.

“In theory, everybody buys the best and cheapest commodities offered him on the market. In practice, if everyone went around pricing, and chemically tasting before purchasing the dozens of soaps, or fabrics or brands of bread which are for sale, economic life would be hopelessly jammed. To avoid such confusion, society consents to have its choice narrowed to ideas and objects brought to it attention through propaganda of all kinds. There is consequently a vast and continuous effort going on to capture our minds in the interest of some policy or commodity or idea” Bernays, Edward, “Propaganda”, 1928, reprinted by Miller, Mark Crispin with an Introduction, IG Publishing, 2005

“The Only thing more expensive than education is ignorance.”, Benjamin Franklin

Writer’s Note: The thoughts and statements made here are shared to help spark interest in this topic. Clearly, here in the United States, GMOs and the way they have been used to date have made for a subject that has taken on a debate that has spread well past the realm of farmers. It has now seeped

into our culture, urban and rural. This is a good thing. It is my opinion that is must happen. It is a sign of a healthy society; and when we can have open, strong debate that is when we can begin to figure out just what is best for that society. The United States is one of the youngest societies on Earth. It is by no mistake that it was this country that has given the rest of the world so many wondrous tools and technologies. It is said that the United States is the Grand Experiment as its government was formed in a unique manner by men who were wise beyond their years. In the spirit of experiments, we must realize that sometimes experiments go well and other times not

so well. I have read hundreds of articles, commentaries, and social media posts about GMOs. The concerning thing is that some people talk about GMOs being bad; and yet, they don’t even have the right terminology; and therefore, don’t know what they are talking about. Pesticides are not GMOs. Fertilizer is not a pesticide. Others, who are well educated men and women of science, stand firmly behind the logic of science and how this technology is performing as needed. But yet, when we look at the results, our “American fields of grain” are quickly becoming our “American fields of resistant weeds and worms”.

I suppose this note is becoming its own blog. In writing this I am saying that, perhaps, we have allowed the Husbandry of agriculture to get lost in the science. I am sure that there are those of you who will take umbrage to this and say that we must proceed on the path we currently take. So, it is with that thought, that I write this blog. Many have written about GMOs. However, few have written about them from the beginning of their use here in the United States. Sure, there have been millions of

Round Up Corn Weeds growing in Round Up Ready Soybeans

communications in the form of blogs, tweets, texts, and articles on specific parts. But I have read very few that have sort of lumped it all together in a shortened chronology for someone to just read, and perhaps gain, a more overarching picture of just what we are experimenting with and how well we have handled it so far. Because of many things beyond my control, I have had the privilege for the peak of my career in agriculture to correspond with the first 20 years of GMO seed. There are few in this population subset, those of us who have firsthand experience with selling, learning about, and helping use GMO traited seeds. We are mostly too busy to take the time to sit down and recount our experiences.1 Others are too scared and perhaps they are justified in that for intimidation is a tool used by those who have much to lose and not a strong case to defend themselves. So here we are, many people have opinions on GMO technology and yet far less of us know about how it all began, especially when told from an agronomist, or Certified Crop Adviser, point of view. I do not write this as a reference article. Instead, I write it as someone who knows he is fallible and is looking to have others help piece this time line together for a more thorough measurement as to our success…..or failure of using such technology. Time is the best standard by which true success and failure are measured.

It Began With an Oil Spill

It was a day like any other day. The captain and crew of the Exxon Valdez were fully loaded and in route with another load of crude. Having cast off from the Trans Alaskan Pipeline Terminal on March 23, 1989, at 9:12 PM, they headed out on their infamous voyage. The accident that followed is very well documented and does not need retold. Over 1,000 miles of shoreline was contaminated with crude oil, and an environmental spill of world sized proportions was needing to be cleaned up.2,3 Such a situation called for the best and brightest minds of industry to bring answers to the table and bring them quickly. It was at this time that bioremediation came to the forefront of modern Bioscience. Beginning in 1986, companies, like Monsanto, ramped up their biochemistry and molecular research working on the splicing of genes in small organisms like bacteria.4 Could we perhaps work with nature? Could we work with its small but mighty armies of bacteria in hopes of cleaning up a world sized mess? Henry I. Miller, Founding Director of the FDA Office of Biotechnology5, stated In his May 3, 2010, Op Ed in Orange County Register that these micro-organisms were discouraged by “draconian” laws and, therefore, were not allowed to be used. 6 Man had to clean up his mess without the use of genetically engineered organisms. It would not be until 10 years later that man would coin the term “GMO”, and food production would quickly enter a Brave New World that until then had never been experienced. But, during those 10 years, the science of genetic engineering and molecular biology were able to greatly advance. Terms like “gene gun” and “gene splicing” came into the vocabulary of agriculture in the

