Agriculture: What GMO's can do for us

Harold Mitchell

Dr. Brown

English 306

Agriculture: What GMO’s can do for us

Humans started modifying foods over 10,000 years ago and Genetically Modified Organisms being introduced in 1980’s. The relentless uneducated opinions about Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) have been blow out of proportion. There are three sides that people are choosing when it comes to GMO’s. Those that are for GMO’s, those who are against GMO’s and those that have no opinion on agriculture as a whole or on GMO’s. Jeffery Smith is one of the most significant advocates against GMO’s; Smith says that “organ damage, gastrointestinal and immune system disorders, accelerated aging, and infertility” (IRT) are all side effects of GMO’s. These kind of irrational and none scientific evidence is one of the reasons why the general public is so misinformed.

A GMO is a genetically changed by scientist to improve on desired traits such as esthetics of a plant, improving on how long a fruit can stay eatable, and improving on plants to grown in a none natural environment such as a laboratory (Co+op). GMO’s are used in more of a scientific way than previously used on agriculture before. The census used to be that farmers would breed the best plants with the most desirable traits, but that came at a risk of hoping that the plant would come out successfully. Today some farmers choose to grow with a GMO seed. These seeds allows for a farmer to increase his yields and to produce wanted produces. The produce might have a sweater taste or be larger than those that do not come from GMO seeds.

I believe that this is a problem because of the lack of education on the Agricultural part. We as Aggies do not educate the public enough to ensure that they get both sides of the story. We allow others to tell the story. We get upset when people talk bad about agriculture but we are not proactive when it comes to educating the public about how we do things. I also believe that the problem is in general people are afraid of change. When there is something that is new people are weary of how well it will work or if it will even work at all. Instead of proving that the science disproves the critics we need to show that science proves there are no negative side effects when it comes to GMO’s. We need to advocate for ourselves rather than arguing against the critics. GMO’s have been around for more than 40 years with no scientific side effects. Smith the advocate against GMO’s has said that there are studies to prove GMO’s are bad for humans but on his website IRT, “there’s a link to a post on a webpage, but there isn’t a peer-reviewed article” (Katiraee, 2015).  In order for a result to be accepted it must be able to replicated if it cannot be replicated it shows that the study is insufficient (berkeley.edu).(1)

 The responsibility of educating the public does not fall on the consumer but rather the Agriculture community. The Agriculture community has to get the word out to the general public about the science behind GMO’s. Once we get the message out to the public people will be more informed and have a more collective identify about why and how GMO’s are used. If we let others tell our story we will be too late to the debate to be able to educate people on the real reasons why GMO’s are used to benefit the growing process. GMO’s are made to improve on agriculture and the general public not to harm.

I would suggest that we do more advocating on where our food comes from. I believe having markets and big box stores such as Fry’s, Safeway, and Albertsons buy most of their produces from local farmers. It not only allows for the consumer to put a face to the product but increase the local economy. It’s awfully hard to imagine a family in the community would want to hurt you. Especially since 96.4 percent of farmers are family owned according to the Washington Post. The photo below is example of how we can advocate for our produces.

People are paying more attention to what they are eating and where it comes from than ever before. Allowing people to put a face to the product allows the consumer to be able to “trust” the product more. They get to see that there are still people running the farmers not some crazy scientist in a lab. Our consumers can be our biggest advocates. Allowing for consumers to be able to get ahold of the farmers by either putting the farmers website or email address on the package and making the website easy to read.

            We do not have to inform the Agriculture community but rather the everyday consumer. Our place of protest will take place urban college campuses of the United States. We will focus on the main cities in the U.S. cities such as Phoenix, Los Angeles California, and New York.  Our symbol will be of a family owned farm that uses GMO’s. The family will consist of Grandparents, Parents and children. Three generations of farmers. Our place of protest is important because of the exposer we will get to non-agriculture people and the amount of people that are misinformed. Our message will be able to get out to many people in the cities. The urban life is a fast moving sector and we will have to capture their attention. We will accomplish this with free food. Samples will draw many crowds. Especially within these cities on college campuses. The students will learn that GMO’s are here to help and not to harm. They will in turn be able to talk to their friends and families about the GMO phenomenon. Naturally the students will more than likely take to social media. We will then get the free advertisement and spokespersons through social media. The students will become advocates for us.

 The symbol is also important because its hard to imagine 3 generations of farmers becoming so corrupt that they would allow for their good names to be demolished by a bad product. It will also be hard for the consumer to imagine that the farmers would harm them. Especially when there is a face that the consumer can put to the product. Even if the product is in an urban area and the consumer doesn’t know the farmers the consumer at leased sees someone who put in hard work for the food they are about to purchase.

Our goal is not to rage a war on choosing a side of Organically grown produce vs. conventionally grown produce, but rather to educate the public and to come together to create a public sphere where both sides can hear each other out. We want to be able to ensure the general public that farms in America, which are mostly family owned, are in business to produce good, healthy food.  Farms are here to produce a good product that they can put their name on; this is why most farms are family named. The farmers trust their produce enough to put their name on it, so you can trust the farmer.

(1)                   The purpose of this paragraph was to explain what I believe to be the problem with public opinion with GMO’s. As well my frustration on my part and others in the Agriculture community with the lack of education about what GMO’s really are. The main characters are; Aggies, GMO’s, Critics, Smith.The topic string that I used was a mixed topic string.

Works Cited:

Smith, Jeffrey. 10 Reasons to Avoid GMO’s. Institute for Responsible Technology, 2011.

Co+op. What is a GMO. Stronger togethercoop.

Copycats in science: The role of replication. Understanding Science how schience really works.

Dunckel, Mary. Faces of Michigan farmers front and center in grocery stores. Michigan State University Extension.2014.

DePillis, Lydia. Farms are gigantic now. Even the “Family-ownded” ones. Washington Post. 2013