INDIA 'Poor storage wastes 10% of agricultural produce'

'Poor storage wastes 10% of agricultural produce' 

The National Seed Congress held in Lucknow dwelt on major issues related to agriculture, most important being production of genetically modified (GM) crops and high yielding variety of seeds. On the concluding day of the Congress, UP's minister for Agriculture and Food Processing, Anand Singh supported GM crop production and sought directions from chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, who is said to be still weighing his options.

The CM was the chief guest at the sixth edition of the congress which was hosted in Uttar Pradesh for the first time. "Samajwadi Party is ensuring that farmers receive good quality seeds, fertilizers and irrigation facilities to increase their production. Government is giving priority to soil testing so that the production capacity of the farmland may increase", said Yadav.

The minister emphasised on the need of good research work to prevent crops from diseases and disseminating useful information on agriculture to the farmers. Making a passing reference to the new agriculture technologies including GM crops, he said that the recent researches and technologies can only be accepted by farmers when they start believing it and its benefits to their crops.

Anand Singh said UP is a leading producer of wheat, potatoes and sugarcane but the state still needs to improve in production of oilseeds and lentils. He said almost 10% of the agricultural produce gets damaged due to poor storage facilities in UP. "While we lead pre-harvest stage of production, we need to better our post-harvest facilities in order to match global standards."

UP Seed Development Corporation, one of the organizers of the event assured that it is working towards development of good quality seeds which is a priority for the state government.

In UP, agriculture constitutes 25% of the GDP and gives livelihood to almost 68% people.

Agriculture Production Commissioner, UP, Alok Ranjan said the agriculture growth rate has been targeted at 5.1% in the 12th five year plan, hence all possible efforts are being made to provide high quality seeds to farmers. He said the government has prepared a seed rolling plan for wheat cultivation in the state in which development of new variety of seeds will be encouraged. In this plan, breed which is less than 10 years old will be promoted while breed which is older than 15 years of age would be phased out.

Atanu Purkayastha, joint secretary, ministry of agriculture made concluding remarks in the event that the state needs to strengthen it seed certification and seed-law machinery. Also, well-trained staff and testing labs on global standards are required to develop high yielding variety of crops, he added. TOI

Monsanto Protection Act extension hidden in spending bill

Monsanto Protection Act extension hidden in spending bill

The controversial provision nicknamed the “Monsanto Protection Act” was included by House Republicans in the bill to approve funding that is required to avoid a government shutdown.

The provision, set to expire, blocks judges from barring a genetically modified organism from being planted, even if it is deemed unsafe. Many nations have taken the opposite route and banned GMOs outright. The text of the bill the provision is tucked away in was released on Wednesday by House Appropriations Committee Chairman, and recipient of Monsanto campaign contributions in 2010 and 2012, Harold Rogers of Kentucky. The provision was extended for three months.

The controversial provision was almost repealed, until Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri opposed the bill. Blunt received campaign contributions in 2010 and 2012 from Monsanto. Multiple petitions have been ignored, some of which had over 100,000 signatures. The organizers of those petitions are not known to have contributed to the Senator or the Chairman from Kentucky.

Monsanto is a massive biotech company specializing in herbicides and genetically modified seeds; it officially objects to the nickname of the provision. It should be noted that other companies will benefit from what is officially titled as the Farmer Assurance Provision.

These large biotech firms patent their genetically modified seeds. When the GMO crop’s pollen contaminates a farm nearby, the farmer is then infringing on the patents of the corporation. Once an organic farmer’s crop is contaminated, the farmer loses access to many export markets that have banned GMO products.

Farmers' advocacy groups are taking the battle over this practice to the Supreme Court. The case will challenge Monsanto’s aggressive lawsuits over patents, and hopes to bar the biotech giant from suing farmers whose fields have been contaminated by their product.

The battle over GMO labeling is heading to a ballot initiative in Seattle. Advocates of GMOs oppose letting the consumer know if the food has been genetically altered, but supporters of the proposal say the cost to redesign labeling will be negligible. Initiative 522 will be on the November ballot, and as with all political campaigns, money is at the heart of the issue with those opposed to letting consumers know how their food is made raking in over 11 million dollars, with about 4.8 million dollars coming from Monsanto.

