Action coincides with International Day of Farmers' Struggle
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | APRIL 17, 2002
SASKATOON, SASK. and WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, as farmers around the world protest genetically-modified (GM) seeds that endanger their livelihoods and threaten natural biodiversity in key food crops, representatives of the National Farmers Union of Canada (NFU) and the National Family Farm Coalition of the United States (NFFC) announced a collaborative effort to stop the introduction of GM wheat in North America.
The two groups, both members of the global farmers' movement Via Campesina, made the announcement as part of a worldwide series of actions focused on GM crops and food coordinated by Via Campesina as part of the April 17th International Day of Farmers' Struggle (see backgrounder on the Via Campesina and April 17th.)
"Banning GM wheat is crucial to the survival of the North American farmers who grow wheat," said Terry Boehm, a wheat producer from Allan, Sask. and an NFU Board member. He continued: "We export most of our wheat and our foreign buyers have made it perfectly clear that they want nothing to do with genetically modified food."
Nearly 70% of Canadian wheat and over 50% of U.S. wheat is exported. According to Canadian Wheat Board estimates, two-thirds of international buyers do not want to buy GM wheat. A survey of the U.S. customer base for hard red spring wheat indicates that 65% are opposed to Roundup Ready (RR) wheat technology. This consumer opposition is connected to the industry's failure to engage in long-term testing of potential health hazards of GM plants prior to their introduction into the global food supply.
Monsanto, a multi-national agribusiness conglomerate based in the United States, holds patents on technology that uses genetic-modification to make plants tolerant to the pesticide glyphosate, which is marketed under the trade name "Roundup." Monsanto has announced that it will be seeking approval from the U.S. and Canadian governments for commercial introduction of "Roundup Ready" wheat in 2005.
"We have been working to prevent the spread of genetically-modified crops on both sides of the border," said NFU Women's President Shannon Storey, "but Monsanto has been playing us against each other, claiming that we have to grow it or lose our market advantage to farmers who will. That strategy ends today."
"Monsanto's promises simply do not match reality," says NFFC President and Missouri farmer Bill Christison. He continued: "We have watched foreign markets evaporate and prices fall for farmers using GM corn and soybean products and we have learned our lessons well." U.S. corn producers have lost $200 million in annual sales to markets in the European Union alone, which established a moratorium on GM products in 1998.
"The future of genetically-modified crops in North America will be determined on the western plains of the United States and Canada," says NFFC Trade Taskforce Chair and Montana farmer Dena Hoff. She continued: "Individually our groups have begun the farmer education and organizing necessary to win. Today we begin to work together more deliberately to share strategies that will make that victory possible. This is a fight we simply cannot afford to lose."
Bill Christison, NFFC President: (660) 684-6456 OR (202) 543-5675 Dena Hoff, NFFC Trade Taskforce Chair: (406) 687-3645 OR (202) 543-5675 Shannon Storey, NFU Women's President: (306) 477-8803 OR (306) 652-9465 Terry Boehm, NFU Board Member: (306) 255-2880 OR (306) 257-3689Action coincides with International Day of Farmers' StruggleFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
