What about the stuff (alfalfa gone to seed) along the fields and ditches?

McCaslin: With hay and seed production, you’re required to control that to a distance of 165’.

Geertson: “I just showed those pictures and what they (growers) are practicing were out there … What is going on in the real world isn’t even close to what they’re suggesting they can do (using stewardship practices). You don’t have any requirements or penalties for somebody violating the rules. You know how it’s going to be out there in the farm country. People are going to do what they want to do.”

Huberty: “I’ll say how we’re addressing this in the environmental impact statement. We’re looking at those two extremes. We take the instance where everyone followed it (regulations) to a T and we take the instance where nobody is going to follow it. And we look at the environmental conflict of both sides. We take into account people essentially not following the rules.”

McCaslin: Every Roundup Ready alfalfa seed field has to be planted under the isolation requirements outlined in the best management practices document. “Any grower who wants to plant conventional seed can call his local crop improvement association and say, ‘I am interested in planting conventional seed and I want to find out how far it is from Roundup Ready’ and the crop improvement association will share that information.”

Geertson: “The certification program that we’ve had in the past to prevent the genetic transfer between varieties – there have been some real tolerances there. If you have a three-dormancy alfalfa planted next to another seed field of three-dormancy alfalfa, you’re going to get some transfer there. They know that and they’ve made these rules to try to minimize that. However, it’s accepted that there will be quite a bit of transfer there. But consequences between a Roundup Ready alfalfa and a conventional alfalfa are much greater. When you do a seeding of an alfalfa, the certification rules will be as low as much as 1% hard seed that came in and invaded the new seed. I don’t think that anybody here raising alfalfa – who wants to raise conventional alfalfa – is going to accept 1% contamination of Roundup Ready alfalfa.
     “There’s another thing about this perennial plant that’s pollinated by bees that transfer for a long ways. Once it’s (Roundup Ready alfalfa) introduced into the environment, it’s not going to be able to be recalled if by some remote chance it does show to have some problems. Now, with corn and soybeans and other things, if there were problems, and there have been problems, they can be recalled.
     “Mark (McCaslin) is talking about all these other changes that they’re going to do to alfalfa, and when they introduce them out into the environment, they’re not going to be recalled. So I think those should have very specific tests as to whether they’re safe or not. And at this point there’s very little being done on it. If people don’t want to eat genetically modified plants, they have the right to make that choice. When you introduce Roundup Ready alfalfa or any genetic trait to perennial plants or plants cross-pollinated by bees and have a lot of hard seed, you’re taking that choice away from the people who want to eat non-genetic-engineered food.”