1 https://profitablegrowthservices.wordpress.com/2015/05/13/if-your-like-to-eat-this-is-for-you/

2 http://www.evostc.state.ak.us/index.cfm?FA=facts.QA

3 http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/oil-and-chemical-spills/significant-incidents/exxon-valdez-oil-spill

4 http://web.mit.edu/demoscience/Monsanto/maps.html

5 http://www.forbes.com/sites/henrymiller/

6 http://www.ocregister.com/articles/genetic-247025-oil-techniques.html

United States. Crop Consultants, myself included, came to be the promoters of a new technology. The American Farmer was soon to gain a new tool in raising crops.

Dolly, Flavr Savr, and Round Up Ready

The world was quickly enamored with the potentials of molecular science and engineering. And why not? Looking back, the convergence of events that took place on those of us who were Certified Crop Advisers was nothing short of astounding. In very quick succession we were introduced to:

1. Flavr Savr Tomato7,8,9 1994, Released 19962. Dolly the Sheep and what that meant for genetic engineering10 19963. Round Up Ready Soybeans11,12 1994, Released 19964. BT corn13 19975. Round Up Read Corn14 2000, Released 2000/20016. Bollard Cotton15 20047. BT/Round Up Ready Corn16,17,18 2010/2011/2012/2013/ad nausea8. BT/Round Up Ready/Corn Root Worm 19,20

7 http://www.aphis.usda.gov/brs/aphisdocs/94_22701p.pdf

8 http://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodScienceResearch/Biotechnology/Submissions/ucm225043.htm

9 http://www.nytimes.com/1994/04/09/us/genetically-altered-tomato-moves-toward-us-approval.html

10 http://www.roslin.ed.ac.uk/public-interest/dolly-the-sheep/a-life-of-dolly/

11 http://www.aphis.usda.gov/brs/aphisdocs2/93_25801p_com.pdf

12 http://www.aphis.usda.gov/brs/aphisdocs2/93_25801p_com.pdf

13 http://www.aphis.usda.gov/brs/aphisdocs2/96_29101p_com.pdf

14 http://www.aphis.usda.gov/brs/aphisdocs2/00_01101p_com.pdf

15 http://www.aphis.usda.gov/brs/aphisdocs2/03_03602p_com.pdf

16 http://www.aphis.usda.gov/brs/aphisdocs/04_12501p_pea.pdf

17 http://www.aphis.usda.gov/brs/aphisdocs/10_28101p_fea.pdf

18 http://www.aphis.usda.gov/brs/aphisdocs2/03_03602p_com.pdf

19 http://www.aphis.usda.gov/brs/aphisdocs2/04_12501p_com.pdf

20 http://www.aphis.usda.gov/brs/fedregister/10_33601p_fr_det.pdf

Enough to make your head spin? You ought to be the one trying to provide sound, solid agronomic guidance to the farmer who is trying to make sense of it all! Might I also add, that YOU, the consumer, were also introduced to these in rapid succession, knowingly or unknowingly?

We had a rapid succession of apparent success stories in the field of Genetic Engineering (GE). The Federal Department of Agriculture (FDA) faced the world of GE food head on and with the same apparent level of enthusiasm as a person with excitement for what the future could hold. It took an FDA Review Panel just three days to approve the production and introduction of the Flavr Savr Tomato. I know I was feeling good about what we would be able to accomplish. It sounded like we figured it all out, and I was placing my trust in the system of checks and balances designed to protect me.21 Why couldn’t I feel good about agriculture and what we could provide man as we got ready to enter the 21st Century?

Shifting Sands

“In a snapshot of the rapid industry consolidation among companies investing in genetically engineered crops, of the top 10 institutions applying to conduct field tests in 1995, 7 have now merged into 2 companies (Monsanto and DuPont).”22 National Association of State PIRGS, June 2001

I was a very strong proponent of the technology we were being shown. It all seemed safe to me. I soon came to realize that something just wasn’t quite right with this picture. Sure, I would hear “nut jobs” out there talk about “Franken Food” stuff I would routinely sluff off. But the way in which the seed companies were pushing the fertilizer dealer industry was nothing short of “the tail wagging the dog”. I am all for good competition. I am a full believer in the business of commerce and free enterprise. What was happening was not self-sustaining. I would receive instructions to sell seed and a lot of it. Price was not an issue. We were just to sell seed and if we got into a bidding war go to the seed supplier for “free seed” to help offset the cost of goods sold on the deal. In the company I worked for, it became a running joke in the region I was in to see how crazy the deals could become. We were going to be in the seed business and we sold traits, lots of traits. We were told to not worry about profits as if it was needed we would “be made whole” later in the year. Those of us who didn’t get on board would be encouraged to leave as we didn’t “get it”.

