WATERVILLE — If you learn one thing after talking to Waterville-area wheat grower Tom Stahl, it’s that he’s opposed to genetically modified crops, especially the crop he grows: wheat.
Genetically modified crops are altered in a laboratory to improve desired traits, such as drought tolerance, herbicide resistance and higher yield.
Stahl said he has a lot of concerns: he’s not convinced genetically modified wheat is safe for people to eat, he fears oversupply and he doesn’t want farmers to be beholden to the Monsanto Co., a developer of genetically modified wheat.
Stahl and two other Waterville farmers, Joe Ludeman and Lynn Polson, started the Committee to Save Our Farm Markets, which distributed petitions this spring around Waterville and the state to gather signatures of other growers, businesses and community members.
The petition aims to prevent farmers from growing genetically modified wheat or planting test plots of genetically modified wheat. It also asks for farm leaders to investigate the safety of genetically modified foods.
Stahl’s dislike of genetically modified organisms began long ago, he said, after he received a promotional video from Monsanto about genetically modified organisms. As he watched the video, he says he thought, “There’s something about this that’s too slick, that it’s going to solve all farm problems. All you have to do is pay Monsanto.”
At the time, the plants Monsanto was promoting were genetically modified corn and soybeans, Stahl said.
Genetically modified wheat hasn’t been developed yet. Monsanto’s research on genetically modified wheat, alternatively referred to as “biotech wheat,” was stopped in 2004, according the company’s website, because of economics and a focus on alternative investments. The company resumed the program in 2009 after they said they received support from wheat organizations in the U.S., Canada and Australia.
Ludeman said he got involved after listening to Stahl vent about genetically modified organisms in Ludeman’s parts store in Waterville. Ludeman said the store often functions as a place to vent, much like a barber shop in a bigger city. “I did some research on my own and found out about the dangers and pitfalls of all genetically modified plants, not just wheat,” said Ludeman, also a fourth-generation wheat farmer. “They’ve run themselves out of their own market,” he said of farmers who have planted other genetically modified crops. “They can’t sell their product anymore. Not only that, they’re under control of one company now.”
Central Washington’s biggest wheat export market is in Asia, specifically Japan, which has threatened to stop importing wheat if genetically modified wheat is grown.
“We’re pretty neutral on it,” said Kevin Whitehall, manager of Central Washington Grain Growers in Waterville. “The one thing we all agree upon — the petition signers and Central Washington Grain Growers speaking for the board and management — we would not favor the use of genetically modified wheats unless they’re accepted by our foreign buyers.”
Stahl, who farms the land his family homesteaded in the 1880s, said he’s concerned about the future of wheat farming. “I’d like to see my neighbors, their children, have a future of farming,” Stahl said. “I’d like to see more generations of people in my county have a future.”
“It seems like the public that buys processed foods are the most concerned — which is all of us. The people that push the grain or the spray chemicals are in total agreement with Monsanto,” said Ludeman. “... If anybody would do their homework and they eat food, they should be against this.”
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