Agriculture
Chair: Blanche Lincoln (D-AR)
- Max Baucus (D-MT)
- Michael Bennet (D-CO)
- Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
- Bob Casey (D-PA)
- Kent Conrad (D-ND)
- Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
- Tom Harkin (D-IA)
- Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
- Pat Leahy (D-VT)
- Ben Nelson (D-NE)
- Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)
- Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)
- Thad Cochran (R-MS)
- John Cornyn (R-TX)
- Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
- Mike Johanns (R-NE)
- Dick Lugar (R-IN)
- Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
- Pat Roberts (R-KS)
- John R. Thune (R-SD)
Appropriations
Chair: Daniel Inouye (D-HI) Ag Sub-Committee
Chair: Herb Kohl (D-WI)
- Byron Dorgan (D-ND)
- Dick Durbin (D-IL)
- Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
- Tom Harkin (D-IA)
- Tim Johnson (D-SD)
- Ben Nelson (D-NE)
- Jack Reed (D-RI)
- Robert Bennett (R-UT)
- Christopher Bond (R-MO)
- Sam Brownback (R-KS)
- Thad Cochran (R-MS)
- Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
- Arlen Specter (R-PA)
Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions
- Chris Dodd (D-CT)
Agriculture
Chair: B Collin Peterson (D-MN)
V. Chair: B Tim Holden (D-PA)
B Joe Baca (D-CA)
- John Boccieri (D-OH)
B* Leonard Boswell (D-IA)
- Bobby Bright (D-AL)
B* Dennis Cardoza (D-CA)
- Travis Childers (D-MS)
B Jim Costa (D-CA)
- Henry Cuellar (D-TX)
- Kathy Dahlkemper (D-PA)
B Brad Ellsworth (D-IN)
- Debbie Halvorson (D-IL)
B Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-SD)
- Steve Kagen (D-WI)
- Larry Kissell (D-NC)
B Frank Kratovil (D-MD)
- Betsy Markey (D-CO)
B Jim Marshall (D-GA)
P Eric Massa (D-NY)
B Mike McIntyre (D-NC)
- Walt Minnick (D-ID)
B Earl Pomeroy (D-ND)
- Mark Schauer (D-MI)
- Kurt Schrader (D-OR)
B David Scott (D-GA)
B Zachary Space (D-OH)
- Timothy Walz (D-MN)
- Frank Lucas (R-OK)
- Bill Cassidy (R-LA)
- K. Michael Conaway (R-TX)
- Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE)
- Virginia Foxx (R-NC)
- Bob Goodlatte (R-VA)
- Sam Graves (R-MO)
- Timothy Johnson (R-IL)
- Steve King (R-IA)
- Robert Latta (R-OH)
- Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO)
- Cynthia Lummis (R-WY)
- Jerry Moran (R-KS)
- Randy Neugebauer (R-TX)
- Phil Roe (R-TN)
- Mike Rogers (R-AL)
- Jean Schmidt (R-OH)
- Adrian Smith (R-NE)
- Glenn Thompson (R-PA) *=House Organic Caucus member B=Blue Dog Democrat
Appropriations
Chair: Dave Obey (D-WI) Ag Sub-Committee
Chair: P Rosa DeLauro (D-CT)
- Sanford Bishop (D-GA)
* Allen Boyd (D-FL)
- Lincoln Davis (D-TN)
*P Sam Farr (D-CA)
*P Maurice D. Hinchey (D-NY)
P Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. (D-IL)
P Marcy Kaptur (D-OH)
- Jack Kingston (R-GA)
- Rodney Alexander (R-LA)
- Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO)
* Tom Latham (R-IA) *=House Organic Caucus member
P=Congressional Progressive Caucus
Education and Labor
P Chair: George Miller (D-CA)
- Jason Altmire (D-PA)
- Robert Andrews (D-NJ)
- Timothy Bishop (D-NY)
P Yvette Clarke (D-NY)
- Joe Courtney (D-CT)
- Susan Davis (D-CA)
P Marcia Fudge (D-OH)
P Raul Grijalva (D-AZ)
P Phil Hare (D-IL)
- Ruben Hinojosa (D-TX)
P Mazie Hirono (D-HI)
- Rush Holt (D-NJ)
- Dale Kildee (D-MI)
P Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)
P Dave Loebsack (D-IA)
- Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY)
P Donald Payne (D-NJ)
- Jared Polis (D-CO)
- Robert Scott (D-VA)
- Joe Sestak (D-PA)
- Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH)
P John Tierney (D-MA)
- Dina Titus (D-NV)
- Paul Tonko (D-NY)
P Lynn Woolsey (D-CA)
- David Wu (D-OR)
- Buck McKeon (R-CA)
- Judy Biggert (R-IL)
- Rob Bishop (R-UT)
- Bill Cassidy (R-LA)
- Michael Castle (R-DE)
- Vernon Ehlers (R-MI)
- Luis F Fortuno (R-PR)
- Brett Guthrie (R-KY)
- Peter Hoekstra (R-MI)
- Duncan D. Hunter (R-CA)
- John Kline (R-MN)
- Kenny Marchant (R-TX)
- Tom McClintock (R-CA)
- Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA)
- Thomas Petri (R-WI)
- Phil Roe (R-TN)
- Todd Russell Platts (R-PA)
- Tom Price (R-GA)
- Mark Souder (R-IN)
- GT Thompson (R-PA)
- Joe Wilson (R-SC) P=Congressional Progressive Caucus