What is a Certified Crop Adviser (CCA)? The Certified Crop Adviser is without a doubt, the most influential person in the business of farming. This has been studied and I wrote about this in a blog of mine.23 I believe the Chesapeake Bay Region was perhaps the first area to have industry professionals take the necessary exams to qualify. The Chesapeake Bay Watershed was under intense scrutiny. The Federal Clean Water Act was in effect and the Chesapeake Bay had the great fortune of being the largest

21 http://www.aphis.usda.gov/wps/portal/aphis/ourfocus/business-services/%21ut/p/a1/jc_NDoIwEATgR-p0qYBHCloK-HOwir2YnkwTRQ_G57f2bmVvk3yTzDLLRmYn9_ZX9_KPyd2-2eYXoUuiDKQhBkIFecxQG84PCOAcQLdricsAlFpJ6O162Bd9R-gX8_q1qlpRDABESdCNbJtiuQF0Pq-PH1fhX__EbCSpDyJITYwgseF5N2aE1x-n_GWg/?1dmy&urile=wcm:path:/APHIS_Content_Library/SA_Our_Focus/SA_Business_Services/SA_Investigative_Enforcement/

22 http://uspirg.org/sites/pirg/files/reports/Raising_Risk_2001_USPIRG.pdf

23 https://profitablegrowthservices.wordpress.com/2015/03/07/the-food-chain-3/

estuary in the United States and also the closest one to Washington, D.C. I came on the CCA scene in 1996 and names like Frank Coale, Fred Samadami and others were in the thick of putting together what I believe is still a tremendous program for professional agronomists who want to continue receiving excellent Continuing Education Credits.24

Did We (I) Sell Out?

Well, a guy needs his job, doesn’t he? In the early 2000s the seed industry was undergoing such a fast transformation that we in the retail industry would have a hard time keeping track of upcoming GE traits. There was a period of a few years that if you were in the seed business your seed supplier or your competitors’ seed supplier was introducing some new GE trait each year. If you just sold seed that was one thing. But, try doing soil sampling, field scouting, spreading fertilizer and spraying crops AND be a professional seedsman. The job of a fertilizer retail agronomist was anything but stress free.25 We in the retail industry became very close friends with our seed suppliers. Marketing plans, including “bundling” of all goods and services into one package, would then receive a “rebate” that would be given to the grower at the end of the season. If the farmer would buy not only seed, but fertilizer and chemicals from the dealer then ALL purchases would be paid a rebate. Needless to say, that was a mess to administer. If you sold “Brand M” seed and chemicals then that would qualify for a little bit more “Grower Protection” from “Brand M”.

As a Certified Crop Adviser, it was quickly becoming apparent that my role of adviser was quickly becoming that of “seed order taker”. I sent a letter to my marketing manager telling him that my “Brand M” competitor dealers were telling farmers that they could go onto the Brand M website and see what my dealership had on order for my customers and would offer to provide my customers what I could not order. Good competition had become something akin to “shake down” competition in the seed industry in the market I served. If your dealership did not move the amount of seed needed, then Brand M would find someone else, and they did. During the years of 2005-2008 we had close to 12 dealer representatives calling on a three county area. It was nothing to lose 20% on a sale just to get the order and figure out how to make up for it later.

It was during these years that the “Tech Agreement” (the Technology Agreement) that Monsanto required each farmer who bought their seed, was reported to have been changed so that by signing the agreement the farmer waived any legal rights to sue for a crop failure. Honestly, the forms are so complicated and detailed that I can’t tell you if it happened or not.26 I’m neither a lawyer, nor a farmer. And, I know most farmers aren’t lawyers and here are examples of current “Stewardship” or “Technology Agreements”. Once again, you need a pair of glasses to read the fine print.27,28 Don’t let anyone tell you that Monsanto or anyone else needed new regulations to protect their investments.

