance and High Mowing Organic Seeds filed suit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture over Roundup Ready sugarbeets. Morton is a member of the Center for Food Safety and sits on the board of the Organic Seed Alliance.
The lawsuit, now before a federal judge in California, contends that USDA officials violated federal law when they deregulated the genetically modified sugarbeets in 2005 and asks for an injunction to halt their planting, sale or distribution.
Commercial cultivation of Roundup Ready beets, the plaintiffs claim, could contaminate organic seed stocks, harm consumers, and damage the environment by encouraging increased use of Roundup herbicide.
The USDA is contesting the suit.
All of this mattered to Morton because he wanted to keep genetically modified beets out of his own back yard.
The Willamette Valley is the source of virtually all of the sugarbeet seed produced in the United States, but until recently, all of that seed was conventionally grown.
Now, however, the big Midwestern growers that dominate the industry are demanding beets that can tolerate Roundup, and Willamette Valley sugarbeet seed producers are acting to oblige their customers.
“Right out of the gate, they screwed up,” Morton said. “All along they’ve been talking about their impeccable seed-protection practices, and the first year they try to go 100 percent Roundup Ready production, they’ve already had an accident.”
Genetically modified crops are a contentious subject in the Willamette Valley, a highly productive farming region where a wide variety of seed crops are grown.
The most important of these is grass seed, a half-billion-dollar industry for the state, but others are big business as well.
Vegetable and flower seeds posted gross sales of $22.5 million in 2007, the most recent year for which statistics are available, and sugarbeet seed generated $3.5 million.
Purity is essential to seed producers because the marketplace demands it. Homeowners don’t want weeds sprouting in a freshly planted lawn, and backyard gardeners don’t want pink radishes growing from a bag of white radish seed.
Pickiest of all are organic gardeners, who pay a premium for seed certified to come from plants grown without chemicals — and without genetic engineering. Even a small amount of GMO content would cost a batch of seeds its organic certification.
“There’s a large portion of the population that wants nothing to do with genetically modified foods,” Morton said. “If we get one in 10,000 (seeds), we consider that contaminated. Our customers will not buy it.”
That sort of contamination, Morton said, could deal a heavy blow to his company, Wild Garden Seeds of Philomath, a small venture that had about $170,000 in sales last year. The business produces about 150 seed varieties, all organic, and employs five full-time workers, plus seasonal help.
In addition to ruining his chard crop, Morton said, GMO contamination could damage his reputation — and could potentially harm the reputation of all organic growers in the Willamette Valley.
“In the organic seed industry, the watchword is integrity,” he said, “and that means zero tolerance for GMO presence in the seed.”
Cross-pollination can be a problem for all seed growers — organic, conventional or genetically modified. To guard against possible tainting of seed crops, the Willamette Valley Specialty Seed Association has devised an elaborate system of isolation zones.
Farmers use stick pins flagged with squares of colored paper to mark the locations of sensitive crops on one of two “pinning maps” — one for the south valley, one for the north — kept at the Linn and Marion County offices of the Oregon State University Extension Service.
The association has established minimum isolation distances between crops. GMO sugarbeets, for instance, can’t be grown within three miles of any related species, including table beets, fodder beets and chard.
Dan McGrath, an Extension agent in the Linn County office, said it’s a good system. The growers respect each other’s isolation zones, work with the association to resolve disputes and take all responsible precautions, sanitizing their fields after harvest and taking care to prevent seed spills during transport.
“It’s pretty well organized,” McGrath said. “The possibility of cross-contamination is pretty low.”
Of course, the system only works as long as the plants stay where they’re put.
On May 6, OSU weed scientist Carol Mallory-Smith was notified that a soil mixture being sold at Pro Bark in west Corvallis contained sugarbeet roots. The next day Mallory-Smith obtained a sample and confirmed the mix included viable sugarbeet roots, some of which tested positive for the Roundup Ready gene.
Because the roots could sprout and produce pollen, they could cross-pollinate related species, introducing the Roundup Ready gene to non-GMO crops that could spread it even further.
“It’s happened in the past with corn (and) it’s happened in the past with canola,” Mallory-Smith said.
Not only does that pose a risk to organic seed producers like Morton, she said, it would also be viewed with alarm by organic gardeners and others opposed to genetic engineering.
“This is an emotional issue in a lot of ways,” Mallory-Smith said. “It’s a scientific issue, but it has a lot of social implications and its has a lot of economic implications.”
Julie Jackson, who owns Pro Bark with her husband, Jeff, said the couple had no idea there was any viable plant material in the mix or they would never have sold it.
