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Hi, I'm Amanda! My family farms corn and soybeans in Southwest Michigan. I'm also a practicing attorney.

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Jackson County GMO Ban Upheld

June 1, 2015

There’s news out of Jackson County, Oregon regarding the GMO cultivation ban. If you remember in 2014, voters in Jackson County voted in favor of a ballot measure that prohibited farmers from planting GMO crops within the county. Two farms brought suit against the county to stop implementation of the ban, because it would force them to remove their alfalfa crop, which is a crop that produces for several years. The Schulz farm claimed $2.2 million in damages, while the Frinks claimed $2 million in damages.

Unfortunately, according to the Capital Press, Magistrate Mark Clarke ruled last week that cultivation of GMOs was not protected by the state’s Right to Farm Act. Perhaps the most frustrating piece of this is that the judge bought into the argument that non-GMO crops have to be “protected” from cross-pollination. As part of the decision:

He pointed to testimony from lawmakers representing the county who claimed the ordinance was necessary to avoid unwanted cross-pollination between biotech crops and those that are conventional or organic.

Although theoretically possible, cross-pollination isn’t really an issue or that likely. Corn, for example, is only pollinating for one week. In order for separate fields to cross-pollinate, they would need to be planted physically close to each other and at the right times so that they were both in pollination at the exact same time. To the extent this even matters, it is easy enough for neighboring farmers to simply coordinate when a field is going to be planted.

Nonetheless, Clarke took this “problem” and used it to enforce the county-wide ban.

One positive note about this update – the farmers’ claims for compensation are still alive and well. While I don’t know much about Oregon eminent domain law, I’m hopeful this is at least one way the GMO farmers in Jackson County can win. The 5th Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the government from taking our property without “just” compensation. In some jurisdictions, if a government regulates a business in such a way that it can no longer conduct its business, that could be considered a taking. In this case, the government will impose the GMO ban, thus taking the farmers’ ability to farm those crops. If the court finds that to be a taking, the farmers will be entitled to “just” compensation.

I would love to see Jackson County handed a bill for $4.2 million.

Once again, while the rest of us across the country are watching Oregon to see how these issues are handled, we cannot forget that there are actual real family farmers being subjected to these bans. I cannot imagine how devastating it would be if your local government told you that you could no longer carry on your family business. That the anti-GMO movement is founded on scare tactics and bad science only makes it that much worse.

I’ll keep following…

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Filed Under: Bans, Biotechnology, Government Affairs, Production Methods Tagged With: ballot measures, gmos, legal, update

Comments

  1. Schuyler Davies says

    June 11, 2015 at 2:26 pm

    So glad the judge us on board with non-GMO. Oregon is a very resistant state as is California. This is just the beginning of many other litigations. Brace yourselves people the war on GMOs is imminent. It’s going to be fun I’m excited!

  2. Fred says

    August 30, 2015 at 9:50 am

    This Farmer’s Daughter is a paid troll supported by Monsanto and their ilk. I’ll be totally surprised to see my post here.

    • Amanda says

      August 30, 2015 at 10:13 pm

      Surprise! There’s your post!

      Is that really as original as you can get, Fred? Can’t find a way to actually counter my commentary, so you think you’ll just invent an excuse that I’m paid by Monsanto? Sorry, but not the case: https://www.thefarmersdaughterusa.com/2014/02/no-im-not-paid-by-monsanto.html

Hi, I'm Amanda. My family farms corn and soybeans in Southwest Michigan. I'm an attorney and I'm passionate about agriculture!

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thefarmersdaughterusa

Amanda | The Farmer's Daughter USA
I'm a proud farmer's daughter & advocate for modern agriculture. U.S. farmers are leaders in sustainability.

Amanda Zaluckyj
Just a reminder. #agriculture #usagriculture #far Just a reminder.

#agriculture #usagriculture #farmers #usfarmers #farming #farmfamilies #sustainableag #sustainableagriculture #sustainable #sustainability #farmerscare #homegrown #localagriculture #knowyourfarmer #shoplocal #madeintheusa #madeintheus #americanagriculture
Happy Thanksgiving! I realized this morning that Happy Thanksgiving!

I realized this morning that it's been 20 years since I performed in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. What a trip!

I hope you and yours have a lovely day! 🦃
Honestly, what is she even doing?? #Mischa #dogsl Honestly, what is she even doing??

#Mischa
#dogslife
She's got me. #dogslife #onlyfurbaby #naptime She's got me. 

#dogslife #onlyfurbaby #naptime
Some of you see this picture and appreciate the vi Some of you see this picture and appreciate the view. Our grain cart driver (mom) just sees that scary hill to drive up. 🫣

 #farming #sustainableag #agriculture #sustainableagriculture #farmers #sustainableagriculturepractices #sustainable #agriculturelife #agricultureeducation #farm #farmer #harvest23🌾
Happy Halloween! I dressed up as an attorney today Happy Halloween! I dressed up as an attorney today. 🤣

Oh, lawyer jokes. Listen, if you can't make fun or yourself and have a little fun, what are you even doing?
It's true. My puppy. 💜💜 It's true. My puppy. 💜💜
The first 25 acres of soybeans are done! But the b The first 25 acres of soybeans are done! But the beans still have very high moisture content. It's so high the granary won't accept them. So we'll have to dry them.

The big concern with soybeans is that the pods won't pop open. If that happens, they'll be discarded  out the back of the combine with the other plant material. Obviously not what we want to happen. After testing a bit, enough were opening that we felt like we should just get started.

Slow going, but at least it's going!

 #farming #sustainableag #agriculture #sustainableagriculture #farmers #sustainableagriculturepractices #sustainable #agriculturelife #agricultureeducation #farm #farmer #fearfree #cleanfood #foodsafety #dietfads #FactsNotFear #cleaneatingdiet #foodlabels #truth #cleaneating #Harvest2023
We're still not harvesting yet. Why not? Moisture We're still not harvesting yet. Why not? Moisture content.

We're currently about 4 weeks behind. But we can't start because our crops are still too wet. The moisture content is the amount of water in each kernel or soybean. If there's too much, they can spoil in storage. If it's really too high, then combine has a hard time handling it.

For corn, the sweet spot is about 15%. We have a dryer system on the farm that can help finish the kernels to the correct moisture level. But the dryer takes a lot of energy to run, so its cost prohibitive if the moisture content is too high. And if we try to sell the crop when it's too wet, we'll take a price hit at the grain elevator. So either the granary dries it, we dry it, or Mother Nature dries it. Right now, it's still too wet for after-harvest drying.

The other complication is that IT. JUST. KEEPS. RAINING. That doesn't help because the corn doesn't have a chance to dry out, and it maintains that moisture. We need some warm, dry days to speed up the process.

So, for now, we're still waiting...

#harvest23
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