GETTING TO “ZERO” WITH GMO’S

Rick Exner                    

The recent news about European and Japanese resistance to transgenic foodstuffs has U.S. producers wondering how they are supposed to market their grain. A two-tier market is developing with a premium of perhaps twenty-five cents (some say 40-50 cents) for corn or soybeans that are non-GMO (genetically manipulated organisms). You may have thought you were growing non-GMO grain, but how do you convince your customer? Getting to “zero” GMO content may in some cases be impossible.

There are several points where non-GMO crops can become contaminated: the seed you buy; the equipment you use for planting, handling and crop storage; and the facilities used in every stage of getting your crop to the consumer. Add to that cross pollination, in the case of corn, and the possibility that some microbes in the soil could test positive for certain GMO genes.

Director of ISU’s Molecular Biotechnology Center, Walter Fehr, has pointed out that corn pollen remains viable an average of 20 minutes from the time it is released. In a twenty-mile-per-hour wind, he points out, viable pollen could in theory travel a long distance. Now, it is true that most pollen travels only a few feet. The Genetic and Crop Standards of the Association of Official Seed Certifying Agencies sets 660 feet as the minimum separation distance for production of genetically pure corn seed (depending on the seed types, pollination timing, and natural barriers involved). Could 660 feet qualify as a “good faith effort” to avoid contamination? Two answers: “depending on how zero contamination is defined” and “good faith” increasingly must be augmented with testing.

There was not complete agreement among the people I spoke with on this topic. That is to be expected, given that everyone holds just a piece of this fast-changing puzzle. The Web page of Fairfield-based Genetic-ID Inc. (http://www.genetic-id.com/index.htm) states that on October 21 the European Union adopted a GMO labeling requirement for grain containing over 1% GMO. However that does not mean that grain testing less than 1% is automatically classed as non-GMO. Genetic-ID suggests that, although no level has formally been set in Europe, some consumer and retail groups there are advocating a limit on the order of 0.1%. Tim Daley of Dunn International Ltd. indicated to me that Japanese buyers are presently accepting grain as non-GMO if it contains less than 0.1% GMO grain.

Jim Boes of Heartland Organic Marketing Co-op remarked that no matter how accurate a test may be, it is not possible to prove the negative (no GMO content) with absolute certainty. Heartland and Dunn are using the ELIZA “strip” test (for proteins), while Genetic-ID uses the more precise and more expensive PCR test (for DNA). Boes said he would prefer relying on organic certification alone, but he has experienced contamination of organic grain through the combine as well as through certified seed. “You’re only going to be sure of clean seed if you use foundation seed,” said Boes. Several of those I spoke with suggested that farmers buy next year’s seed early since supplies of non-GMO seed may be limited. It might also be a good idea to save samples of purchased seed and of grain harvested. If questions arise later, these samples could help narrow the focus.

There will be a new crop of forms for everyone to sign. Many will simply verify that the party performed in a manner designed to avoid contamination. That is different than stating there is no contamination. Testing at points along the production chain will be necessary proof that everyone is doing their part. Genetic-ID now has a non-GMO certification program under which the company assumes liability for certified grains. NC+ Organics (www.ncorganics.com), a division of NC+ Hybrids, is offering organically and conventionally grown seed that is “independently sampled, tested, and certified as non-GMO.”