devonpena@GMAIL.COM
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--
Devon G. Peña, Ph.D.
"Memory is a moral obligation, all the time."
-J. Derrida
GMO Labeling | The
right to know is also the right to farm
Corn Mother. Cristina M. Perez
Yes on Colorado
Prop 105
AN ACEQUIA FARMER
EXPLAINS SUPPORT FOR LABELING
Devon G. Peña |
Las Colonias de San Pablo, CO and Seattle, WA | October 10, 2014
I am a farmer in
Colorado’s San Luis Valley and I support Prop 105, our state’s
citizen-initiated referendum for the labeling of genetically engineered (GE)
foods; also known as GMOs for genetically modified organisms. In a democracy,
citizens must have access to information in order to make decisions affecting
their quality of life. The right to know is a basic right in a true democracy.
By logical and
legal extension of this basic principle we have a right to know what is in the
food we eat and how it is produced. The right to know about our food is already
codified in the law in the form of required nutritional labels and other
information used by consumers to make decisions, for e.g., about dietary
restrictions involving consumption of sodium, fats, and sugar or carbohydrates.
Indeed, the sale
price of any given grocery item is another part of the information a consumer
has a right to know. So, despite what the opponents are suggesting, Prop 105 is
not asking for the establishment of some new right and instead asks that the
right to know keep pace with changes and adapt to the presence of new
technologies, shifting cultural values, and legitimate social preferences.
Every farmer also
has a right to produce with heirloom seeds if she sees fit to do so. This
should occur without the farmer facing the real threat of contamination and
genetic damage caused by neighboring GMO crops. The right to know what is in
our food is in this manner also the right to farm in the customary manner and
for many Latino farmers in Colorado this is a matter of the survival of our
cultural heritage through the production and preservation of highly valued
heirloom crops, including unique varieties of native corn.
Colorado’s acequia
corn farmers call for the protection of our state’s unique cultural and
biological heritage. I am talking about the seed savers and plant breeders who
work in one of the great “Centers of Origin” for *Zea mays* – *maíz*, maize, or corn. Colorado’s San Luis
Valley is part of the American Southwest and widely recognized as a legitimate
subregion of the Greater Mesoamerican Center of Origin (see Nabhan 2011
Thus, a vote for
Prop 105 is also a vote for our state’s family farmers and especially those who
are the most vulnerable as stewards of our national agricultural heritage. Our
Colorado Latino farmers have developed unique varieties like the famous *maíz
de concho*, a native white flint corn, which we use to produces our famous
adobe-oven roasted *chicos de horno*, which is itself a rare artisan food
listed on the Slow Food USA Ark of Taste. The genetic integrity of our maize is
essential to the future of our acequia farming way of life.
The Latino farmers
of Colorado own and manage more than 1 million acres of farm, open-range, and
forested lands in the state. We are among the oldest farmers in Colorado with
some families sustaining agricultural operations without interruption in the
same place for six or seven generations or since the 1840s when the San Luis
Valley was still part of New Mexico Territory.
We therefore have a bigger direct stake in the outcome of the vote on
Prop 105 than any corporation like Monsanto with no real long-term ties or
plans for our state’s future agricultural *and local cultural* sustainability.
I work as the
manager of a non-profit grassroots experiment station and acequia farm school
on 184 acres irrigated by the oldest water rights in the state, the historic
San Luis Peoples Ditch. The rural neighborhood surrounding the Peoples Ditch
has four Colorado Centennial Farms with family names like Gallegos, Ortega,
Valdez, and Atencio.
These are my neighbors
and every single one of us has a treasured collection of heirloom seeds, mostly
of the ‘Three Sisters’ – corn, bean, and squash. These seeds are sowed every
year and irrigated with the pristine snowmelt water that runs through our
celebrated acequia irrigation networks. The State of Colorado recently
acknowledged the historic, ecological, and economic value of our acequia farms
when it passed, in 2009, the Colorado Acequia Recognition Law. The passage of
this important legislation speaks to the value of the endurance and resilience
of the Indo-Hispano acequia farming way of life.
Our Center of
Origin heirloom seed collections are an invaluable asset that merit protection.
Colorado’s Prop105 will help us move in the right direction by fulfilling the
consumer’s right to know while encouraging us to take additional steps toward
sustainable agriculture and food justice.
One anticipated benefit of Prop 105 is that small family
farmers – like those in the San Luis Valley who grow organic produce and livestock
as part of multigenerational family farm communities – will have a better
opportunity to provide high quality heirloom crops for the broader Colorado and
national consuming public. The integrity and value of our cherished heirloom
varieties will be more secure as the market for GMO crops in the rest of the
Valley decreases.
We are already
seeing a transition to more locally grown and organically sourced crops and
these are also becoming more affordable as farm to table programs spread across
the entire nation including Colorado. This is a deep movement with strong roots
in Colorado’s Native American and Indo-Hispano First Foods.
As a Latino farmer
I am also concerned that the industry proponents shamelessly lie to the public
about the cost of food. I am concerned about cost since so many of my neighbors
are limited-resource low-income families. Many of them worry that the cost of
food will continue to increase and that GMO labeling will make food costs rise
even faster. This is a bold-faced lie.
Our heirloom white flint, drying under the sun, after over-night roast in adobe ovens.
The latest research on the costs of GMO labeling by the Consumers Union
http://consumersunion.org/news/gmo-labeling-will-cost-consumers-less-than-a-aenny-a-day-new-report-says/
(CU) – a respected non-partisan organization – verifies
that the actual cost of GMO labeling to the average consumer is about $2.43 per
year. I mentioned this cost estimate to a young woman in San Luis, Colorado
just the other day. She quickly did the math in her head and responded: “Wow,
that’s just pennies a day. I can afford that…” and then without hesitation:
“Let’s do it!”
If a low-income, working single mother of three in rural Colorado is willing to do her part to pay for GMO labeling, are you?
We can put to rest
the claim that implementing a new GMO labeling requirement will be too costly.
Consumers need to know about the CU study to avoid being duped by the
scaremongering trumpeted by corporate opponents of Prop 105. The cost of
labeling is not a significant inflationary factor in the cost of food.
So I ask the
support of my fellow Colorado Latina and Latino voters:
Please vote “Yes” on Prop 105. The future of our
children, and our land, is in our hands.
Posted 15 minutes
ago by Devon G. Peña
Labels: acequia
farmers
Center of Origin
Colorado
GMO labeling
GMOs (genetically-modified organisms)
Hispanic voters
land races
Prop 105
Protecting Heirloom Cultivars
http://ejfood.blogspot.com/search/label/Protecting%20Heirloom%20Cultivars>
San Luis Valley <http://ejfood.blogspot.com/search/label/San%20Luis%20Valley
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