More GMO Com: Increasing Risk Of Crop Contamination? COLUMBUS, Ohio With the production of ge netically modified com gradually increasing in Ohio, the risk of contaminating non-GMO com through pollination is becoming more of a concern. Peter Thomison, an Ohio State University Exten sion agronomist, said that growers who produce pure genetic lines or organic grain are at the fore front of the issue of “pollen drift” and should be come more familiar with planting practices that pre vent contamination by pollen from nearby GMO com fields. “lt’s going to require a lot of coordination among growers to help minimize pollen drift between GMO and non-GMO com fields,” said Thomison, an asso ciate professor in the Department of Horticulture and Crop Science. “Most of the com growers in Ohio are not too concerned about whether their com is contaminated because most of the grain elevators will accept GMO com. It’s IP (identity preserved) or organic growers that might be concerned. IP growers represent people using conventional com products or a GMO crop, but they are trying to grow a crop they can guarantee to an end user is free of GMO events not approved in certain overseas markets. Or ganic growers, since GMOs are not approved in or ganic systems, have to prove to the end user that the organic crop is not contaminated.” Roughly 10 percent of the com grown in Ohio is H-8562 'Jfa 106 Day rm Silage 2nd Place 2002 NCGA yield contest New York no-till 230.8 bu/a. Girthy ear, high yield, excellent silage digestibilty Financing as low as Prime minus 4%** Available through December 15, 2003 See your local AgriCulver Seeds/Golden Harvest dealer today, to learn more about these top hybrids and low rate financing. AgriCulver Seeds Trumansburg, NY 14886 • Phone: 800-836-3701 www.agriculverseeds.com • www.goldenharvestseeds.com ' As ()l ( ) I (A Prune Pqnals 4A. So the Prime -4A Option Is Equal to OA . Snlqeel to ,\ppio\;il on harm Plan Preferred Accounts. ability 2002 F.LR.S.T. Trials Del-Marva north region. Superior test weight, excellent drought tolerance, YieldGard® com borer resistance GMO, ranging from Bt corns that target the Europe an com borer to herbicide-resistant com like Round up Ready to the new Bt com designed to control rootworms. Since com reproduces through cross-pol lination, a certain percentage of a com crop is polli nated by neighboring plants. “Maybe 20 percent to 40 percent of the ovules on that ear of com may have been pollinated from a neighboring plant, the result due mainly to wind and gravity,” said Thomison. “Generally speaking, prob ably half of the pollen is going to be within the first 12 feet of the com plants. At 40-50 feet away you are probably looking at around 1 percent of com to be contaminated.” Thomison said the issue of pollen drift is becom ing a growing concern in Ohio, not only with grow ers looking for pure crops, but also with seed compa nies and grain elevators where GMO-contaminated seed and grain may not be acceptable. “Seed companies are concerned for purity rea sons. They’ll accept seeds that are 99.5 percent hy brid X and 0.5 percent Y, but they usually won’t ac cept contamination levels exceeding 1 percent.” Some grain elevators won’t accept GMO corn if a percentage of the grain has been contaminated with a GMO event not approved by the European Union. “There are varying levels of what’s acceptable,” said Thomison. “Some grain elevators accept GMO H-92478t 113 Day RM Ist out of 36 H-9471 E& 115 Days RM S ' ,a 9® Tall hybird with excellent yield potential. Adapted to most soils. Very good emergence and stress tolerance Harvest Lancaster Farming, Saturday, October 18, 2003, Corn Talk-E2l com regardless of what’s in it because it’s all going to animal feed, but some grain elevators may decline a Bt com if it’s been contaminated by an event not approved by the EU.” Growers plant com with up to seven different GMO events, mainly Bt and Roundup Ready events. Less than half of these crops have been approved by the EU for use in Europe. Thomison offers these recommendations for min imizing pollen drift during planting: • Using separation or isolation distance to limit exposure of non-GMO cornfields from the pollen of GMO fields. The potential for cross-pollination decreases as the distance between GMO and non-GMO cornfields increases. Several state seed certification agencies that offer IP grain programs require that non-GMO IP com be planted at a distance of at least 660 feet from any GMO com, noted Thomison. When the isolation distance is less than 660 feet, these IP programs require the use of varying num bers of border rows to ensure that the non-GMO field is “flooded” with non-GMO pollen which will dilute adventitious pollen from a GMO source. These isolation and border row requirements are de signed to produce com grain that is not more than 0.5 percent contaminated with GMOs. • Coordinating with neighboring growers on planting dates and hybrid maturities. Using different planting dates and hybrid maturities can be used to reduce the risk of cross-pollination between fields. However, emphasizes Thomison, the difference in ma turity dates has to be great enough so that the hybrids will not overlap during flower- mg. • Situate a cornfield to prevent prevailing winds from contaminating a crop. “Agronomists in states to the west of Ohio indicate that the south and west edges of non-GMO fields may be more vulnerable to pollen drift because the prevailing winds during the summer are from the southwest,” said Thomison. “In Ohio, I’m not sure how consistent this wind pattern is but if it is an issue, then it may be particularly useful to follow recommendations regarding isolation distances and border row on these sides of non-GMO fields.” Other factors that might contribute to the purity of non-GMO com include the purity level of seed planted, planting errors, volun teer com resulting from no-till or minimal tillage practices and environmental condi tions such as drought or flooding. “Planting operations to manage pollen drift are only part of the process of produc ing an IP com grain crop. Other major issues include harvesting, drying and storage, along with thorough record keeping,” said Thomi son. He said that seed certification agencies like the Ohio Seed Improvement Association (http://www.ohseed.org/) offer IP programs for grain. These IP programs assist in pre serving the genetic identity of a product, and verify specific traits through field inspec tions, laboratory analysis and record keep ing.
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