On the farm the most important crop that we raise is definitely our sweet corn. We make no money from it but it is the crop that brings the most smiles or sadness (if there is none), especially in my household. Having a meal in the middle of the summer with butter,salt and corn juice running down your face brings smiles to many faces.
This is the crop that gets babied in the farm. It gets planted on time and multiple times per season. (Can't run out). It gets watered and fertilized just right. But there have been challenges in raising it...bug control and weed control. These two things will ruin the crop. Too many weeds not only limits yield but makes your sweet corn patch the laughingstock of the neighborhood. And bugs will gross out the females when they open up an ear to cook it.
However these shall no longer be a problem here on Hunnicutt Farms. With our new Obsession variety from Monsanto we now have an easier way to control both weeds and bugs. With the Roundup Ready trait I can apply the same weed control that I use on my corn fields and my city neighbors use around their yard. With the traits to protect against bugs I can now keep my sweet corn from getting those nasty little creatures that turn a beautiful ear into some disgusting wasteland. This will allow for ears with the possibility of more juicy goodness.
I cannot wait to plant this so come this summer my family can enjoy some of the cleanest and, hopefully, juiciest sweet corn that has ever come from Hunnicutt Farms.
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It would be great if families were fully-informed as to the juicy goodness they're buying at the store. Regular sweet corn is an entirely different matter than Monsanto's GMO variety, complete with it's patented trait and unique-to-nature DNA protein.
ReplyDeleteWhatever Monsanto claims in terms of safety testing and sameness does NOT address consumer transparency and choice. Over 15 years of consumer deception Monsanto claims their patented products are more heavily tested than normal foods. This may be the case, however testing for laboratory process IS vastly different than testing for human health safety. There is not a single published clinical human health study on GMO safety.
So though you may savor your first batch of GMO BT sweet corn, would you please at least give other families the choice to avoid a crop with pesticide in every cell. Thank you.
Brandon, love seeing this, very interested how it works out. Sounds like your family looks forward to and fights the same issues with sweet corn as mine!
ReplyDeleteSchratboy, I absolutely agree that people should understand the food they are eating. But I think there are a few things to consider that we may differ on. Labeling for GMO is not safety labeling. In the US, we label for safety & nutrition and the FDA and USDA say this is the same as regular corn. Because they understand some people may still want to choose, they created a voluntary system of organic certified that would allow families to choose GM free foods. The system seems to offer safety, nutrition and voluntary selection of production practices in my opinion.