She said the soil mixture — a product called Fertile Mix — had been removed from sale but wouldn’t say where it was now or how much was sold to the public. She said the soil that went into the mix came from several sources and she didn’t know which might have been the origin of the beet roots.
“As far as we knew, we were just recycling potting soil,” Jackson said. “We thought we were doing somebody else a favor and they thought they were doing us a favor, and it turns out to have been unwise on somebody’s part.”
There are lots of farmers in the valley who grow sugarbeet seed, but all of the production is under contract to two companies: West Coast Beet Seed Co. in Salem, and Betaseed in Tangent. So far, neither has come forward to take responsibility for the GMO beet roots that got away, even though numbered tags found with the roots could probably be used to identify the source.
One reason for their reticence is the Center for Food Safety suit.
When asked which company was the source of the problem, Greg Loberg of West Coast Beet Seed declined to comment.
“We’re not going to talk about that,” he said. “There’s active litigation.”
Phone calls to Betaseed officials were not returned last week.
Likewise, the Willamette Valley Specialty Seed Association — which counts both organic seed producers like Morton and the two sugarbeet seed companies among its membership — is staying out of the fray for now.
“We’re trying to wait for this litigation to get done so we can talk about it more freely and set up some precautions,” said Craig Armbrust, the association’s president.
But he acknowledged that GMOs are a hot button topic for members and said the group is taking an official stand on another genetically modified crop.
“I can tell you that for the brassicas — cabbage — our position is to keep GMOs out,” Armbrust said
Lawsuit or no lawsuit, Morton wants somebody to tidy up the biotech mess on his doorstep before his worst fears are realized.
Whoever’s responsible for allowing Roundup Ready sugarbeets to get into gardening soil, Morton believes, needs to track down everybody who bought some and recover the roots before they start shedding genetically altered pollen.
“I just think the GMOs are too difficult to contain,” he said. “Everybody said it couldn’t possibly happen, and I say when mistakes do happen, there has to be a way to clean them up.”
Bennett Hall can be reached at bennett.hall@lee.net or 541-758-9529.
May 8, 2009
The buzz about Colony Collapse Disorder
May 8, 2009. Contact: Robert Cramer at (406) 994-7467 or rcramer@montana.edu
Two high resolution photos to accompany this article can be found at: http://www.montana.edu/cpa/
By Melynda Harrison, MSU News Service
Bozeman--Montana State University graduate student Joanna Gress drove from Polson to Bozeman with 50,000 honeybees in her car at the end of April.
“It was a four-hour drive with a lot of bees, but it’s what I do for science,” laughed the plant sciences doctoral student.
Gress brought the bees to MSU to study the cause of, and develop a management strategy for, Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD).
The main symptom of CCD is a rapidly depopulated beehive. The queen and immature bees (brood) remain, and there are no dead bees in the hive. Often there is still honey. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, some beekeepers began reporting losses of 30 percent to 90 percent of their hives in late 2006 to CCD.
“Overnight, the bees are just gone and you don’t know what happened,” said Gress.
The bees may have been infected by a single-celled, spore-producing parasite called Nosema ceranae.
“Nosema ceranae was first found in Asian honeybees and has now jumped to European honeybees and can be found worldwide,” said Gress.
Nosema’s spore has a tough resistant wall protecting it from conditions in the host and in the environment. Conditions in the bees’ intestines trigger the explosive release of spores and their contents into the cells of the host bee. The Nosema nuclei divide repeatedly inside the infected bee, producing large amoeba-like organisms with multiple nuclei. Some of the organisms mature into spores, completing the lifecycle.
There is an antibiotic that kills the parasite in its active, reproducing state, but no method of killing its spores. The spores are extremely hardy and can survive freezing, dehydration and extreme heat. During the winter when bees are hibernating, their spore-laden feces pile up in the hive. Sick bees often have diarrhea and defecate in the hive, greatly increasing the chances that other bees will be exposed.
“Spring comes along and the bees start cleaning out their combs and they reinfect themselves,” Gress said.
This is a problem for beekeepers. As they share combs among hives and use the same equipment to clean multiple hives, they can inadvertently spread the spores, infecting other colonies.
According to the USDA, one in three mouthfuls of the American diet directly or indirectly benefits from honeybee pollination. Bee pollination is responsible for $15 billion in added crop value, particularly for specialty crops.
As a doctoral student, Gress rotated through three researcher’s laboratories to gain a variety of experiences. In one rotation she participated in fungal pathogenesist Robert Cramer’s ongoing research. Gress tested different compounds beekeepers could use to kill the Nosema ceranae spores and found that a 10 percent bleach solution worked the best. Beekeepers can use it to clean their hives and equipment.