When you visit Iowa, you're nearly guaranteed to see three things: corn, soy beans, and hog confinements. Those were the focus of the field trip I attended yesterday at the Community Food Security Coalition Conference To be totally blunt about it, maybe you've wondered: why are farmers so stupid that they keep growing corn and soybeans year after year? Or corn and corn year after year? And why on earth would anybody stink up their own farm with a hog confinement? And, as you may have guessed, it turns out that the farmers aren't stupid at all. Not one bit. I will explain below. There's also another great question I was asked on a recent visit to Lawrence University. In classic liberal arts professor fashion, one of the professors asked me, "Assuming the farmers are all rational, if they all plant GMOs, then wouldn't that mean that the GMOs are the best choice?" Gooood question. I'll address that below as well.
I rely on Canada to be our better, smarter neighbors to the north. They have some of the same problems as the U.S. - they are no Norway or Denmark - but they can occasionally be counted upon to say no to bad ideas when the U.S. says yes. Not in this case. Canada has approved high oleic acid GM soybeans. Here's what the article says, then I'll tell you why this is a bad idea:
The high oleic trait, developed by DuPont's Pioneer Hi-Bred unit, means the resultant soybean oil consists of 80 percent oleic acid, more than three times the amount present in ordinary soybean oil. High levels of oleic acid have been shown to remove the need for hydrogenation, a process that increases stability and shelf life, but results in the creation of harmful trans fats.
Pioneer president and DuPont vice president and general manager Paul Schickler said: "This is a significant milestone in our effort to bring the high oleic soybean trait to market. We're seeing strong results in field testing of soybeans with the high oleic trait and strong interest from food companies looking for a new oil product with improved nutritional qualities and performance characteristics."
In the US, the trait is still being reviewed by the US Department of Agriculture but the variety will be field tested in Canada this year, with the potential for products containing the soybean oil to be released on the market from next year.
What's oleic acid? It's an omega-9 essential fatty acid (EFA). Unlike omega-3 and omega-6 EFA's, we can actually make oleic acid ourselves. But it's not really a good thing. We get sick when we are deprived of omega-3 and omega-6s, and that's when our bodies make omega-9s. And even though our bodies are making oleic acid, they still don't really do the trick. Which isn't to say that they are bad for us - I don't know - they just aren't a substitute for omega-3's or 6's.
Soybean oil, pre-genetic modification, has about 7 times as much omega-6 EFAs as omega-3 EFAs. This ratio is important. As I wrote about recently, the omega-6:omega-3 ratio in our bodies shows links to heart disease and other health issues. Western diets contain too much omega-6's in relation to omega-3's. One of the reason why we've reduced omega-3's is because they go rancid quickly and we like our foods to have long shelflives. The optimal ratio is somewhere between two to four times as much omega-6 compared to omega-3, from what I've read and heard.
So how about this soy? It's more of the same - another move in the wrong direction. Sure they reduce the need to partially hydrogenate the soybeans (i.e. create trans fats and simultaneously remove omega-3s while leaving omega-6s intact), but the article says that the soy has a longer shelf-life than unmodified soy. Translation: Less omega-3s. They are taking out the omega-3s and replacing them with omega-9s. That's a dumb idea.
About 50% of the acres harvested in the U.S. in 2007 were planted in corn and soy. Another 36% of the acres harvested were planted in wheat and hay. Veggies made up only 1.5% of the harvested acres in the U.S.; orchard crops (fruit and tree nuts) made up 1.6%. So who's growing all this fucking corn? Are small farmers equally as guilty as the biggest farms out there? Take a look:
Farm Size
% of Sales($) From Corn
% of Sales($) from Wheat
% of Sales($) from Soy
1-9 acres
0.2%
0.0%
0.1%
10-49 acres
0.8%
0.1%
0.5%
50-69 acres
1.5%
0.2%
0.9%
70-99 acres
3.0%
0.3%
1.7%
100-139 acres
3.9%
0.4%
2.3%
140-179 acres
5.2%
0.8%
3.5%
180-219 acres
6.2%
0.7%
3.7%
220-259 acres
7.4%
0.8%
4.4%
260-499 acres
10.9%
1.3%
6.1%
500-999 acres
16.2%
2.0%
8.8%
1000-1999 acres
21.1%
4.0%
11.2%
2000+ acres
18.2%
8.6%
8.0%
All Farms
13.4%
3.6
6.8%
Because this table is measured in sales dollars as a percent of all sales dollars, you can't tell how many acres were planted of each crop. You CAN tell whose business is more reliant on corn, wheat, and soy though. And that's obvious: the bigger you are, the more likely you are to grow corn, wheat, and soy.
