[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Bt backlash in NE (fwd)
Folks - I just had a conversation with a crop consultant who serves
hundreds of farmers in NE and IA. In the course of the conversation,
in which he professed to wanting "to help farmers find another
direction", he related this story:
"Last week there were three thumps heard throughout northeast
Nebraska. The first was farmers falling off the Bt bandwagon as they
realized that they had paid $135 a bag for Bt corn when $75-a-bag seed
would have sufficed: there are no corn borers worth controlling this
year. The second thump was seed dealers fainting as they realized that
they wouldn't be able to sell the expensive seed next year as the
double whammy of no-need-for-the-product and $2/bu corn reality hit
their farmer customers. The third thump was Bt seed growers pounding
the ground in denial as they realized that their seed corn crops were
becoming nearly worthless."
What a fragile system this could turn out to be.... -- Wyatt
Wyatt Fraas, Martin Kleinschmit
Beginning Farmer Sustainable Agriculture Project
Center for Rural Affairs
PO Box 736
Hartington, NE USA 68739
402 254-6893 fax -6891
wyattf@cfra.org, martink@cfra.org
http://www.cfra.org