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Mono-Cropping with Government Subsidized Soy and Corn a Threat to Health and the Environment

As farming has transitioned from a once localized industry to an international one, it's brought with it a new set of challenges for U.S. farmers. Spurred in part by a growing demand for biofuel, along with federal subsidy programs, about 180 million additional acres of corn and soybeans have been planted around the world over the last decade. In the U.S., this two-crop cycle of corn and soybeans has become the dominant model in the Midwest, thanks to the federal farm policy that subsidizes these crops, with devastating consequences to human health and the environment.

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GMO-Tested and Glyphosate-Tested Corn Products Unique in the U.S.?

Healthy Traditions announced earlier this year that they had added Mexican heirloom corn products to their line of GMO-tested and Glyphosate-tested products. They explained how truly GMO-free corn is almost non-existent in the U.S., as even corn that is USDA certified organic or verified to be GMO free is still contaminated with small amounts of GMO DNA, according to their own laboratory testing. The corn products, which include corn flour, corn meal, grits, and whole kernel corn, are on sale this week. They are thought to be unique to the U.S. corn market.

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Healthy Traditions Offers First-ever GMO-tested and Glyphosate-tested Heirloom Corn Products from Mexico

Over the past few years we have tried to find corn in the United States that tested clean for the presence of genetically modified material and the herbicide glyphosate. We tested corn products that were USDA certified organic, and corn that also made claims to be GMO-free. We found that all of them were contaminated. We have been successful in some years growing clean corn with our farmers in Wisconsin, but often subsequent harvest years turned up positive results of GMOs in our testing, forcing us to find new sources of open pollinated heirloom corn. As a result, we did not have much corn to sell to our customers, and some years we had none. But now, we have located some rural farms in Mexico that seem to have clean corn from native varieties. Healthy Traditions is excited to bring you a new line of products made from corn grown in the region where corn is thought to have originated, Central Mexico! In order to find a consistent supply of corn that tested negative for both GMO and glyphosate contamination, we began searching in Mexico, where commercial GMO corn production is currently banned because of the rich genetic diversity and cultural significance that corn has there. This open-pollinated corn has been grown in a traditional fashion, much the same way it has been done for hundreds, if not thousands of years in this region. The family of the farmer that grew this corn has a connection to the land for over a century, and the seed he uses has been passed down from generation to generation. Healthy Traditions views the opportunity to help preserve this genetically diverse corn as a great honor and one in which we are proud to be a part of. We are also pleased to work with a grist mill that has agreed to dedicate one of their stone grinders just for grinding GMO-tested and Glyphosate-tested corn. This mill processes no other grains in this facility and our corn is ground in small batches to ensure freshness.

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59 Indigenous Corn Varieties at Risk as Monsanto Eyes Mexico

Mexico’s unique and treasured native corn varieties could be under threat as Monsanto, the world’s largest seed producer, vies to plant genetically modified (GMO) corn in the country. In August 2015, a Mexican judged overturned a September 2013 ban on GMO corn, thus opening more business opportunities for Monsanto and other agribusinesses pending favorable later court decisions. Monsanto even announced in October 2015 that it was seeking to double its sales in the country over the next five years. The GMO corn ban remains pending a ruling on the appeal, but a final decision could end up in Mexico’s supreme court.

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Study: GMO Corn Shown to be Hazardous to Health of Farm Animals

In 1997, Gottfried Glöckner, an award-winning dairy farmer in Germany, became the first farmer to grow and feed Bt176 corn to his prized Holstein cows. The test continued until 2002. According to Séralini, this was the longest running and most detailed observation of farm animals ever performed for a GE crop. Since 1986, when Glöckner took over the farm, he’d had no cases of serious disease on his farm. That all changed once he started feeding his cows Bt176 in 1997. As Glöckner increased the amount of Bt176 corn in the cows’ feed, gradually going from 2 to 40 percent over the course of two years, the worse his cows fared. At the outset, 70 percent of his cows produced high yields of milk, which is considered normal. Once the GMO content of the feed reached 40 percent, a mere 40 percent of his cows were high-yielding. In 2000, milk tested positive for the Bt176 DNA specific fragment, which under European law meant the milk had to be labeled as coming from GE-fed animals. Peak mortality was reached in 2002, when 10 percent of his cows died after suffering a long period of partial paralysis. Thirty percent of the herd was sick with a variety of ailments.

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10,000 Sue Syngenta Over Unapproved GMO Corn Shipped to China – U.S. Farmers Lose $5 Billion in Sales

Town hall meetings have been taking place recently regarding corn litigation with the Syngenta company. The lawsuit is regarding claims that Syngenta sold genetically modified corn with a strain called MIR-162 to China without their approval of the modification. "The first shipment that tested positive for MIR-162," Hecker Law Group attorney Jacob Hecker said, "was destroyed by the Chinese in 2013. Afterwards all other shipments with trace amounts of the strain were sent back to where they came from." Due to the boycott, agriculture experts say the cost of the damages involved is in the range of $5 billion.

