GMOs attacked and defended in Colorado

Mar 01, 2016

Boulder County policy called into question

By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com

Members of Colorado’s Boulder County spent nearly nine hours defending and debating GMOs being grown on county-owned farmland.

Currently, Boulder County has a four-year-old policy allowing for some GMOs to be grown on land owned by the county.

Boulder County currently owns about 25,000 acres of farmland, and about 1,180 acres is being used to grow GMO crops.

The debated issue was rather simple: should farmers be allowed to continue growing GMO crops or should they be banned completely?

According to the Longmont Times-Call, Alan Rosenfeld told members of Boulder’s Parks and Open Space Advisory Committee that the residents are against GMO crops in open spaces.

Richard Andrews, an organic farmer, echoed that sentiment and went as far as calling glyphosate a kind of “chemical warfare on nature.”

However, there were farmers present who argued that farmers should be the ones who decide what’s best for the land.

“Farmland should not be managed by political activists,” John Schlagel said. “It should be managed by farmers.”

Brent Boydston, a vice president with the Colorado Farm Bureau, said that there are more than 1,700 studies proving that biotechnology is safe. Other farmers said that using GMOs allow farmers to produce larger yields and use fewer herbicides and pesticides.

The next step is for the Parks and Open Space Advisory Committee to discuss the GMO policy during a March 15 meeting where they will make recommendations to county commissioners. The Board of County Commissioners will consider the GMO policy during a meeting on March 17.

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