1. Biotech companies aren't making the seeds for the right crops needed to solve world hunger. Most GM seeds are corn, soy, cotton, and canola ("Western cash crops" as dubbed by Slate). These seeds are designed for enormous, industrialized farms... common here in the U.S. but not for your average village in the developing world.
2. Poor farmers can't buy GM crops anyway! (And if the prices were dropped so they could, that's much less attractive to biotech firms)
By contrast, relatively little GM investment is going into the crops that do matter to poor farmers-cassava, sorghum, millet, pigeon pea, chickpea, and groundnut. These crops are more nutritionally balanced than corn or soybeans and are far better suited to the local soils and often-tough climates of poor nations. Yet, because poor farmers can't afford high-tech seeds, GM companies have little incentive to invest research dollars to improve "marginal" crops.
3. The properties of the GM crops aren't all that great... and the wonderful promises of the biotech firms are, well, a bunch of B.S. They are just like the old alchemists, trying to turn everything into gold. Genetic modification can do SOME things, but in many cases, you're just not going to beat Mother Nature at her own game.
GM companies also aren't being honest about what this technology can do-and what it can't. In the rush to exploit the current crisis, the industry routinely promises to re-engineer crops to give massive yields-Monsanto has vowed to double grain yields by 2030-or to grow with less water or to thrive in degraded soils.
4. We can do a lot more with current seeds that don't even require genetic engineering. Hallelujah! Read this paragraph!!! Finally! Someone gets it!!!!
In fact, many breeding experts believe that the fastest way to boost yields isn't by engineering new seeds but by exploiting the untapped potential of existing seeds. As Lamkey points out, the yields for corn and soybeans on America's top-performing farms are more than double the national average for those same crops. (In 2007, the top soybean farmer produced 154 bushels per acre, compared with the national average of around 41 bushels.) That means there is considerable room for improvement before these seeds are maxed out. These "top producers" aren't using different seeds; instead, they're benefiting from better soils, using better farming practices, and applying lots of water, fertilizer, and other chemicals-factors that GM technology won't influence anyway.
Here's one last fantastic quote I totally agree with:
And even if GM technology is shown to be safe, the industry needs to accept that many consumers may still choose not to eat genetically modified foods. That means no more lawsuits against food companies that market their food as "GM free." That also means no more lobbying against laws requiring that foods with GM ingredients be labeled as such. Consumers have a right to know what's in their food.
Amen to that! Yes, people have a right to know what's in their food. Plain and simple. Even if GMOs are safe, we have a right to know.
The last notable tidbit from this article... a clever pun. You've heard of the "Green Revolution" (a term that makes me feel sick to my stomach). The article speaks of a future "Gene Revolution." Great pun, scary thought.
The lobbying organization for the biotech industry - BIO - just put out a press release in the last week bragging about the latest numbers showing just how many crops grown in the U.S. are genetically modified. According to their information:
Genetically modified crops were introduced commercially in the U.S. in 1996.
92% of all soybeans grown in the U.S. in 2008 are GMOs
86% of U.S. grown cotton (measured by acreage) is genetically modified
80% of corn grown in the U.S. in 2008 is genetically modified.
Each of these crops is genetically modified in one of two ways. Either it can resist being sprayed with Monsanto's herbicide Roundup or it has a natural pesticide (Bt) engineered into its genes. The biotech industry brags profusely (see the next quote) about how much less pesticides are used because of GMOs, totally neglecting that the "herbicide tolerant" type of GM crop allows (and encourages) farmers to spray more herbicide.
Additionally, ag biotechnology has substantial environmental benefits because biotech crop varieties require less cultivation and fewer pesticide applications, thereby saving fuel and reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions into the air. This also improves soil health and water retention.
I particularly have a problem with the last sentence of this quote. The biotech industry relies on the continuation of "Big Ag" and it is only in that context that they are making any improvements in agriculture. If one considers all of the possible solutions to the various problems farmers and consumers face, Big Ag and biotech would certainly not come out on top.
