I took a visit to Organic Valley's website and was surprised to find it smeared with Twitter comments proclaiming intentions never to buy from their company again. Even this disarmingly casual photo of Organic Valley CEO George Siemon from the company blog, sitting barefoot on a garden bench, seems to have been insufficient to convince customers of his corporation's good intentions.
The source of the outcry:"The Organic Elite Surrenders to Monsanto: What Now?"
Ronnie Cummins
Organic Consumers Association, January 27, 2011
In the wake of a 12-year battle to keep Monsanto's Genetically Engineered (GE) crops from contaminating the nation's 25,000 organic farms and ranches, America's organic consumers and producers are facing betrayal. A self-appointed cabal of the Organic Elite, spearheaded by Whole Foods Market, Organic Valley, and Stonyfield Farm, has decided it's time to surrender to Monsanto. Top executives from these companies have publicly admitted that they no longer oppose the mass commercialization of GE crops, such as Monsanto's controversial Roundup Ready alfalfa, and are prepared to sit down and cut a deal for "coexistence" with Monsanto and USDA biotech cheerleader Tom Vilsack...
Compelling enough, but entirely misdirected. I had to sift through a number of articles to get the real story behind this one. In the end, it appears we were betrayed, not by our organic produce companies, who seem to have taken the brunt of the blame, but by the USDA, bending backwards under pressure from Monsanto.
For a more complete picture, read Organic Valley's side of the story:
"GM Alfalfa: What's Happening Now." George L. Siemon, Organic Valley. Jan. 25, 2011
http://www.organicvalley.coop/community/organicsense/article/article/gm-alfalfa-whats-happening-now/
Monsanto's side:
"USDA Environmental Impact Statement on Roundup Ready Alfalfa Completed; Sales Could Resume in Early 2011." Monsanto. Dec. 16, 2010
http://www.monsanto.com/newsviews/Pages/USDA-EIS-on-roundup-ready-alfalfa-completed.aspx
A balanced diagnosis of the implications for both sides:
"Policy shift concerns biotech companies." Jan. 8, 2011
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20110109/BUSINESS01/101090322/-1/SPORTS12/Policy-shift-concerns-biotech-companies
"USDA Fully Deregulates Roundup Ready Alfalfa." Helena Bottemiller. Jan 28, 2011
http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/01/usda-fully-deregulates-ge-roundup-ready-alfalfa/
It is true: after the slim chance of a compromise which would have allowed both genetically engineered and organic crops to grow on US soil, the USDA ruled in favor of solely genetic crops. For the majority of Americans who may not have taken Jean Melious's environmental dispute resolution course, the fact that Whole Foods, Organic Valley and Stonyfield were considering a compromise at all constitutes a massive betrayal. But as Whole Foods and Organic Valley will point out, of the three options considered in the environmental impact assessment of Roundup Ready alfalfa
1) plant nowhere (fully regulate)
2) plant in some areas (conditionally deregulate)
3) plant anywhere (fully deregulate)
only the last two were even considered by the USDA, with conditional deregulation being a remarkable step toward regulation in the first place.
To the USDA's credit, they did take the time to perform an environmental impact assessment (EIA) on the new GM crop. However, having taken Troy Abel's environmental impact assessment class, I can say yes, the EIA is a useful tool to an extent, but has a very low capacity to consider impacts outside the project scope (i.e. the next field over) and is ultimately no more than a set of suggestions to be implemented based on the lead agency which commissioned it. It is also meant to assess only "probable significant adverse effects", and in this case I suspect it may have been co-opted as an excuse to put a scientific stamp on dangers which we know very little about.
For details on the ill effects entailed in this new crop:
"Monsanto’s Roundup Triggers Over 40 Plant Diseases and Endangers Human and Animal Health." Jeffrey Smith, Institute for Responsible Technology. January 14, 2011
http://www.responsibletechnology.org/blog/664
Yet the most enlightening in terms of marketing failures was this portion of the initial article above:
Perhaps even more fundamental to Organic Inc.'s abject surrender is the fact that the organic elite has become more and more isolated from the concerns and passions of organic consumers and locavores. The Organic Inc. CEOs are tired of activist pressure, boycotts, and petitions. Several of them have told me this to my face. They apparently believe that the battle against GMOs has been lost, and that it's time to reach for the consolation prize.
Not only a prime illustration of the danger of stepping out as an environmental company and being hammered by the public (sound familiar from Strategies for the Green Economy?), but also of the perception, perhaps accurate, that the original environmental movement is being swallowed by large corporate powers.
Even if this is so, why take it out now on these companies who just did their best to fight and rally their customers against the real culprits? Through Twitter and Facebook the wrong message is spreading with a frenzy that might have been leveraged toward the USDA.
Aim activism where it's needed and give these companies a break.
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