There is no clear end in sight in the battle over genetically altered foods, but Senator Jeff Merkley has announced that he will continue to fight against the reenactment of the “Monsanto Protection Act." www.digitaljournal.com

Washington state testing farmer's alfalfa for GM contamination

Washington state testing farmer's alfalfa for GM contamination

Carey Gillam is a Reuters correspondent covering agribusiness from St. Louis, Mo.

Agriculture officials in Washington state are testing samples of alfalfa, after a farmer reported his hay was rejected for export because it tested positive for a genetically-modified (GM) trait that was not supposed to be in his crop.If it's confirmed that the alfalfa in question was genetically modified, it could have broad ramifications, said Hector Castro, spokesman at the Washington State Department of Agriculture."It's a sensitive issue," Castro said.Biotech alfalfa is approved for commercial production in the U.S. But many foreign and domestic buyers require that supplies not be genetically modified, and the possible presence of GMO modified alfalfa in export supplies could result in lost sales for U.S. farmers.Just this summer, Japan and South Korea temporarily stopped buying some U.S. wheat because an experimental biotech variety was found growing in a field of conventional wheat in Oregon.Alfalfa is the fourth-most widely grown U.S. field crop, behind corn, wheat and soybeans, and is used as food for dairy cattle and other livestock. The crop, worth roughly US$8 billion, was grown on more than 17 million U.S. acres in 2012, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.Exports of hay, including alfalfa, have been rising, hitting a record US$1.25 billion in 2012, according to USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service. Washington state is one of the largest producers of alfalfa for export.The Washington farmer, who could not be reached for comment by Reuters, reported the problem to state agriculture officials in late August, according to Castro. The department began testing his alfalfa samples on Sept. 3 and should be finished by Friday, Castro said.He said it is not clear if the farmer bought seed that was GM and mislabeled, or if his field was contaminated by some other means. And testing could reveal no contamination at all, he noted.Monsanto developed the herbicide-tolerant genetic trait that gives alfalfa and other crops the ability to withstand treatments of its Roundup herbicide, and has maintained that its biotech alfalfa presents no danger to conventional or organic growers.Many U.S. farmers have embraced Roundup Ready crop varieties as aids to improve crop production.Roundup Ready GM alfalfa was approved by USDA in 2011 to be planted without restrictions after several years of litigation and complaints by critics.GMO opponents have warned for more than a decade that, because alfalfa is a perennial crop largely pollinated by honeybees, it would be almost impossible to keep the GM version from mixing with conventional alfalfa. Cross-fertilization could devastate conventional and organic growers' businesses, they said.But even though U.S. regulators have deemed biotech alfalfa to be as safe as non-GM varieties, many foreign buyers will not accept the GM type because of concerns about the health and environmental safety of such crops.ACX Pacific -- a major exporter of alfalfa and other grass hay off the Pacific Northwest to countries that include Japan, Korea, China and parts of the Middle East -- will not accept any GM crop because so many foreign buyers are so opposed to it.And domestic organic dairy farmers have said any contamination of the hay they feed their animals could hurt their sales."This is terribly serious," said Washington state senator Maralyn Chase, a Democrat who fears alfalfa exports could be lost if it's proven GM alfalfa has mixed in with conventional supplies.The possibility of alfalfa contamination comes as Washington state voters weigh a ballot initiative that would require mandatory labeling of genetically engineered foods. A similar measure failed to pass in California last year.The issue also arises as USDA continues to investigate the contamination of the wheat grown in Oregon.Monsanto discontinued work on the experimental wheat variety in 2005 because of widespread industry opposition and boycott threats by international buyers. The April discovery of the GMO wheat in Oregon triggered lawsuits and led to some lost export sales of the grain.Monsanto officials have said the presence of the GM wheat in Oregon is an isolated incident that could not have happened through normal farming practices.Chief technology officer Robb Fraley told a conference call in June that the evidence indicates someone intentionally introduced the biotech wheat seed into the Oregon field. Reuters