On Mother’s Day, his 50th birthday, Jim Hasser stood behind his barn inspecting his corn and soybeans–more than 1,000 acres of uniform rows of sprouts that extended all the way to the horizon. Hasser, whose farm is two hours southeast of Chicago near Earl Park, Indiana, was happy that he’d been able to finish his spring planting the day before, but much of the area had been hit with frost that morning. The soybeans had barely had time to sprout, and some of them looked a bit wilted. “Those plants are already dead,” he said. “They just don’t know it yet.” But he figured the damage wasn’t bad enough to justify replanting. He still had 28,000 to 30,000 plants per acre, which could produce a good, though not great, crop.
To make matters worse, the cost of fertilizer has skyrocketed–up from $90 a ton a year ago to $200 a ton in February–because the cost of natural gas, which is used to make it, has exploded. This season Hasser managed to secure some old nitrogen fertilizer for a reasonable price, but if the price of gas doesn’t go down soon there will be no bargains next year.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Desperate to cut costs, Hasser was one of the first farmers in the country to plant Monsanto’s genetically modified Roundup Ready soybeans after they were introduced in 1996. He figures they save him 15 to 25 cents per bushel in production costs. But he now worries that the growing controversy over genetically modified crops will be the thing that finally puts him out of business.
Their farm is small by today’s standards. But Hasser doesn’t have money to buy new land, and he’s competing with neighboring farmers for land to lease. “We still have sort of a community feeling,” he says. “But you don’t trust your neighbor anymore, because you don’t know if he’s trying to get your land out from under you from your landlord. We’re not a family farm–these are businesses that happen to be run by families.”
Monsanto created its HT beans using a form of the common soil microorganism Agrobacterium, strain CP4, that was naturally tolerant of Roundup’s active ingredient, glyphosate. Monsanto’s researchers spliced a single protein from the microorganism, CP4 EPSPS, into the soy’s DNA, replacing its own EPSPS gene. As a result, Roundup Ready plants, unlike ordinary soy plants, will not be killed by Roundup.
The European public has already responded. Last year–after a series of protests sponsored by environmentalist groups based in Germany and Austria, who dubbed GMOs “Frankenfood”–the European Union decided to ban all GMOs, including HT soybeans. It wasn’t that anyone had found a problem with HT soy in particular–nobody has to date–but the EU was concerned about the larger trend toward using GMOs. This year it plans to lift the ban but set up strict regulations.
Farmers felt the heat. “The best estimate I’ve heard is that the Aventis event has meant a 30-cent hit to the price per bushel of corn,” says Hasser. “That’s a big hit. Aventis put the StarLink out without informing the dealers or the farmers that there was a problem with it–a lot of people planted it without even knowing.” Aventis agreed to pay up to $1 billion to grain-elevator operators and farmers who grew the corn. Farmers will get 25 cents per bushel.