24 http://www.chesapeakebay.net/content/publications/cbp_12297.pdf

25 https://profitablegrowthservices.wordpress.com/2015/05/13/if-your-like-to-eat-this-is-for-you/

26 http://www.mindfully.org/GE/Monsanto-Technology-Agreement-1998.htm#1

27 http://www.siegers.com/pdfs/waivers/MonsantoTSA.pdf

28 http://www.monsanto.com/sitecollectiondocuments/technology-use-guide.pdf

The Plant Variety Protection Act of the USDA had been on the books since 1970 to protect plant breeders from having their proprietary seed varieties stolen.29,30

I, along with many other Consultants were the ones who signed an Ethics Statement to do our best for the farmer and the environment.31,32 I was being incentivized with bonuses to sell seeds and yet if I didn’t sell I was not doing my job. What about the job to do what was best for the farmer and the environment? The effects of what was called Round Up Ready resistant mares tail was already well documented in our local markets. In fact, by this time it was already into the cotton markets of Tennessee and surrounding areas.33 And yet we were being pushed to sell what was not working. We wound up tanking mixing more chemicals to help control the resistant weeds. We got to sell more chemicals, more adjuvants, and more seed. For what it’s worth, we made good margins on the adjuvants along with a bonus for selling the added products.

Short Term Gain—Long Term Consequences

In November of 2013 the world of Fertilizer Retail and I had a falling out. The reasons may be right, wrong, good, bad, or indifferent. But while it really caused me and my family some serious harm, it did allow me time to take a breath and do something I hadn’t had time to do for a very long time…..think. And think I have done. When someone like myself sits down and applies the knowledge I gained over the course of my career as a Certified Crop Adviser and allow time to show me what the last 25 years has been like AND the results that farmers are seeing from this technology, I ask myself, “What have we created?”

The world of farming in certain parts of the United States is worse for the use of this technology. We have “hoe crews” hoeing out weeds that have become resistant to glyphosate (the active ingredient in Round Up) and have also become resistant to the remaining effective chemistries because glyphosate failed to work. And I ask myself, did Monsanto actually change the “Tech Agreement” back around 2001 because “Round Up Resistant” weeds had just been reported in the state of Delaware the year prior, in 2000?34,35 But, even as late as 2003, Monsanto was stating that weed resistance was “rare” in training

29 http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/getfile?dDocName=STELDEV3002796

30https://books.google.com/books?id=7CuCZJeB5KcC&lpg=PA162&ots=UWXkknOXAR&dq=when%20did%20the %20PVPA%20by%20USDA%20begin%3F&pg=PA162#v=onepage&q=when%20did%20the%20PVPA%20by%20USDA%20begin?&f=false

31 https://www.certifiedcropadviser.org/files/certifications/cca-ceu-information.pdf

32 https://www.certifiedcropadviser.org/files/certifiedcropadviser/certifications/cca-uscanada-credential-booklet-13-web.pdf

33 http://rachel.org/?q=es/node/177/print

34 https://www.btny.purdue.edu/WeedScience/2003/Articles/horsetail7-23-03.pdf

35 http://extension.udel.edu/factsheet/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/WF13.pdf

and pamphlets it provided its dealers.36,37 If I was a farmer, I would wonder, how can a transaction of exchanging money for goods or services rendered could meet the standard of expectations if not recourse is allowed. But, that is not for me to decide. I guess all is fair as long as both parties agree to the transaction. I don’t know if I want companies that exercise such a business style developing my food.

I am a professional of the United States Agriculture system. And, there are a few thousand of us who have signed as such. What shall large retailers do who employ people like me? Take Agrium (AGU), for example. Their wholly owned subsidiary, Crop Production Services, Inc., has over 700 outlets in the United States. Their website says, “But once the product is out the door, we’re not done. We employ approximately 2,000 agronomist in North America alone, who work directly with growers to customize state of the art crop management practices that are safe, effective, and sustainable” (June 15, 2015)38 What are they going to do? Can they allow their 2,000 agronomist to continue using a technology that our very own industry is reporting to affect food for BILLIONS of people?39 Where is the “safe, effective and sustainable” in that? In fact, can Corporate Governance support such recommendations?

But hey, don’t worry about this weed resistance thing, we got it covered! We have a new stacked trait soybean we now have that will fix our problems. It allows us to spray dicamba over the soybean and dicamba can kill many of the glypohosate resistant weeds.40,41 Now, for all of you who are a farmer or a neighbor to a farmer I want you to do the neighborly thing. And, as a professional Certified Crop Adviser, I am telling you right now, tomatoes, apples, grapes, peaches, lettuce, peppers, cucumbers, melons, and a host of other fruits and vegetables are very susceptible to dicamba injury. So, do everyone a favor and don’t plant it near those crops. And, my advice to any Professional Applicator who gets instructed to spray 2,4-D or Dicamba with those neighboring crops, call your boss and alert them. Put the monkey on their back and allow them to “call the shot” and send you instructions to go ahead and spray that include their e-signature. Oh, and by the way, don’t have any dicamba residue left in the spray tank. The “old fashioned” Round Up Ready soybeans wont’ care for it. And, for those who are insurance providers for the folks who will spray in said situation, well, your life is about to get real interesting. But hey, we have a solution for the problem we created.

