I was born and raised in Hawaii on a farm on the North Shore. I had the best childhood I could ever imagine with living in the country. My journey took me to college at UH Manoa and then onto Washington University in St. Louis. I stayed in the mainland for several years before returning home to raise my family. I wasn’t ever planning to return home but came back in protest really. Now that I’m here, I want to make Hawaii a better place for my children and contribute back to my community through volunteering and getting people to think!
HawaiiFarmersDaughter 
why don’t you run for Jessica wooley’s seat?
This is an issue with many extremists (all on the side of “anti” as far as I can tell). As a rule of thumb, extremists in any situation suffer from ignorance of the complexity of the whole picture and are driven by emotion. They also suffer from the human tendency to filter information so that only they only see what they already agree with. As with some other issues, this is an issue that has extremists (perhaps that is a loaded word–maybe highly emotional proponents is better) on one side only, as the other side does not prompt the same level of emotion. I’m thinking of the tea party as a possible example.
I encounter people who are involved or interested in agriculture every day who have anti-GMO opinions. Of these, the majority are not extremists. I support their freedom to choose to eat or grow or sell only non-GMO crops, however misinformed or under-informed they may be — it’s kind of an inseparable part of the recent resurgence of interest in agriculture. HOWEVER, I do have great issue with militant and extremist tactics and foaming-at-the-mouth protests, AND holier-than-thou attitudes that prompt some to feel that they can dictate how the rest of the world acts. It’s telling that it’s the residents of rich western countries who are the most vociferous against GMO. I would think environmentalists would be pro-GMO or at least very torn on this issues as genetic modification can and has addressed water, climate, pesticide, and land use/deforestation issues, not to mention REAL food security issues and livelihoods of those for whom the alternative is not welfare, but starvation. Having said that, I am personally not convinced that all GMO is or will be guaranteed to not have unintended effects. Should we allow GM? Absolutely. Should we be careful and independently study it over time? Absolutely. Should all forms of GM be treated the same? I don’t think so–I feel that GM which basically speeds up what might be done “naturally” by cross-breeding and hybridization differs from that which could not occur “naturally.” Maybe it’s like dog breeding–the chihuahua-terrier is cute but the chihuahua-platypus is scary…
On the topic of patenting, I think it’s reasonable as farmers have a choice not to use the product. HOWEVER, not when patents are used on hybrids that could occur naturally.
I do see a difference between GMO and Certified Organic labeling: non-GMO does not mean certified organic (or safe, or clean, or non-chemical for that matter). in fact, certified organic does not mean non-chemical either–certified organic allows for highly concentrated pesticides and herbicides. The ignorance (lack of knowledge if you prefer) about GMO is evidenced by the worries from Organic producers that non-GMO is weakening their market advantage and confusing the market.
If a company wants to label its products as non-GMO, I think that’s fine and would be advantageous in marketing to people that care. Labeling as containing-GMO would have a the effect of hurting sales of course, especially given the widespread awareness of the term combined with equally widespread ignorance. I think it’s interesting to consider mandating the opposite–forcing companies without GMO to label as such. Even though it would have marketing advantages, I suspect companies would protest due to the cost–not only of the labeling itself, but of continued compliance.
My apologies for the long rambling post. I originally just wanted to say that I admire your courage — it’s scary to voice an opinion that does not agree with the extremists (e.g., Republican legislators who did not agree with the Tea Party, Muslims who do not agree with extremists/fundamentalist). I would hope that more education and reasonable and respectful discussion would be a solution, but that is not the world we live in…
I would like to use your latest blog post as evidence of the struggle many people who were born and raised in Hawaii face every day. Please let me know if this is okay. I have linked it and if you would like me to remove it please let me know and I will do so immediately. Mahalo.
Feel free to use anything. It’s all public. Thanks for contacting me about it.
Hey, Joni: check out this latest from Alternet. Looking forward to what you might say about it:
http://www.alternet.org/food/gates-foundation-trying-feed-poor-gmo-propaganda
The author is attempting to discredit any of the work and people of the Gates Foundation. What she ignores is that if biotech is adopted in Africa to save their crops, it really threatens the entire USRTK arguments. They are protecting their industry by saying its a David and Goliath issue but it really isn’t.
I’ve met the scientists and seen the work that they are doing there and it has nothing to do with the corporations for a lot of it. I’d love to see what they are doing for the 975 million people that the UN estimates are food insecure.
We have all the food we need and are selfish to not provide tools to them to grow their own crops. Don’t you think that is good work if the global community has the right to food instead of being denied it because of our right to know.
I have written directly for GM answers and that response was from my dad. There’s an error on their site as I’m not the HPIA president. Many blog posts are taken from my blog and reposted. I give full permission to use the information as others see fit.
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Hello!
My name is Jennah and I am currently a student at the University of Minnesota.
I am emailing because I am currently working on a research project focused on how agricultural bloggers may be covering farm safety and what might influence farm safety coverage. We would like to include your feedback in our study in your role as an ag blogger. If it would work for you to participate, I’d conduct a 30-minute phone interview with you. (Otherwise, if you would prefer I can also email you a list of interview questions and you could respond in writing.) We plan to submit this research to academic conferences and journals. Please let me know if you think this would fit into your schedule, and if so, what potential times would be good for a phone interview. I appreciate your consideration, and look forward to hearing back from you.
Best regards,
Jennah
Can be reached by email: abdel077@umn.edu