A USDA study shows that a GM alfalfa has gone wild in alfalfa-growing parts of the West. This may explain GMO contamination incidents that have cost US growers and exporters millions of dollars - and it exposes the failure of USDA's 'coexistence' policy for GMOs and traditional crops.

The US Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) has long maintained that genetically engineered (GE) crops can co-exist with traditional and organic agriculture.

According to this 'co-existence' narrative, if neighboring GE and traditional farmers just sort things out among themselves and follow 'best management practices', transgenes will be confined to GE crops and the fields where they are planted.

Organic farmers have raised the alarm over the potential “severe” economic and environmental consequences of new plant breeding techniques for Europe’s farming sector, calling for GMO legislation to apply when approving new seed traits.

In a policy paper due to be published later today (14 January), the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements EU (IFOAM EU) urges the European Commission to classify NPBTs as falling "within the scope of the GMO legislation”.

These new techniques should “be subject to a risk assessment”, and “mandatory traceability and labelling requirements that apply to other GMOs”, according to the policy paper, seen by EurActiv.

The EU executive is expected to rule in the coming months whether they fall within the scope of GMO legislation or not.

Increasing opposition against patents on conventional breeding

18 January 2016. On 20 January the European Patent Office (EPO) will hold a public hearing on the opposition to a European Patent on melons (EP1962578). Monsanto is using this patent, to claim melons with a natural resistance to plant viruses as its own invention, derived from breeding without genetic engineering. The patent was granted by the European Patent Office (EPO) even though European Patent Law does not allow patents on the conventional breeding of plants and animals. The resistance was copied from Indian melons. The opposition is also supported by the renowned Indian activist Vandana Shiva and her organisation Navdanya.

“Monsanto’s melon Patent is biopiracy at its most devious. First of all, the patented resistance was not invented by Monsanto – just discovered in an Indian melon. Monsanto is now pretending to be the first to have bred it into other melons – but to copy something is not an invention”, says Francois Meienberg from Berne Declaration. “Secondly, Monsanto has violated the Indian Biodiversity Act implementing rules on Access and Benefit-Sharing based on the Convention on Biological Diversity. It would be a disgrace if the European Patent Office rewards Monsanto with a patent based on a flagrant violation of Indian law.”

The Berne Declaration has access to a letter sent by the National Biodiversity Authority of India to Monsanto in November 2012, explicitly stating that “The actions of Monsanto in using Indian melon varieties in research and development with commercial intent including application of a patent based on Indian melon varieties amounts to a blatant violation of Section 3 and 6 of the Biological Diversity Act.”

The melon patent is just one of several patents granted on plants and animals derived from conventional breeding by the EPO. Recent No Patents on Seeds! research shows that in 2015 around hundred new patent applications were filed. These patents concern carrots, potatoes, brassica plants, maize, melons, pepper, rice, lettuce, soybeans, spinach, tomatoes, wheat and onions. Amongst the applicants are big companies like Bayer, Dupont/Pioneer, Monsanto, Syngenta and Dow AgroSciences. All in all, around 1400 patent applications on conventional breeding are pending with around 180 being granted already by the EPO.

Opposition is growing against these patents: Around 80.000 individuals and more than 200 organisations have signed a call from No Patents on Seeds! within the last few months demanding that patents on conventional breeding are stopped. Further, today in Germany the organisation Campact, together with its European partners and also supported by “No Patents on Seeds!”, is starting a campaign urging national governments to take more action in the fight against patents on plants and animals.

The coalition No Patents on Seeds! is supported by Arche Noah (Austria), Bionext (Netherlands), The Berne Declaration (Switzerland), GeneWatch (UK), Greenpeace, Misereor (Germany), Development Fund (Norway), NOAH (Denmark), No Patents on Life (Germany), ProSpecieRara (Switzerland), Red de Semillas (Spain), Rete Semi Rurali (Italy), Reseau Semences Paysannes (France) and Swissaid (Switzerland). They are all calling for a revision of European Patent Law to exclude breeding material, breeding processes, plants and animals, their characteristics, their genetic components, the harvest and food derived thereof from patentability.

http://no-patents-on-seeds.org/

In 2016 the agricultural turnaround must begin: We call on EU Farm Commissioner Phil Hogan, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, German Federal Minister Sigmar Gabriel and German Federal Agriculture Minister Christian Schmidt: Stop the blind support of agri-businesses! Instead of pushing for exports, stand in for more quality food. Ensure fair trade around the world – stop TTIP and CETA!