Oh, and I forgot to tell you, we have that trait for corn and soybeans so double the fun for everyone.

It is my opinion that we treat “Living Technology” like we treat technology for making tires and hair dryers. I don’t mean to “cheapen” the technology! In fact, that is my point. We took a technology that is very delicate and very complicated and, in my opinion, applied it to “Living Technology” for private industry gain. To add insult to injury, the farmer and the land have very little legal recourse. The land is now becoming loaded with billions of resistant weed seeds. How can it be paid for what happened to

36 http://www.slideshare.net/CliffLove1/training-is-good-to-tell-about-how-to-handle-your-product

37 http://www.slideshare.net/CliffLove1/scan-doc0053-43263009

38 http://www.agrium.com/en/what-we-do/agrium-retail

39 http://www.croplife.com/crop-inputs/herbicides/the-weed-resistance-problem-a-matter-of-billions/

40 https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/id/id-453-w.pdf

41 http://www.agprofessional.com/news/Engenia-specific-for-dicamba-resistant-crops-257392081.html

it? The land relies on the farmer to be its steward. And, candidly, the United States farmer, by and large, took what looked too good to be true and ran with it. A fast and lose proposition all the way around. Shame me, and shame on all of us in the industry. We let the consumer and the environment down, and we ain’t gonna fix it any time soon.

We Played With Fire

In my opinion, we have played fast and loose with many things these past 25 years in United States agriculture. We played with fire and it has burned many people, including me. What can we do? Well, for one thing, how about put the brakes on any new GE seed traits? Yup, just say, “Whoa”. Does the USDA, APHIS, and FDA call the shots or do big companies? Well………anyway. Perhaps just this once we could do what is best for the land and the consumer, and the industry. Perhaps, we could put the brakes to this nonsense of trying to outwit Mother Nature and beat her. Just read “Two Weeds and a Worm” and see how well we did.42 The way we handled the StarLink GE corn trait proved that we could not effectively segregate man made plants from cross pollenating with natural plants.43 The Aventis Company paid out hundreds of millions of dollars to farmers and buyers of food products because of the contamination that had been said would not happen. What then happened was the relaxing of standards on cross pollination. Now, the comingling of GE traited varieties and non GE varieties is accepted by the regulator bodies of the United States, or, at least, everyone looks the other way. The landmark event that shows our inability to control the forces we unleashed is when it was announced that a GE wheat variety that was developed by Monsanto and not allowed to be released into the environment was unexpectedly found in fields in 2013 in Oregon and then, again, in 2014 in Montana.44,45,46 One company official is supposedly reported to have suggested that these rogue findings may be the result of someone manipulating with some genetic tech in some sort of espionage scheme. I wonder, do we even know how this trait is spreading?? Something tells me its nature doing what nature does best….taking what it is given and allowing “survival of the fittest” to manifest itself. Also, what ever happened to the “enforcement” effort of APHIS? The Aventis Company paid hundreds of millions to clean up their violations. So far, not a penny has been levied against the company involved in this infraction, and yet APHIS closed the case in Oregon.

So Has It Changed Any since Then?

42 https://profitablegrowthservices.wordpress.com/2015/05/13/two-weeds-and-a-worm/

43 http://rense.com/general8/starlink.htm

44 http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/09/26/351785294/gmo-wheat-investigation-closed-but-another-one-opens

45 http://www.aphis.usda.gov/publications/biotechnology/2014/faq_ge_wheat.pdf

46 http://www.aphis.usda.gov/wps/portal/aphis?1dmy&urile=wcm%3Apath%3A/aphis_content_library/sa_newsroom/sa_news/sa_by_date/sa_2014/sa_09/ct_ge_wheat

Most of my story deals with the time period from 1996 to 2008. And I wondered if it has changed any. As I check with those I still know in the industry, the same “Top Down” Suppliers Driven approach is dictated. Traited seed still sells at 20% under cost and the dealer carries that loss on the books all the way until the end of the year and the “black box” money gets applied to the dealer’s account so they actually make money selling these traited seeds. Interestingly enough, I was also in an area of the nation that was not so driven by this “Top Down” marketing approach and we were able to sell non traited seeds. We were a dealer for a regional seed company that still had its own breeding program. And guess what, we made money…good money.....money we deserved to make for the level of service we provided the farmer.

But hey, it’s all legal…..so don’t worry.