“The great thing is that it is cheap and readily available,” said Gress.
Another compound with potential against Nosema ceranae spores is formic acid. Since some beekeepers already use it to kill other bee pests, “it would be a two-for-one solution,” Gress said.
“I don’t know if you can totally get rid of it,” said Gress. “But, I think we can reduce it so that it’s not interfering with honey production.”
The bees Gress picked up in Polson will be used for another CCD project. The three colonies will be kept on the MSU campus at the Montana Agricultural Experiment Station. Gress will siphon bees off the healthy hives to infect with two species of parasite in her lab: Nosema ceranae and Nosema apis.
Nosema ceranae has replaced a related species of parasite -- Nosema apis -- that caused bee dysentery, but less death. This new species creates more spores, has a higher infection rate and a higher kill rate than Nosema apis.
Gress aims to determine whether Nosema ceranae is the cause of CCD in the United States.
“We are not sure what causes CCD in the U.S., but it is probably multi-factored,” said Gress. “It’s like a perfect storm of high levels of infection by the varroa mite (a parasite that feeds on bee blood and transmits bee viruses), poor nutrition due to pollinating crops with low nutritional value, and pesticide use, but Nosema ceranae is probably the main factor.”
Using microarray analysis, Gress will look at the gene expression of infected bees to see what genes are different between the bees infected with the two different Nosema species versus uninfected bees. She hopes to determine if the bees’ immune systems respond differently to the two parasites.
Gress hopes the analysis will lead to clues that explain why Nosema ceranae is more virulent than Nosema apis. It may be that the parasite puts an increased stress on the bees, or it may be that it is more lethal because the bees cannot muster a strong immune response to it.
“If the latter is the case, then maybe we want to try and breed for greater resistance to Nosema ceranae,” said Gress. “It’s an important question to figure out in order to help beekeepers come up with a management strategy.”
It was a lecture by entomologist (and now Gress’ advisor) Kevin Wanner that drew her to bee research. She became more interested after speaking with Cramer, who is working on Nosema ceranae.
“Joanna rotated through our laboratory to gain some experience working with honeybees and Nosema ceranae,” Cramer recalled. “Joanna is very enthusiastic about honeybees and she has the drive and passion to make this a successful endeavor.”
“I’ve always thought CCD was interesting and this is a new field at MSU,” Gress said. “We have done some bee research here, but not a lot, so it is exciting to spearhead this project.”
Gress purchased two jars of sting stopper and admitted to being a little nervous about driving a car full of bees, but she felt it was worth it to move on the next step of her research.
“I like big-picture projects that have a real world application,” said Gress. “I’m going into this really excited.”
May 4, 2009
FAMILY FARM FORUM ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP
From: McAleer, Patricia [mailto:PMCALEER@CSREES.USDA.GOV]
Sent: Thursday, April 23, 2009 2:52 PM
To: statecontacts
Subject: [statecontacts] Family Farm Forum May 11
WEBINAR INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE FAMILY FARM FORUM ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP Date and time: May 11th 2 - 3.30 pm Eastern Purpose: To enhance research, teaching and outreach programs on topics of importance to family farms, by (i) promoting discussion and networking among stakeholders; (ii) disseminating information about funding opportunities; and (iii) enhancing impacts of CSREES supported programs by disseminating information and encouraging participation. Equipment needed: Your computer should have DSL / Cable line or better. A dial up modem will not work, unfortunately You’ll also need Flashware software on your computer, version 9 or better. Most computers have this or it can be downloaded free You can also check the official computer requirements A headset is best for hearing the presentations but your computer speakers will also work (you may need turn up the volume) PLEASE do not turn on any microphone with your headset. This can distort the sound system We hope you will participate in the webinar by typing questions and comments into a Chat Pod Test in advance: We suggest you test out your equipment anytime before the meeting by logging on to http://www.extension.iastate.edu/testconnect/ This would be the time to check the Flashware, for example, and download it if it’s not on your computer On May 11th: Log on to http://connect.extension.iastate.edu/csrees/ a few minutes before 2 pm (Eastern). The capacity is limited to 100. Patricia McAleer
Program Specialist
Economic and Community Systems, CSREES, USDA
Phone: 202 /720-2635
Fax: 202 / 690-3162
E-mail: pmcaleer@csrees.usda.gov CSREES' mission is to advance knowledge for agriculture, the environment, human health and well-being, and communities.
http://www.csrees.usda.gov/familysmallfarms.cfm
New WSU research documents health benefits of organic soil
One of the hottest trends in gardening today is organic gardening which relies on natural processes to grow plants. There is now a growing consensus among scientists that organically grown fruits and vegetables may contain higher levels of nutrients than conventionally grown produce.
