Counterpoint: Milkweeds, monarchs and genetically modified agriculture I am a farmer. I knew that since I was 5. I grow crops. The land I farm also grows butterflies, birds, earthworms and wildflowers, or at least now I think it is supposed to. Right now I am having trouble figuring out what kind of farmer I am or should be. This question is not just for me but for everyone. I am concerned that there is no room for bluebirds and butterflies in big precision genetically modified-producing agriculture, described in an April 30-May 3 Star Tribune series.
In 1995 I thought I was going to be a big farmer and rented land from one side of the county to the other. I guess the best way to characterize attitudes about faraway rented land is you don't find yourself putting up birdhouses on it. It is an economic decision. We live in the middle of our farm. When you live on the land you farm, you find yourself wanting to plant trees and put up birdhouses. Sometimes the weeds are wildflowers and the bugs treasures, and you and your kids bring them into your house and cherish them.
Twelve years ago, I rented land that had sat idle for two years. It was full of weeds -- annual weeds, perennial weeds, lots and lots of milkweed, classic big huge milkweeds. The battle began.
For a number of years, I never really got on top of those milkweeds and they never really got on top of the crop. One year I put the field in wheat and had a chance to end it for the milkweeds. The timing of the herbicide application would have to be perfect. It rained when I was supposed to spray.
Looking back, I think this was supposed to happen. I would drive by that field and try not to look at those oh-so-healthy milkweeds. Finally one day I stopped to look at my wheat and milkweed field. Nearly every milkweed had a monarch butterfly caterpillar on it. Milkweed is the sole host of the monarch butterfly caterpillar. We didn't make much off the wheat, and nearly choked on the milkweed fuzz in the straw, but took solace in knowing we raised a good crop of monarchs that year.
In 1997, Roundup Ready genetically engineered soybeans became widely available. Roundup herbicide kills everything green except the soybeans with the genetic alteration. The application window is huge. I grew some of these soybeans. The milkweeds are gone. I didn't stop to think about this until the summer of 1999 when it was reported that pollen from Bt corn, another genetically engineered crop, was getting on the milkweed in field borders and may be killing the monarch butterfly caterpillars. I found myself hoping that the offspring of the monarchs I had displaced had not wound up next to a Bt corn field. Odds are they will. Before Roundup Ready genetic engineering, it was difficult to kill milkweed in crops.
My milkweeds are gone. My neighbor's milkweeds are gone. Farmers using Roundup Ready genetics in soybeans, cotton, corn and sugar-beets are eradicating milkweed from their field nationwide, forcing the monarch butterflies to lay their eggs on milkweed in field borders and ditches. Have we done well? Perhaps not by the butterflies. Who is going to tell our children?
-- Michael Klingelhutz, Waconia.
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Mark Ritchie, President Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy 2105 First Ave. South Minneapolis, Minnesota 55404 USA 612-870-3400 (phone) 612-870-4846 (fax) cell phone 612-385-7921 mritchie at iatp.org www.iatp.org