January 17, 2003

Northern Plains Sustainable Agriculture Annual Meeting Set for Aberdeen South Dakota

Panel sessions on "The future of seed breeding and seedstocks in a GMO world" and "Where do we go from here with GMOs?" highlight the 24th annual Northern Plains Sustainable Agriculture Society annual meeting Jan. 30 through Feb. 1 in Aberdeen South Dakota.

"The big issue in sustainable and organic agriculture is how to deal with organisms that contain transgenic technology," says Brad Brummond, North Dakota State University Extension agent in Walsh county. Brummond is also a sustainable agriculture specialist for the Extension Service and has served organic producers in a number of organizations. "Many markets for sustainable and organic products allow for only small amounts of transgenic organisms mixed in. In some cases, none is allowed. This creates the dilemma of how we deal with the expansion of biotech crops and acres in the future. Our annual meeting will look at the issue in great detail."

Keynote speaker for the event is Percy Schmeiser, a Canadian farmer who was sued by Monsanto for having canola fields that were contaminated with Monsanto’s Round-Up Ready canola genes. His fight against the corporation is considered by some to be a modern-day David versus Goliath fight. He was recently awarded the Mahatma Gandhi award in recognition of his nonviolent work for the betterment and good of mankind. He is scheduled to speak at 8 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 1.

Also leading a panel discussion is Anita Brule-Babel, University of Manitoba geneticist and wheat breeder. Last summer Brule-Babel told the North Dakota Interim Agriculture Committee that if Roundup Ready wheat is planted widely, it could spread beyond control within five years.

Other sessions will deal with new organic and livestock regulations, marketing, small grain varieties for organic production systems, livestock production and other topics.

For more information on the conference go to www.npsas.org  or call the Northern Plains Sustainable Agriculture Society office at (701) 883-4304.

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Source: Brad Brummond, (701) 284-6248, bbrummon@ndsuext.nodak.edu
Editor: Rich Mattern, (701) 231-6136, richard.mattern@ndsu.nodak.edu