GMO's...What are they and are they safe?

Dang farmers! That’s the sentiment I say whenever I get stuck behind a slow moving piece of equipment or there is mud on the highway. While I say this in sarcasm, knowing I’ve done both of those things on multiple occasions myself, millions of Americans don’t say it with the sarcasm. Many Americans really believe it. With less than 2% of Americans involved in production agriculture, that means 98% of our country is going to have questions regarding their food. One of the biggest questions right now is…

1. What are GMO's? 

When asked this question a large majority of the American population can't answer what the letters stand for. They just know that they are BAD and you shouldn't consume them if you care about your family. One image that comes to mind are syringes sticking into foods, filling them with chemicals that are toxic to your body. In reality, this is NOWHERE near the case!

But first of all before we get too far, why should you believe me? I’m a farmer. We have cow/calf pairs, row crops (corn, soybeans, wheat), cover crops (triticale, turnips), and we put up our own hay (triticale, brome, native, sudex/sudan). We don’t have kids yet, but I feed everything I eat to my nieces and nephews and feel very confident that I’m feeding them and producing a safe food supply.

GMO stands for Genetically Modified Organism. Okay you say, you aren’t helping your case…that sounds SCARY! But it’s not. Let’s talk about some foods that are GMO’s. Without the changes that scientists have done over the years, watermelons, bananas, corn and many many more products wouldn’t look the same at all. GMOs simply mean that plant growers are copying a desired trait and using it in another plant to create the favored affect. This has been occurring for YEARS!

When one’s disposable income increases, there is a shift from, “am I going to be able to feed my family” to “what is in the food that we're eating”. We have more money to concentrate on what we’re feeding our families. Hence, the desire to know more about GMO’s and has eventually led to a Senate committee approving a bill to preempt individual states labeling laws. All these individual state laws will do is increase food prices because the companies would have certain rules in certain states to keep track of.

2. Are they safe to eat?

So let’s talk about the safety of GMO’s. That’s what we really care about right? There have been thousands of studies conducted and do you know how many have found that it is safe to eat GMO foods...ALL of them! There have been ZERO illnesses linked to eating GMO’s, human or animal. But who says this? Well, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) for one, The World Health Organization, and the American Medical Association to name another. There’s been lots of rumors that GMO’s cause cancer. Is this the case…no. There has been no research proven that cancer is caused by consuming GMO products.

So the next time you are slowed down by the slow moving equipment or there is mud, know that that farmer is doing their best to produce a food supply that they are confident feeding to their families and knowing they are feeding their children this should solidify the fact that it’s safe to feed your families.

I would be happy to facilitate any questions you may have! Looking forward to hearing back from you.