“Organic gardening is experiencing a surge in interest,” said Tonie Fitzgerald, state Master Gardener program leader for WSU Extension, “and there is more information about doing it correctly.”
Master Gardeners are university-trained volunteer educators who answer garden-related questions, teach gardening classes, and manage demonstration gardens on behalf of county extension offices across the state.
There is no question that organic gardening requires more work. Now there is growing scientific evidence showing that the extra effort may pay off in some nutritional benefits.
That was the conclusion of a panel of scientists at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science this past February in Chicago. The scientists on the panel, which was organized by Preston Andrews, associate professor of horticulture at WSU, and The Organic Center, reviewed a decade of research comparing the impacts of organic and conventional farming systems on soil and food quality.
Among other studies, they cited research that has found that organically farmed tomatoes have higher levels of soluble solids and secondary plant metabolites. Most of the secondary plant metabolites are antioxidants, which help prevent human diseases.
Studies of 27 varieties of organically grown spinach found higher levels of flavonoids and vitamin C and lower levels of nitrates. Nitrates in food can form cancer-causing compounds.
Improved soil chemical and physical properties were seen in apples grown organically in research in Washington. Improvements in soil quality were shown to lead to added nutritional quality, taste, and storability.
Soil is made up principally of mineral particles, organic matter and microorganisms that break down organic residues into organic and eventually inorganic compounds. Organic matter is the residue of decomposing plant and animal material. Organic matter is the fodder for nutrient recycling in the soil, and it also improves soil structure and water retention.
What lessons can home gardeners learn from this research?
“Increase the organic matter content of your soil,” Andrews said. “I think one of the best ways you can do this is with compost. Feed the soil so that the soil microorganisms can provide readily available nitrogen and other nutrients that plants need, but in a more slow-release fashion than synthetic fertilizers do.”
Composting is the managed decomposition of plant and animal material, and is a way of speeding up what happens in the soil naturally. Yard wastes and vegetable scraps, which comprise as much as 20 percent of household garbage, can be recycled in the soil as compost, according to Craig Cogger and Dan Sullivan, authors of “Backyard Composting,” a free WSU Extension bulletin.
“With composting, you get some readily available sources of nitrogen and ammonium because the soil microorganisms produce them as the digest the proteins and then the amino acids that are broken down from the proteins,” Andrews said.
How long will it take to see benefits?
“It depends on the soil you start with and how greedy you are for producing something from the soil,” Andrews said. For depleted soils, he recommends planting a green manure crop, especially legumes which fix nitrogen from the air, then turning it into the soil and letting it decompose before planting a vegetable crop.
“You can add compost along with the green manure crop,” he said. “It really depends on the condition of the soil you start with and what you want to produce from it.”
“Backyard Composting” is available as a free download from WSU Extension at http://cru.cahe.wsu.edu/CEPublications/eb1784/eb1784.pdf .
WSU Extension Master Gardener can provide information on organic gardening and composting.
April 28, 2009
Crop Rotation on Organic Farms
- - Crop Rotation on Organic Farms: A Planning Manual, NRAES-177, will be available in July 2009. This new 150-page book will be a boon to organic farmers, farm advisors, and educators interested in learning how to plan and manage an effective crop rotation system. Working with expert organic farmers, the authors have developed crop rotation guidelines and strategies that can be applied under various field conditions and with a wide range of crops.
Through June 15, NRAES is offering pre-printing prices that are 30-40% off the $24 list price. For more information on this book and to place a secure order online, visit http://www.nraes.org
For 35 years, NRAES has published practical, science- and experience-based books on a variety of subjects including fruit and vegetable production; natural resources; landscaping; personal finance; composting; and livestock and dairy. SARE,
Natural Resource, Agriculture, and Engineering Service (NRAES)
PO Box 4557
Ithaca, NY 14852-4557
Phone: (607)255-7654 * Fax: (607)254-8770
E-Mail:
March 16, 2009
Learn All About the Sweet Life…Beekeeping!
For the last time until Fall 2009, the popular 5-week Master Beekeeper apprentice level course will run in Everett starting April 6.
Don’t miss your last opportunity this spring to join WSU Snohomish County Extension and Beez Neez Apiary Supply as they sponsor the apprentice level course in the Master Beekeeper Program. This five-week course serves as a thorough introduction to beekeeping for novice beekeepers as well as a comprehensive refresher course for experienced apiculturists.
