New GM Wheat Poses Risks for Farmers and the Environment

Anthony Pahnke – Jim Goodman

 October 11, 2024
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Photo by Simon Caminada

The precautionary principle – the ethical equivalent of the common sense notion that it’s ‘better to be safe than sorry’ – means that when some economic or policy change may endanger the public, business and government leaders ought to thoroughly conduct research so as to avoid exposing anyone to unnecessary risks.

Unfortunately, with our food system, our government continues to ignore ethics and common sense, recently approving as ‘safe for breeding and growing’ a new genetically modified (GM) variety of wheat – HB4.  Copying and combining certain genes from sunflowers to create this new variety, HB4 is not only pitched to farmers as a tool they could use to battle our ever-increasingly dire climate crisis, but also to increase yields.

The truth is another, as this latest proposed tech solution to address our climate crisis stands to improve the financial situation of agribusiness corporations more than farmers, while also likely harming our environment instead of helping it.  Not only should the USDA rethink their decision, but our officials ought to instead support publicly financing regional and local varieties of seed.  Strengthening key provisions of the Farm Bill that is currently in Congress could make such proposals a reality.

The overarching problem with HB4 – particularly for US farmers – is economic.

According to USDA data from the past twenty-five years, operating costs for wheat farmers have more than tripled in terms of dollars spent per acre – increasing from just over $57 in 1998, to more than $187 in 2023. Also during this time, while the input cost of seed has more than doubled, going from $7 to $16, chemicals have tripled, climbing from $7 to $22.  Fertilizer expenses have risen the most – going from $18 to over $78 – representing nearly half of what farmers spend per acre.

Wheat is more than a crop, or ingredient that ends up in bread, but an industry, with chemical, fertilizer, and seed companies each clawing for a share.

Meanwhile, wheat prices in our global marketplace have been volatile.  The 28% price jump that farmers experienced in the first months of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 quickly stabilized thanks to the Black Sea Grain Initiative – the plan that allowed grain to leave the region for a time until Russia’s left the agreement in 2023 – and different countries easing their export restrictions.  Prices then fell, as Ukraine, regularly one of the world’s top wheat exporters, saw its production rebound to pre-invasion levels.  Russia’s 2023/2024 exports also exceeded expectations, increasing by 7% over the prior year, making this country the world’s leader in export sales by far.

Meanwhile, the US’ share of wheat exports has steadily fallen for decades, from about 45% in 1980 to just over 15% in 2014.  With worldwide production increasing, US wheat farmers may take a loss in 2024.

Maintaining open export markets for wheat can spell the difference between financial life or death for US farmers.  On this point, there is no indication that world markets are currently willing to accept HB4, as major international buyers of US wheat have not approved it.  With contamination of non-GM wheat a problem that we have been aware of for years, we need to be careful as US farmers can only sell what importers will accept.

The other issue with HB4 wheat is that the seed not only resists drought, but also glufosinate herbicides.  Farmers who purchase the seed will have to buy this chemical, in addition to fertilizer.  And despite what the USDA claims about safety, studies show that this class of herbicides is toxic to wildlife and humans.

Overall, in addition to potential environmental harm, we have a case of the ‘price-cost’ squeeze that farmers suffer too often, with the inputs that they need taking a significant chunk of their earnings, while the prices that they receive for their labor either shrinking or fluctuating in ways that are largely out of their control.

Accordingly, if we really want safety – for farmers’ finances and the environment – we ought to work more on promoting regional and local seed varieties instead of looking to multinational corporations for guidance.

Both versions of our beleaguered Farm Bill contain such provisions, with the House and Senate versions of the legislation dedicating grant funding to the development of regional seed varieties (referred to as “cultivars” in the legislation).

The operative word here is “regional,” as grant funding may lead to the creation of new seed varieties that would be suited to particular areas and climates.   Droughts in general entail a lack of water; but soil conditions and weather patterns vary significantly by region.  As a result, we need to develop diverse kinds of seeds that suit different ecosystems instead of global “one size fits all” varieties like we find with GM options.

When the USDA decided that HB4 was “safe,” they must have left out considerations for farmer financial wellbeing and the environment.  But our legislators can make up for this mistake with the Farm Bill – whether it emerges in a lame duck session this year following the elections in November or awaits our next Congress – taking heed of the risks that GM crops pose, and supporting more local and regional food system development.

Anthony Pahnke is the Vice President of the Family Farm Defenders and Assistant Professor of International Relations at San Francisco State University.  Jim Goodman is a repurposed dairy farmer from Wonewoc, Wisconsin and board President of the National Family Farm Coalition. Jim can be reached at r.j.goodman@mwt.net and Anthony at anthonypahnke@sfsu.edu  

Saving the Bumblebee Starts With Changing Our Farming Practices

Jimmy Videle

 October 11, 2024
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Photo by Callum Cockburn

The weather warms. The snows recede, and vast swaths of wild flora mat the terrain. The first shoots of the perennials are green. What was once brown and hibernating transforms into a verdant, foliated sea. Not long after the transition, the first insects emerge, following lockstep with the plants. Flying pollinating insects congregate and feed in earnest.

