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Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Crop Biodiversity in the United States


Crop Biodiversity in the United States

Author:  Tanya Berry
Contact:  tanberry@pdx.edu



RAFI published their 2014 finding from the Summit on Seeds.  According to RAFI, in the last 20 years we have lost 33% of biodiversity in agriculture.  Of course there are several reasons for this:  Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) foods, planting what is profitable, population increase which increase the demand and climate changes to name a few.

It has been all over the news, regarding GMO food produce and production.  GMO foods have been modified genetically to conform to many things producers want such as fresher produce longer, longer shelf life, crops more resilliant to pets, larger fruits or less seeds to name a few reasons.

Even on Oregon’s November ballot, Messure 92 would have required all food produce and producers to modify the labeling of the foods to show if any or part of the food(s) have been genertically modified.  The ballats were so but No votes beat it by approximately one half of a percent.  There are missed emotions as the voting results show.  Some what to know what they are eating, however the other side just states it will drive food prices up.  Approximately 80% of the processed foods include GMOs.

Another is the US is going majority of the Worlds crops today for profit.  Unfortuately, the major crops are only a few such as wheat, cotton, corn, hay and rice.  This does not pave the way for bediversity.  There are organizitions such as RAFI, ICUN and Syngenta that are bringing public awarenes to these issues and assisting farmers to develop biodiverse crops.

 
References


RAFI USA
 
 
Non-GMO Project
http://www.nongmoproject.org/learn-more/

 

Ballotpedia
http://ballotpedia.org/Oregon_Mandatory_Labeling_of_GMOs_Initiative,_Measure_92_(2014)


International Union for Conservation of Nature 
http://iucn.org/


Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture.

 

 

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