The course will be held Monday evenings, April 6 through May 4, 2009, from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at WSU Snohomish County Extension, McCollum Park, 600 – 128th St SE, Everett.
Designed to build basic beekeeping skills, topics covered include bee biology, equipment, seasonal management requirements, identification and management of pests, as well as honey removal and processing. Overall focus will home in on the unique challenges and benefits to beekeeping in the Pacific Northwest.
A workshop manual complements the lectures. Participants completing the course and passing the Washington State Apprentice Beekeeper level exam (open book test) receive a certificate towards the Journey and Master Beekeeper levels. The instructor is local beekeeper and WSU Snohomish County Extension Entomologist Dave Pehling. In addition, Master Beekeeper Jim Tunnell, owner of Beez Neez Apiary in Snohomish, will provide testing assistance and expertise.
Space is filling fast and class size is limited. Register now to hold your spot. Cost for the five-week course is $50 per person. To register, contact Karie Christensen at (425) 338-2400, email klchristen@cahnrs.wsu.edu, or download the form at www.snohomish.wsu.edu/ag/workshops/beekeeping09.pdf and mail with your check.
For more information on the course, contact Dave Pehling, pehling@wsu.edu, (425) 357-6019.
Extension programs and policies are consistent with federal and state laws and regulations on nondiscrimination regarding race, color, gender, national origin, religion, age, disability, and sexual orientation. Evidence of non-compliance may be reported through your local Extension Office. Persons with a disability requiring special accommodation can request accommodation 21 days before training at (425) 338.2400. If accommodation is not requested in advance, we cannot guarantee availability on-site.
March 2, 2009
Bee Smart!
Colony Collapse Information?http://cahnrsnews.wsu.
edu/reportertools/news/
2008/bee-research-
2008-04.html
Buzzworthy Plants to Attract Bees?
http://www.thedaily
green.com/going-green/
latest/2790
February 20, 2009
January 27, 2009
WSU, Bee Industry Dedicate Funds to Study Colony Collapse Causes
PULLMAN, Wash. – Washington State University scientists and Pacific Northwest beekeepers are joining forces to find out what is causing the mysterious Colony Collapse Disorder that has wiped out thousands of hives throughout the region over the past several years.
Two large beekeepers in the Pacific Northwest – Eric Olson of Yakima and Tom Hamilton of Nampa, Idaho – have made donations as seed money for the research. Noyes Apiaries in New Plymouth, Idaho, the Idaho Honey Association and the Washington State Beekeepers Registration Fund also have made contributions. With those donations and dedicated funds from the WSU Agricultural Research Center, researchers will spend nearly $200,000 over the next two years to look at causes and possible treatments for the disease.
“Hive health is critically important to the bee industry in Washington, and bees are essential to pollinate many of our important crops,” said Ralph Cavalieri, associate dean in the WSU College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences and director of the Agricultural Research Center. “The financial partnership with the beekeepers will bolster our scientists’ work on this urgently important issue. This is a great start.”
The Washington State Beekeepers Association estimates overall statewide losses to the disease at between 35 percent and 50 percent in recent years. With eight of 10 of Washington’s most valuable crops – including apples – being “bee dependent,” Colony Collapse Disorder left unchecked could jeopardize the state’s agricultural economy.
Olson, who lost 4,000 hives worth approximately $1.2 million this spring, said investing in the research and paying for any treatment that is found will be well worth the expense. “The most expensive thing I have is a dead beehive,” he said.
Olson said the “smoking gun” for CCD appears to be Nosema ceranae, a microsporidium that attacks the bee’s ability to process food. WSU entomology professor Walter (Steve) Sheppard agrees that Nosema is a likely culprit. The men are working on a large-scale colony health survey that involves testing bees every 30 days for several major pests and pathogens. They started in January.
“We checked 24 hives in January, and it was stunning what we saw,” Olson said, describing a Nosema build-up in a majority of the bees sampled. He treated the hive with a mega-dose of the antibiotic fumagillin. “That should have caused the Nosema to either disappear or at least go down, but the levels went up,” he said.
Richard Zack, chair of the WSU department of entomology, said Colony Collapse Disorder is just the latest in a number of factors that have threatened the bee-keeping industry for many years.
“This is a long-term problem that started a number of years ago,” he said. “The people who can provide commercial pollinating services are disappearing, and if we solve this specific problem, another one will come along. The goal of this research is to build a program that can help the industry become sustainable again no matter what happens in terms of disease, nutrition and a thousand other factors.”
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