The queen bumblebees emerge in the spring and actively forage on the earliest flowering bushes and trees. By early summer, they find suitable nest sites, create wax pots, and lay eggs. Two to three weeks after the first babies (workers) hatch, they take over the duties of looking for nectar and caring for the rest of the brood. The colonies reach maximum size by mid-summer.

The reproductive cycle begins when the gynes—those destined to become queens—mate. As important as places to nest are to all bumblebee species is the availability of high-quality forage, especially in September, before the bumblebees begin seeking hibernation sites. The rest of the colony will die off before the year is over, and the newly mated gynes will find a suitable hibernation site before emerging the following spring to start the cycle again.
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Understanding the placement of any farm and its relationship to the complete bumblebee cycle is very important as it has been researched that forests play an open role in bumblebee life history.

Bumblebee Colony Life Cycle. (Image credit: Jeremy Hemberger, Department of Entomology, University of Wisconsin)

Once the ground warms deep in their hibernating dens and solitary bumblebee queens surface, what will they find once they take flight? Will there be enough pollen from early flowering plants to nourish them after the long, deep sleep? Was there enough ground cover to protect them from winter nights dropping to minus 30 degrees Celsius? Is the flower diversity sustained throughout their cycle? The whole cycle must be considered to reverse the decline.

The Bumblebee Decline

Bumblebee declines have been documented worldwide, particularly in bumblebees, with some species in North America declining over 90 percent in the last 20 years.

It is relatively simple to understand why. Climate change affects their hibernation cycle and nesting temperatures in the late spring and early summer; land-use change from agriculture and development destroys nesting and wintering sites underground (abandoned mice and vole holes); pesticides toxify the flowers that then kill the bees, and apiculture practices breed viruses that commercial honeybees will pass on to wild bees. In short, humans are causing the decline of bumblebees.

La Ferme de l’Aube Bumblebee Assessment

In 2018, my small-scale farm in Boileau, Québec, La Ferme de l’Aube, set out to understand how veganic farming practices benefited or hindered the wild population of fauna and insects. Methods of shallow, low-till; no-fungicide, herbicide, or insecticide spraying; keeping the gardens covered throughout the year; planting a diversity of flowering annuals and perennials that bloom throughout the whole frost-free year, and rewilding practices of the remainder of the 2.2-hectare land holding, would be scrutinized.

The farm-wide biodiversity study would become the baseline for future research. One insect of keen interest to the survey was bumblebees. By slowly walking transects through 3,500 square feet of cultivated annual and perennial garden space, the surveyors attempted to quantify the abundance and distribution of the bumblebees present.

The numbers tell the story. In 2018, perennials were young, and some still being established. Four years later, as perennial plants matured, the number of bumblebees increased by 227 percent. In 2023, due to abundant rainfall during peak flower season, numbers were lower but still 175 percent above the baseline year.

In 2024, the count was beyond expectations, up 340 percent. The number of species observed increased from five to nine, and one, the Yellow-banded bumblebee Bombus terricola, is listed as vulnerable by the IUCN Red List and of special concern in Québec. Finding this species helps to prove that veganic growing practices are working to potentially eliminate bumblebee declines in the region.

The Flower Diversity Throughout the Season

One key factor in the bumblebees’ success at La Ferme de l’Aube has been the coordinated effort to ensure flowering plants throughout the season. These additional foraging sources augment the plants the bumblebees find in the wild.

The cultivated favorites of these highly social beings are bachelor button, basil (sacred and Thai), bergamot (purple and red), borage, buckwheat, bush beans, chives, comfrey, orange cosmos, echinacea, haskap, hollyhock, Korean mint, lamb’s ear, lavender, liatris, orange milkweed, phacelia, squash (summer and winter), sunflower, wild marjoram, and yellow daisy.

In addition, all common milkweed, clover (red, strawberry, and white), and dandelion are allowed to proliferate within the flower garden spaces.

As work continues to protect 3,000 hectares of biodiversity in Boileau, Québec, La Ferme de l’Aube, the main research center, has become the heart of the nature reserve. Every record of a watch-list species adds to the necessity for permanent conservation.

As veganic farming has become the leader in ending the exploitation of domesticated animals in agricultural systems, it has also become the standard in ensuring that wild fauna and insect creatures can thrive. The scientific community starts paying attention when intuition is backed up by solid data. We are on the precipice of systemic change, and all our Bombus friends are buzzing with gratitude.

Jimmy Videle is a farmer, naturalist, and researcher. He is the author of The Veganic Grower’s Handbook: Cultivating Fruits, Vegetables, and Herbs from Urban Backyard to Rural Farmyard (Lantern Press, 2023), the co-founder of NAVCS-Certified Veganic, and a contributor to the Observatory. His writing has appeared in CounterPunch, Countercurrents, and LA Progressive, among others.

This article was produced by Earth | Food | Life, a project of the Independent Media Institute.

Jimmy Videle is the author of The Veganic Grower’s Handbook: Cultivating Fruits, Vegetables, and Herbs from Urban Backyard to Rural Farmyard (Lantern Press, 2023) and the co-founder of NAVCS-Certified Veganic.