News

GMOs are focus of Food Dialogues Nebraska discussion

Issues surrounding GMOs were the focus of a Food Dialogues discussion in Lincoln, Nebraska on Wednesday.

One of the panelists was food activist Dani Nierenberg, president of the organization called FoodTank. Nierenberg tells Brownfield she’s not anti-GMO, but she doesn’t think GMOs have lived up to their promise.

“We’re not protecting the environment as much as we could be because agro-chemical use is rising in some cases as a result of GMO crops,” Nierenberg says. “And we’re not really creating a better food system because most of the crops that currently under GMO production are not nutrient dense. A lot of them go to livestock feed or biofuels or other things.”

And Nierenberg says GMOs have not made farmers more profitable. Panelist and Albion, Nebraska farmer Hilary Maricle disagrees.

“On our farm, they’ve been great. They’ve helped us become more efficient. We’re able to go over the field fewer times, so you can also get into the carbon emissions discussion,” Maricle says. “You can get into how great it is in a lot of different ways, but for us, it’s really been an environmental and economic decision—and it’s been ideal for us.”

“Food Dialogues Nebraska: Pivoting the GMO Conversation” was organized by the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance and sponsored by the Nebraska Soybean Board.

AUDIO: Dani Nierenberg

 

AUDIO: Hilary Maricle