Dear Growers and Friends:
 
On Monday, the CBS television drama CSI: Miami ran an episode ("Bad Seed") that was an attack on modern corn farming using almost every stereotype possible. We've written the writer of the episode directly with our concerns and invited him to visit a farm and see how it really operates. In the meantime, there's something simple you can do also.

• A key element of the storyline dealing with genetic modification of crops was completely off base. While a single gene is inserted into a seed, an entire organism is not.
  
• Every day, millions of people in the United States and around the world consume GM food. It's no less healthy or nutritious than non-GM food. We know this from years of experience as well as extensive scientific and regulatory testing.
  
• Virtually every other scenario in the episode is exaggerated and improbable to the point of being ridiculous because of modern farm management and the checks and balances within our food production system.
  
• Our regulatory agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration, Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have rigid standards regarding food production and safety which are the model for the world. 
  
• Seed companies spend millions of dollars and years of study developing, screening, testing and clearing regulatory hurdles for a single gene technology to assure its safety.
  
• Farmer's use extensive Best Management Practices from planting through harvest such as using buffer strips to assure pollen drift does not become an issue and cleaning out equipment from field to field.
  
• Livestock producers are strictly regulated regarding the management of water and potential runoff from cattle feedlots.
  
• Nearly all the corn farms (95%) in this country are family farming operations that bring generations of expertise to their farms which they intend to pass on to the next generation.  Showing them in such an irresponsible manner is unfair and damaging to consumer confidence.
  
• Suggesting that "Big Farming" or food companies are amoral and willing to risk people's lives to advance their profits or even feed the masses is unthinkable and damaging to the hard earned trust farmers have earned from the consumer public.

For some really uplifting videos on farming, click here!