GM alfalfa slowly invades farmers’ fields, threatening livelihoods and the environment
by: Sandy J. Duncan
NaturalNews.com
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
Alfalfa isn’t a crop city folks give much thought to and it may seem like it really isn’t worth worrying about. In the United States, it is actually the fourth most widely grown crop with wheat, corn and soybeans being the top three. We recognize the great big hay rolls as cheap animal feed when we see them as we drive by open fields.
According to the US Department of Agriculture more than 17 million acres of alfalfa were grown last year, worth an estimated $8 billion.
Alfalfa is actually a crop used to feed dairy cows, cattle, sheep, pigs, honeybees and offers a habitat to many species of birds. So it’s actually pretty important in the farming world and in the food chain. But the genetically modified (GM) alfalfa type is bringing about a whole new set of challenges for agriculture and the environment. Adding alfalfa to the available Roundup Ready (RR) products increases Monsanto’s death grip on American farmers and creates a nearly non-stoppable dominance over our largest grown food crops.
A recent discovery of genetically modified alfalfa in Western Canada in an area where it has not yet been approved exposes the reality of its growing regardless of “approval”. Discovery of the Roundup Ready forage in one Saskatchewan and one Alberta field within the past few years shows that it is difficult, if not impossible, to contain.
Alfalfa can easily spread into the nearby ditches, along the fence lines and easily blow beyond the field edges, regardless of whether it is intended to or not. There are obviously not any walls between each farmer’s field separating the non-GM or Roundup Ready version varieties thus allowing easy crossover.
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