IS NO CANOLA
GOOD CANOLA?
The Oregon Department of Agriculture is forging
ahead with its plan to expand planting canola in the
Willamette Valley, and canola, also known as rapeseed,
opponents are fighting the weed-like plant fiercely. They
say not only does canola risk the livelihoods of vegetable
seed growers, but also canola is so easily dispersed that
conventional (nonorganic) canola is often contaminated
by genetically modified (GMO) crops.
Friends of Family Farmers (FFF) has filed a suit
challenging the temporary rule that allows farmers to start
planting canola in the Willamette Valley. More than
23,000 people, including 10,000 Oregonians, signed a
petition asking ODA not to issue the temporary rule
allowing for reducing the canola control district in the
valley, according to FFF.
Canola
Protected District One
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Ca nola F re e Z on e
Ca nola Grow in g Allow ed
±
6 AUGUST 16, 2012
BY PAUL NEEVEL
TINA LARSON
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National Honeybee Week has local bee enthusiasts
abuzz with activity, canvassing neighborhoods, celebrating
bees and asking the city of Eugene to stop using pesticides
in public parks and other spaces. “We want to educate and
empower ourselves to protect the bees because our
government is refusing to do so, and that’s at the federal,
state and local levels,” Lisa Arkin of Beyond Toxics says.
Arkin says that the most widely available chemicals for
gardens and many crops are connected to colony collapse
disorder (CCD), which has killed billions of honeybees
over the past decade. That’s why Beyond Toxics is going
door-to-door, asking Eugeneans to take the honeybee
pledge to stop using pesticides. After they complete
pledges for entire blocks, Arkin says, local beekeepers
working with Beyond Toxics are hoping to help residents
set up honeybee hives.
But getting the pledge is essential, Arkin says, because
even very low levels of pesticides have significant impacts
on bees. Not only are neurotoxins in products like Weed
and Feed and Roundup carried back to hives, poisoning
the colony, they also threaten the valuable agricultural
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PESTICIDES IN
CITY SPACES
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farmers in Idaho. In addition to the GMO contamination
concern, Morton says canola can have root maggots, which
affect all members of the brassica family. “A field of canola
is a root maggot breeding ground,” Morton says.
Morton and Friends of Family Farmers are joined in their
efforts to fight canola by Oregon Tilth, the Oregon Clover
Commission, Eugene-based National Center for Alternatives
to Pesticides (NCAP) and the Center for Food Safety, to
name a few. The Center for Food Safety is also a party in the
case against the temporary rule. Morton has written an
opinion piece on the canola issue and the process with ODA
at eugeneweekly.com — Camilla Mortensen
Donald Aurora
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Frank Morton of Wild Garden Seed, which is part of the
suit, says that when canola was planted in research plots in
the Willamette Valley, Oregon State University researchers
documented genetic flow between canola and other species.
He says if the canola was GMO canola, then you would have
GMO contamination. According to Morton, the OSU
scientists decided canola was a one-way street — you can’t
reel it back in. The scientists did not advise introducing
canola to the valley because of the risk to Oregon’s more
than $32 million a year seed industry.
Morton says, “We know from our experience with
Roundup Ready sugar beets — once in the ground you can’t
get it out of the ground.”
Leah Rodgers of FFF says a Canadian study shows that
97 percent of the seed lots studied were contaminated by
GMO canola. GMO canola easily cross-pollinates not only
with other, non-GMO canola, but also with other brassica
family vegetables like kale and rutabagas as well as the
roadside weed wild mustard. Rodgers says that cattle also
disperse canola. After the canola has been pressed for its oil
to be used in biofuels, the feedstock is fed to dairy calves.
Rodgers says the seeds are not always entirely crushed, and
the calves then spread it in their manure.
It’s still unclear where the demand to plant canola is
coming from, and Rodgers says FFF has a lot of concerns
about the process ODA used to put the canola rule in place.
Paulette Pyle of Oregonians for Food and Shelter, a group
that was formed to advocate for aerial herbicide spraying,
says, “OFS has no position on the growing of any crop.” She
adds, “We do support the legal use of tools our farmers need
for growing agricultural crops such as canola, pesticides,
fertilizers, etc.” Pyle says that the farmers determine what
they choose to grow and the group has many different types
of farmers on its board.
Morton says that, ironically, there are other canola control
districts in Oregon. One district is on the east side in Malheur
County. Canola can be freely grown in most, though not all,
of eastern Oregon. The control area is a strip along the
Oregon-Idaho border, where it is restricted to protect seed
De sig na ted A g L and - C la ss 1 t o 4 A g S oils
“Wellness is possible for everyone,”
says Tina Larson, coordinator of the
Pathways Learning Center (PLC), a
program of the non-profit Laurel Hill
Center, helping Lane County adults
recover from severe mental illness.
“They come here for some tools to put
in their toolbox.” Larson considered a
nursing career when she was a student
at the Lankenau Girls School in
Philadelphia, but after graduation she
found work as a flight attendant, and
eventually moved to the West Coast. “I
mostly flew to Japan the last five
years,” she says. “I had to retire at 32.”
Thirteen years later, living in Eugene,
she trained as a certified nursing
assistant and worked in the Sacred
Heart Neonatal ICU while she studied
psychology and sociology at LCC. “I
went back to school so that I could work
in social service,” says Larson, who
volunteered at White Bird Clinic in the
mid-90s, was hired as a crisis worker,
and served as White Bird volunteer
coordinator until 2004. She has
managed the Pathways program since it
replaced the Harmony House social
drop-in center in 2006. Many PLC
classes are taught by peer teachers,
also in recovery from mental illness.
“We help people identify with their
wellness and strength, not their
disabilities,” she says. “We focus on
building skills so that people can take
charge of their lives.”
ODA Ca no la C on trol D istrict
Deschutes Count
Co unt y Line s
EUGENE WEEKLY
WWW.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM