![]() Most questions were directed to him and he answered with passion and enthusiasm. Show your passion for farming in the Q&A session: We really won the day in the Q&A section and Wes, the modern-day farmer held the audience captive. During the Q&A, Wes really stressed as a modern-day farmer he needs every tool in the toolbox to make farming work today Only 10 transgenic-developed products exist:Ĭelebrate modern agriculture: Both Wes and I emphasized the importance of improvements in seed and mechanical technology, including other advances, are core to helping us use less resources and protect those that we have. Gave counsel: Even if someone in the audience still walked away fearing GMOs, I shared ways to avoid them. If you love to learn and you’re talking to a group with the same passion make sure they know. If your audience is in sports, share your sports experience. I also highlighted that I love to eat! Who doesn’t love a delicious meal! That’s relatable. I began by stressing I was not a scientist, simple a retired farmer but that I loved food and I wanted to make sure what I eat was healthy. Biotechnology simply gives scientists more precise ways to breed crops.”īe relatable: Find common ground with your audience. Broccoli, cabbage and turnips all came from the same original plant but were bred to create new crops. Agricultural breeding has always changed DNA – that is how you develop new plants or breed livestock with more desirable traits. All food contains DNA, but your body does not incorporate that food’s DNA into our own DNA – it simply breaks it down, and doesn’t care if the DNA came from an apple, a piece of meat, or bacteria that hitched a ride on the food you just ate. All DNA is made from the four chemical bases: A, C, G and T. Melinda Johnson, MS, RDN, Clinical Associate Professor for the School of Nutrition and Health Promotion, Arizona State University: “We are eating foreign DNA each time we sit down to breakfast, lunch or dinner. My favorite explanation to date comes from So, I share from biologists and nutritionists what happens. They’re convinced the DNA will latch on to their DNA. From the tractor at right in the 1960s helping mom and dad farm, to the first year we planted biotech cotton in 1996, we were constantly working to improve our farm business model.Įxplain what happens to foreign DNA in your digestive system: At its core, most people I talk to are concerned about the DNA from the transgenic-derived product. I explained to the audience how our family was always looking for improvements on the farm. Wes told about his family’s dairy farm and how at an early age he became fascinated with genetics because of their dairy cows. I told about our family’s own use of biotech/GMO crops, specifically cotton and how it reduced our pesticide use well over 90%. Tell personal stories: And, in showing that you care, tell your own story. Wes did the same thing, he showed he cared. I always tell my audience why I’m up there and telling the GMO story, it’s because I care. That’s core to what makes science so special, we study a hypothesis. I started out highlighting that we all have every right to question and investigate the science. Show empathy: But, today because we are not a science-based society, science without empathy won’t get you anywhere in a debate. He has a facinating story to tell and the NAU audience was all years. Speak the truth: We shared the science and highlighted that 20+plus years of research has gone into studying GMOs, specifically transgenic modification of plants and the only highly-regulated class of plant modification.Īrizona Dairy Farmer Wes Kerr has spent his young life learning more and more about genetics. And though there wasn’t an audience vote, I think Wes and I, the pro-GMO debaters, won the night. Here, I stand before a bright group of NAU students.Īrizona Dairy Farmer Wes Kerr and myself landed on Northern Arizona University’s campus last week to be part of a debate with a GMO Free-Arizona representative. The GMO debate is worth wading into because it's an opportunity to speak the truth about a technology that's saving the environment, improving agriculture and ultimately will improve health (think Golden rice). Too much sugar, overeating and lack of variety in our American diets are the things to fear not modified foods. Not the fear of being shouted off stage on a college campus, but the fearmongers trying to convince you that GMOs are unhealthy for you. Even if you might be shaking in your boots or experience being shouted off stage, there’s one debate worth wading into: the GMO debate.
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