Elliot Jagels (l) and
Ayo Akinfe, a journalist from the United Kingdom, tour NCGA member
Mark Jagel's farm during a recent tour of Nebraska by European
journalists hosted by the Nebraska Corn Board and the U.S. Grains
Council. |
Nebraska
Corn, Grains Council Hosts International Journalists on Biotech Mission
(7-1-03)
Journalists
from four continents took a first-hand look at how Nebraska corn producers,
grain handlers and seed scientists are helping ensure the safety and
beneficial use of biotechnology-based corn.
The tour was
sponsored by the Nebraska Corn Board and the U.S. Grains Council and
included a stop at the farm of National Corn Growers Association (NCGA)
Research and Business Development Action Team member Mark Jagels.
Representing NCGA at the event also were Biotech Working Group member
Darrin Ihnen and Director of Development Tom Slunecka.
"The
event was set up to educate the media on biotechnology and how U.S.
corn producers can take advantage of it," said Ihnen, a corn
grower from Hurley, S.D. "We toured local farms and grain inspection
areas to show we can segregate if we have to and that we have a reliable
system."
Media representatives
from Kenya, Brazil, Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan and the United
Kingdom visited farms in Lincoln, Omaha, Waterloo, Fairmont and Davenport
June 26-27. The journalists arrived in Nebraska following the International
BIO Convention on biotechnology and bioethics in Washington, D.C.
Ihnen said
the media members were receptive to NCGA's message. "They were
very attentive and asked a ton of questions and I think we were able
to show them we're using biotechnology ourselves and it's not a product
we're just shipping overseas to be used only the on the export market."
In fact, Slunecka
said the visit provided a unique opportunity for NCGA to spread its
message to an international audience. "One of the journalists
on the tour, Ayo Akinfe, from the Public Ledger in the United Kingdom,
has invited NCGA to write a column promoting biotech for his newspaper.
This gives us a great chance to showcase what U.S. corn growers have
been doing to influence the world."
Over the course of the two-day event, the journalists met with agronomists
and plant scientists at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to learn
more about the science behind biotechnology, as well as the communication
and education programs for those who grow and handle biotech products.
They met seed scientists at J.C. Robinson Seed Company in Waterloo
who shared information on genetics, test plots and the scientific
foundation behind genetically modified crops.
At a Lincoln
grain inspection facility the group saw how biotech grains are identified
and managed. The final stop was Jagels' farm near Davenport, where
the journalists had the opportunity to tour an operation focused on
the production of specialty hybrids.
"We tried
to stress the safety aspect and the confidence levels we have to have
in biotech," said Jagels. "If it isn't good for ourselves,
our own family, our children, it isn't good for anyone.
"We showed
them how we keep records of what we plant and where we plant, the
amount of herbicide and pesticides used. We really tried to show them
the amount of record keeping and how safe things are."
He said the
media were surprised by the size of his operation, which dwarfs the
average European farm. "They thought it was a very large farm
and said it was bigger than anything they had seen," said Jagels.
"I relayed to them it is an average farm, it is not large by
any means. They could not believe we did the amount of work with the
number of people we have. They thought I managed people beneath me
and they didn't believe it was my father and me doing the work."
Ihnen thinks
the tide is turning regarding biotech acceptance in the European Union.
"One of the things we talked about back when hybrid seed corn
came out, it took between 12 to 15 years for farmers to accept hybrid
corn over open-pollinated corn. It also took 10 to 15 years for farmers
to accept insecticides aren't harmful to the food chain," he
said.
"With
biotech, I think we're seeing the same process. It's going to take
some time because we're only five to six years into it. Over time,
the acceptance will be there and it won't be an issue."