Archer Daniels Midland Tells U.S. Farmers to Segregate GE Crops
Published: Friday, October 01, 1999
Decatur-based agribusiness giant Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), in an effort to guarantee supply to increasingly leery customers in Europe and Japan, has advised its grain suppliers to begin segregating GE crops from conventional crops. Alvin, IL-based Consolidated Grain and Barge Co. has announced it will pay premium prices for non-GE conventional crops.
Minneapolis-based Cargill, however, says it has no plans to require that farmers segregate the crops it buys from them. According to The Wall Street Journal, Cargill will contract with farmers to grow conventional grain if consumer demand warrants the move.
ADM’s move to segregate crops may force many U.S. grain elevators supplying ADM to install testing equipment that identifies gene-altered crops and cause conventional farmers in the U.S. to build new storage bins to keep GE and conventional crops separate. Both moves would mean extra costs for already financially embattled U.S. farmers. According to Associated Press wire stories, farmers eventually could be forced to sell GE crops at a discount.
However, for conventional farmers who harvest non-GE crops, and for organic farmers, ADM’s actions may bode well. According to the American Soybean Association, non-GE soybeans could garner as much as $.40/bushel more than GE soybeans. About half the soybeans and a third of the corn growing in the U.S. this year are genetically engineered.
The Organic Trade Association’s (OTA) Executive Director Katherine DiMatteo says ADM’s move could help U.S. organic farmers in at least three ways: by acknowledging the demand for non-GE crops; by reducing the amount of farmland in GE crop cultivation and thus reducing the amount of seed “drift” into organic fields; and by likely ensuring a supply of non-GE seeds.
“It’s a good move on [ADM’s] part, and it’s indicative of the concerns raised by customers,” DiMatteo says.