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Gluten-Free Skillet Cornbread with GMO-tested and Glyphosate-tested Corn

Cornbread can be found in many forms throughout American history. It was the bread of the people of this country when the more expensive wheat was not available. It was a staple for many a family who grew corn in their own backyards. Today there are many forms of cornbread, the most ubiquitous being a sweet, light cornbread made with sugar or honey and a good portion of wheat flour. Similarly, gluten-free cornbread can be made in which the cornmeal is stretched with a portion of gluten-free flours and starches. Old-fashioned cornbread, on the other hand, is akin to a traditional cornbread made solely with cornmeal. There are no additional flours or starches and it is only very lightly sweetened. The high liquid content comes together with a hot oven to create a moist, flavorful cornbread that pairs perfectly with golden butter.

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How to Make Corn Tortillas: Nixtamalizing and Grinding Dried Corn

The process of nixtamalization is a simple one, one that has been practiced for generations by those whose mainstay is the corn grain. Corn masa, the dough that makes tortillas and chips and tamales, cannot be made without this process. But it wasn't done for frivolous reasons or for aesthetic purposes. Instead, those who subsisted off of corn and other local foods found it imperative to their health. Pellagra is a disease often acquired by cultures who began to utilize corn in large amounts in their diet. When corn was introduced to a new culture through travel or trade, and the historic practice of nixtamalizing the corn was ignored, people often fell ill with skin, digestive, and mental disorders. This was later diagnosed as pellagra. Those who had been subsisting on corn for generations and who were taught to soak their corn in lime, however, consumed corn as the backbone of their diet without such symptoms. Their was wisdom in the preparation. This process of soaking and cooking the corn in an alkaline solution - nixtamalization - is now known to release a B vitamin called niacin. Pellagra - and the vitamin and amino acid deficiencies related to it - can be prevented when the diet contains enough niacin. Nixtamalization, therefore, is a simple practice that transforms corn into a nourishing everyday food by releasing the niacin and making the grain more digestible.

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Tropical Traditions Announces First GMO-Tested and Glyphosate-Tested Corn Now Available

For the first time in over a year, Tropical Traditions is selling corn again. For the past few years, Tropical Traditions offered an open-pollinated organic heirloom corn and corn meal to its customers, grown by small-scale family farmers in Wisconsin. However, in the Fall of 2013, they found out that this corn had become contaminated with GMO DNA, and they were no longer able to offer it to their customers. Tropical Traditions has a ZERO tolerance level for the presence of GMOs and the herbicide glyphosate in their products. After much searching, the farmers in Wisconsin were able to purchase some seed corn for the 2014 crop that was open pollinated, and had tested to be free from GMO contamination. Knowing how far the wind can blow pollen from corn field to corn field, the farmers determined that simply shielding their corn from neighboring farms was not sufficient protection. Therefore, they calculated the time frame where they knew their neighbors' corn would be pollinating, based on when it was planted, and then planted their open pollinated GMO-tested corn at a later date, so that it would pollinate after the surrounding farms' cornfields were finished pollinating. In the Fall of 2014, this corn tested to be free of both GMOs and the herbicide glyphosate. It is now offered to the public, shipped direct from the farm as either whole kernel, or stone ground fresh into a corn meal.

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Are Experimental Vaccines Growing in a GMO Corn Field Near You?

With more and more people waking up to the dangers and false claims being made for vaccines today, it is becoming more difficult for the pharmaceutical lobbyists to enact mandatory vaccination laws at the local level. A recent bill in Colorado was defeated when citizens turned out to oppose legislation that would have prohibited vaccine exemptions. Are pharmaceutical companies now looking for new ways to market their vaccines that bypass the freedom to choose completely without the consumer even realizing they are consuming their products? The chemical industry, after all, has been successful for years in getting municipalities to put fluoride in public water supplies completely bypassing consumer choice. Recently obtained information through a freedom of information act shows that pharmaceutical companies and biotech are teaming up to produce genetically modified corn that will contain vaccines like hepatitis B. There are secret locations along California's Central Coast where plots of experimental genetically engineered corn are producing proteins for industrial and pharmaceutical uses, including an experimental vaccine for hepatitis B.

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Study: Indiana Corn Pesticides Linked to Autism

A recent UC Davis study found pregnant women living within a mile of fields were pesticides were sprayed were 60 percent likelier to have a child with autism. Since that study was published, director of Notre Dame autism research lab and associate editor of Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, Dr. Joshua Diehl, says he's been bombarded with e-mails and calls from concerned parents and researchers.

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Mexico and Monsanto: Can Native Corn Varieties be Saved from GMO Contamination?

