Posted on 5-9-2002
GMOs
'Grain Market Outcasts'
>From cropchoice.com
(Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2002-- CropChoice news) -- " U.S. 'Outstanding
Sales'
of corn were nearly 40 million bushels (nearly one million metric
tons) and
24 percent below last marketing year at the same time," according
to Dan
McGuire, Director Farmer Choice - Customer First program of
the American
Corn Growers
Association (ACGA). "What's more, 'Accumulated Exports' of corn
had not
gained back the 40 million bushels lost last year, according
to the U.S.
Department of Agriculture's Weekly Export Sales report as of
the week
ending August 22, 2002."
Larry Mitchell, CEO of the ACGA, called for a new investigation
of the
situation by the General Accounting Office (GAO). GAO released
a report in
June of 2001, Concerns Over Biotechnology Challenge U.S. agricultural
Exports, which stated that 'U.S. corn and soybean exports are
most
threatened by new foreign regulatory measures because of their
biotech
content.' "We now have a fairly good handle on our loss of corn
exports
due, in large part, to the loss of international confidence
in our corn
supplies from our questionable experiment with Genetically Modified
(GMO)
corn. What we do not know is how much this experiment has cost
the grain
marketing sector and the U.S. taxpayer. We must know these costs
before we
can make any sort of intelligent decision as to whether to continue
on our
present course, or wait until the science and public acceptance
of GMO's
have been properly established."
Mitchell explained that with lower exports, U.S. farm families
have
experienced lower prices for their harvests. He also pointed
out that the
U.S. taxpaying public offset some of this loss of income through
the USDA
Marketing Assistance Loan Program. Under the program, farmers
are
partially protected from lower prices through Loan Deficiency
Payments
(LDP) and Marketing Loss Gains (MLG). "Over $5.4 billion was
spent on LDPs
and MLGs for last year's crops so far, with over $1 billion
spent on corn.
We need to know what
portion of that expense was caused by our loss of export markets
due to
GMOs and what lower corn prices and higher seed costs meant
to farm
families' bottom economic line. "U.S. corn gluten feed and meal
exports are
also down significantly over the last few years, added McGuire.
"The
current corn-marketing year (MY 2001/02) export data is confirming
that
there is a year-over-year cumulative GMO-driven export loss
continuing for
both corn and corn gluten.
Foreign importers and consumers continue to have health questions
along
with environmental, corporate seed and patent control issues
and market
concentration concerns regarding GMOs. They're choosing alternatives.
'GMO'
now seems to stand for 'grain market outcasts.'
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