Supposing I have a Roundup-resistant alfalfa field for three or four years and I decide that I’m going to rotate and grow soybeans the following year. How am I going to get rid of that resistant alfalfa in my soybean fields?

McCaslin: “First of all, just do a good job of taking out the stand. There are recommendations in the technical use guide in terms of what herbicides.”

Geertson: “Then if you want to do a real good job, get a tweezers and go around to all the fields that have all of these hard seeds that are laying there.”

Audience Comment: I think the real question is, ‘Why can’t it (Roundup Ready alfalfa) be managed in some fashion? There is no question that there are issues. They have to be dealt with. But you know what, there was a problem with the first tractors that came out, too. And there were problems with GPS systems, too. They have to be resolved and managed and taken care of. We have to have a watchdog agency that does that ... We have the USDA involved and I think that’s an appropriate process. I’m glad to have seen it go this far because … in the end, we have to move forward. We have a world to feed.”

Geertson: “I don’t want anyone to think that I’m anti-technology, but we have to be careful with trangenics.”

McCaslin: “As I talk to my colleagues in the seed industry, we all look at biotech traits as being a part of our future and it’s the only way, I think, that alfalfa’s going to compete long-term with corn and corn silage. These traits are being introduced in other crops, making them more profitable. Alfalfa competes with those crops, for acres, for shares in the rumen in dairy diets. We have some opportunity, I think, especially with some of these quality traits that actually make alfalfa a larger part of animal diets rather than a smaller part. And we’ve been heading in the wrong direction. I think biotech traits are what kept our crops competitive.”

Huberty: “Within the public comment period for the draft environmental impact statement, we will be having public meetings (Likely held on the East and West Coasts and in the Midwest). Everyone can come out and talk to us about the issues that were raised in addition to putting in your public comments on the document itself.”

Audience Comment: “We always want bigger yields, higher crop values. We’ve got to compete against urban sprawl; we’ve got to be competitive in the world. But DDT when that came out it was approved and it’s been bad. So please be careful.