The biotech industry's success or failure in its strategy for planting GMO corn in Mexico could very well determine the future of the world's corn supply. We reported last year that a judge in Mexico had banned further planting of Monsanto and Pioneer GMO corn in Mexico, and earlier this year a Monsanto appeal to that ban was also struck down. Even if Mexico succeeds in eventually banning GMO corn completely, some wonder if it is already too late? The presence of GMO corn is already found in nearly half of Mexico's states, according to a new report written by Timothy A. Wise, Policy Research Director at Tufts University’s Global Development and Environment Institute. Still, if Mexico acts soon to completely ban GMO seeds, there is reason to hope it can stem the tide and preserve native seed varieties, and become a major player in the world market demanding GMO-free corn. It is estimated that 90% or more of the U.S. corn supply is already contaminated with GMO DNA, even in certified organic corn. Mexico could be positioned to become a major world leader in GMO-free corn. Some companies in the U.S. that emphasize GMO-free products, such as Tropical Traditions, have already stopped selling many organic corn products from the U.S. due to the presence of GMO DNA. They are beginning to look to Mexico and other countries outside the U.S. for their supplies of corn. Could the label "grown in Mexico" soon become a symbol of high-quality non-GMO products?

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U.S. GMO Policy Hurting Exports, Costing Jobs, As China Rejects US GMO Corn

Health concerns aside, U.S. GMO policy is damaging the U.S. economy and costing jobs. China just announced they were rejecting U.S. GMO corn in favor of Brazilian corn, draining hundreds of millions of dollars out of the U.S. economy.

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The Environmental Costs of Corn-Based Ethanol

In 2007, Congress passed a law requiring gasoline to be mixed with ethanol, to reduce dependence on foreign oil and promote environmentally friendly biofuels. Corn is the primary source of ethanol in the United States, and this, ironically, has turned out to have devastating consequences for the environment. In response to rising demand for corn, American farmers are converting environmentally valuable grasslands into corn fields. Five million acres of conservation land have disappeared while Obama has been in office. To put that into perspective, that’s more than the Yellowstone, Everglades and Yosemite National Parks combined. In 2010, for the first time, fuel was the number one use for corn in America, which means agricultural subsidies are now in large part being used to subsidize our energy needs rather than food.

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As Biotech GMO Seed Falters, Insecticide Use Surges In Corn Belt

Across the Midwestern corn belt, a familiar battle has resumed, hidden in the soil. On one side are tiny, white larvae of the corn rootworm. On the other side are farmers and the insect-killing arsenal of modern agriculture. It appears that farmers have gotten part of the message: Biotechnology alone will not solve their rootworm problems. But instead of shifting away from GMO corn, or from corn altogether, many are doubling down on insect-fighting technology, deploying more chemical pesticides than before. Companies like or that sell soil insecticides for use in corn fields are reporting huge increases in sales: 50 or even 100 percent over the past two years. Steiner, the Nebraska crop consultant, usually argues for another strategy: Starve the rootworms, he tells his clients. Just switch that field to another crop. "One rotation can do a lot of good," he says. "Go to beans, wheat, oats. It's the No. 1 right thing to do." But large industrial farmers seem unwilling to give up the lucrative corn cash crop.

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Demand Growing for Non-GMO Corn Seed Among Farmers

 

by The Organic & Non-GMO Report

Excerpts:

Farmers questioning the value of GMO traits in corn.

Interest and demand for non-GMO corn seed among US farmers is growing, according to seed suppliers who say that higher yields and returns, less cost, dissatisfaction with genetically modified traits, and better animal health are driving the demand.

Tim Schneider, a sales representative for Tom […]

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Monsanto GMO Corn Plant Losing Bug Resistance

By SCOTT KILMAN
Wall Street Journal

Widely grown corn plants that Monsanto Co. genetically modified to thwart a voracious bug are falling prey to that very pest in a few Iowa fields, the first time a major Midwest scourge has developed resistance to a genetically modified crop.

The discovery raises concerns that the way some farmers are […]

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Fears grow over GM corn fuel

by Suzanne Goldenberg, Washington
smh.com.au

US FARMERS are growing the first corn genetically modified specifically to put more ethanol in petrol tanks rather than producing more food.

Aid organisations warn that the corn could worsen a global food crisis – exposed by the Somalia famine – diverting more corn into energy production.

The food industry also opposes the corn […]

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Drought tolerant GM corn will not feed the world

by GeneWatch
GeneWatch UK today responded to reports that Monsanto’s new drought tolerant genetically modified (GM) corn (maize) does not perform better than conventional varieties (1). The GM industry has made repeated claims that its crops will be needed to feed a growing population as the climate changes, in order to […]

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Monsanto Uses Latest Food Crisis to Push Transgenic Corn in Mexico

by Alfredo Acedo
Upside Down World
Monsanto has turned the drop in international corn reserves and the havoc wreaked on Mexican corn production by an unexpected cold snap into an argument for speeding up commercial planting of its genetically modified (GM) corn in Mexico. The transnational is claiming that its modified seeds are the only solution […]

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