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Illinois retailer to Congress: First, define what is a GMO

 

 

By TIM ALEXANDER

Illinois Correspondent

 

CERRO GORDO, Ill. — Like many in his industry, Illinois grain and oilseed retailer Lynn Clarkson, president of Clarkson Grain Co., Inc., finds the market demand for non-GMO (genetically modified, or biotech) food ingredients on the rise.

He’s also acutely aware of the intense, state-by-state debate being waged over the use and labeling of biotech food products. But Clarkson Grain, founded in 1974 by Clarkson’s family, is not in the business to win scientific or political arguments.

Its goal is simple: To speedily and efficiently provide the products demanded by clients. To begin to settle the current debate whether to label GMO products as such, Congress must first agree on a national standard for determining what a GMO product is – and how to enforce the standard – Clarkson told members of the House Committee on Agriculture during a recent public hearing in Washington, D.C.

"Whether you fall on the pro- or anti-GMO spectrum, it is clear to me as an ingredient supplier that an increasingly significant percentage of consumers want additional transparency in labeling, so that they may purchase the food types they and their families desire," Clarkson, who operates his business in Cerro Gordo, near Decatur, told committee members during his March 24 testimony. "These consumers ... have certainly proved themselves to be a significant and vocal voice for increased transparency in food labeling. The cost of disregarding this voice is increased social conflict, expensive political battles and uncertainty provided by prolonged court cases.

"For my farmers in Illinois who use GMOs, this process simply prolongs the difficulty for the biotech industry to bring traits responsibly into the market. Everyone would win if we could lower the temperature and manage the conflict over GMO technology."

He was invited to the hearing by U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.), a committee member who also serves as its Biotech, Horticulture and Research Subcommittee chair and represents Clarkson’s Illinois political district. Davis said Clarkson was invited to testify because "he is somebody who understands the rules and regulations a company like his has to follow.

"He’s concerned about what types of rules and regulations will impact his business, and how it will be determined what a GMO-free product and label is, and how that product will get from the field to the marketplace following any rules that are implemented."

Clarkson Grain, which prides itself on its "direct delivery marketing" concept that links farmers directly to end users, has evolved into a grain, oilseed and ingredient supplier to the food manufacturing and animal feed industries.

Operating its own commercial storage, cleaning and handling facilities, barge station and rail sidings, Clarkson Grain’s products include corn and soy flours, masa, meal, refined soy oil, lecithin, whole grains and organic and non-GMO grains and oilseeds. Its customers range from small family companies to large food manufacturers, starch and oil processors and feeders. Shipments range from small bags to 55,000-ton seafaring vessels.

"We deliver segregated varieties, segregated qualities and characteristics. It could be corn that’s especially good for starch, it could be corn specially used to make tortillas or soybeans selected for different colors, sizes or ratios of protein to oil," Clarkson explained. "With GMOs we became aware of new market distinctions, what you might say are cultural distinctions. We can fight about it as a society, or we can say, ‘Okay, let’s make the distinction.’ But if we are going to make the distinction, the first thing is we need to define what we are talking about."

GMO definitions range

 

With so many customers here and abroad seeking to establish their own patchwork of GMO definitions and labeling laws, companies like Clarkson Grain say they endure economic hardships in segregating corn and soy by variety and market distinction. With buyers of Identity Preserved (IP) grains now asking for features that guarantee their access to particular markets such as GMO specific, non-GMO and organic, a federal definition of the U.S. standard for a GMO food product must be the first issue addressed by Congress, according to Clarkson.

"There is a lot of loose, conceptual talk about what GMO is, and the arguments range from GMO meaning zero (percent content) to the National Corn Growers wanting it to be 5. Zero is a practical impossibility, and the problem with 5 percent is that I don’t know a client anywhere in the world who would buy it, who wants to be free of GMOs," he noted.

"The standard that is most employed in the U.S. is 0.9 percent. As a community we have to coalesce around what the definition of GMO is. I think it’s in everybody’s best interests – producers, retailers, consumers – to have a voluntary-use national standard that has the credibility of the USDA behind it."

Around 4-5 percent of all U.S. corn and soybean production is non-GMO, he said, "but (the percentage) is growing at an exponential rate. Where it will top out, I don’t know. If you would have asked me 10 or 15 years ago what the U.S. organic market would grow to, I would have told you perhaps 10 percent. But as of today, roughly 14 to 15 percent of all fruits and vegetables are organic, and roughly 12 to 14 percent of all dairy products are organic."

In addition to urging Congress to establish a uniform standard or definition of a non-GMO label, Clarkson asked legislators to support a farmer’s freedom to produce for their preferred markets without being dominated by their neighbors’ production choices – a sword that cuts both ways.

He said he also asked for support through adequate funding for research in non-GMO corn and soy varieties so farmers may rapidly access the new markets; support for a farmer’s choice of hybrids or quality attributes; and help in balancing and respecting producers’ decisions as they provide a safe and abundant food supply to help meet the world’s nutrition needs.

4/15/2015