We are calling for farmers, manufacturers and consumers to send a common message in Berlin on 16. January 2016. We are the people from the countryside and from the city, from the north and from the south. We are fed up with agro-industry – we want a rural an organic agricultural and food system that is accepted by society.

More info (in English, French and German) visit: wir-haben-es-satt.de

Organic Farmers Win GMO Fight in Jackson County, Oregon

Organic farmers are racking up new victories in the fight against “franken-food,” as a growing number of counties line up to bar genetically engineered (GE) crop cultivation throughout the country.

A federal judge in Jackson County, Oregon, recently upheld a consent decree that designates the region a “GE-free zone,” a ruling which officially protects the decree from appeal, granting new protections to farmers, consumers and the environment.

That means organic and traditional farms in Jackson County will be protected from chemicals produced by Monsanto, Syngenta, DuPont and other biotech giants. The ruling follows the passage of other similar ordinances in at least eight U.S. counties, including in Hawaii, California and Washington, along with another Oregon county. As the Washington Post pointed out on Monday, more bans are on the horizon, with Costilla County in Colorado pushing for its own GE-free zones.

“GE-Free Zones like Jackson County are important to the future of our food because they allow farmers to grow traditional and organic crops without risk of transgenic contamination,” George Kimbrell, senior attorney with the Center for Food Safety (CFS), said.

There is something special about the soil and the air of the north eastern plain. On the boundary of inhospitable wilderness – the Mongolian steppes and the frozen forests of Siberia – yet one of the most fertile stretches of land in all of China, the north eastern plain is a breadbasket for all of China.

Though the broad expanses of rich, black soil are a powerful sight, the great plain is also extremely delicate. Exposed to dangers such as overly intensive agriculture, its balanced ecosystem can easily be damaged.

In early 2015 we received reports from farmers in Liaoning province that genetically engineered (GE) corn was being cultivated illegally at the heart of the fertile plain. Further tip offs came from journalists and industry experts.

Venezuela approved a new law on Dec. 23, 2015, that imposes one of the world’s toughest regulations on genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

The anti-GMO and anti-patenting seed law was approved by the National Assembly of Venezuela in its final session. Today, the new opposition coalition—the Roundtable of Democratic Unity—will take over.

The Seed Law seeks to consolidate national food sovereignty, regulate the production of hybrid seed, and rejects the production, distribution and import of GMO seeds, according to GMWatch. The law will also ban transgenic seed research.

The law will establish the National Seed System, a central body that will implement the new law. The group will monitor and sanction any agricultural violations, with a focus on the protection of traditional seeds, teleSUR reported.

The legislation, which comes after years of collective grassroots efforts, was promptly signed by Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro.

Conventional corn increase

Transition to non-GMOs continues even without big premiums for the grain.

Conventional (non-GMO) seed planting is on the rise, even as grain price premiums fade away. Tight margins and profit-making opportunities are driving the trend. Scott Apple started his transition to conventional corn when commodity prices were still at an all-time high, and he didn't do it to capture premiums. His 1,900 acres are all planted to conventional seed and sold into local markets.

"It was a cost reduction decision," recalls Apple, who farms near Bowling Green, Ohio. "I didn't need the traits. Rootworm isn't a significant problem, and other insects aren't usually a problem. If they are, there are plenty of options to clean them up."

Taipei, Dec. 29 (CNA) Non-genetically modified crops such as soybeans and corn grown on government-subsidized fallow land have been gaining popularity as local consumers become increasingly aware of food safety issues.

The Council of Agriculture (COA) has implemented a "fallow land revitalization program" since 2013 that encourages farmers to grow non-GM grains and crops on farmland due for planting after a period of lying fallow.

The total value of crops grown under the program reached NT$17.8 billion (US$542.6 million) in 2013, far exceeding the amount -- NT$4 billion -- used to subsidize fallow land farmers, according to the COA's Agriculture and Food Agency.

The yearly output grew to NT$18.4 billion in 2014, and the 2015 figure is still being calculated, the agency said.

Part of the reason why non-GM crops have become popular on the Taiwan market is that most of their imported counterparts are genetically modified, it noted.

Scientist Jonathan Lundgren believes the USDA retaliated against him because of his research on neonicotinoid insecticides and potential effects on bees and butterflies.

Neonicotinoids are among the most widely used pesticides. Some research shows they harm bees and butterflies, but the chemical industry disputes much of the research.

Lundgren, who works at a USDA research facility in Brookings, S.D., filed a federal whistleblower complaint in October.