Modern Agriculture

So I recently took a taxi for the first time.

(That part has very little to do with the actual story.)

As I got in the car and told the driver where I needed to go, he idly asked what I was doing there – it’s not a common place to be dropped off, being 6 miles outside of Columbus. I told him that I was covering a speech for my communication class. He asked what my major was, and I told him I was an agricultural communication student.

“Agricultural communication?” he asked. “Do you live on a farm?”

“Yeah, I live on a dairy farm in Wayne county,” I told him.

He kind of laughed to himself, and said, “I’ve got some questions for you, then, dairy farmer.”

I was game. “Shoot,” I said. His first question was about raw milk, but the question I want to share with you came second.

“GMO crops. I don’t like them. Where can I get grass-fed beef that hasn’t been fed GMO feed?”

Ah. Um. “What problems do you have with GMOs?” I asked.

“Well, they’re illegal in other countries, like Germany and some other places in Europe.”

I see. “Yes, they are. And you’ll notice that the countries that don’t allow GMOs are very traditional countries, where there’s not much innovation in the way of agriculture.”

He conceded. “But I still don’t understand why we have to use GMOs.” He was really going to be obstinate about this.

As I tried to explain, he kept interrupting me. Finally, I told him, “Just listen.”

“There are a lot of people and organizations that want agriculture to stop modernizing, because they view modernizations in agriculture as detriments.”

“GMOs were created to fit a need – to grow more crops on less space using less money and time. Because there’s so little cropland left compared to years past, we have to produce enough food to feed the nation on half the land there used to be.”

“Maybe so, but they’re bad for you, right?”

Aha. “No. GMOs, like anything genetically modified, get a bad rap because they’re something new. There are no nutritional differences between GMO crops and traditional crops.”

“But they should have to be labeled as GMOs, since they’re different.”

“Not necessarily. Labeling a GMO crop on the shelf is just creating unnecessary distinction between two identical objects. They already have a negative connotation for really no reason, so there’s no reason to enhance that.”

“I still don’t…”

“You see, the thing is, agriculture doesn’t advance in and of itself, or just because we want to. We advance to fit the needs of the current population. If we were to go back to the practices used 50 or 100 years ago – the practices that were around when more people were directly involved in agriculture – we would not be able to feed the world, period.”

“But…”

“I’m sorry, but there really is no ‘but’. It’s either use the practices we are now – the ones that were made to feed our country, or take 50 huge steps backwards to please the masses, but let them starve at the same time.”

At this point, I was at my destination, so I thanked the guy for allowing me to answer his questions, paid the fare, and left. I don’t know for sure, but I have a feeling that he may have had some thinking to do on the way to his next pick-up.