Letter to The Honourable Lawrence MacAulay

The following letter is being sent to the minister. Your support is greatly appreciated. 16 May 2016 The Honourable Lawrence MacAulay Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food 1341 Baseline Road Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0C5 Dear Minister MacAulay, I’m sending you this letter for three reasons. Firstly, I’m asking that you intervene on behalf of Canadian Farmers and stop the use and distribution of GM Alfalfa in Canada. Alfalfa is an excellent forage species that is used in mixtures with grasses and other legumes for pasture and hay. The Roundup Ready gene has no utility in this context. Only in an alfalfa monoculture would this trait have value. Across the board best management practices are discouraging the use of monocultures and encouraging multispecies mixtures with the goal of reducing carbon emissions, building soil structure and fertility, promoting healthy soil biology, and reducing agriculture runoff. Roundup ready alfalfa has no role to play in sustainable agriculture. It is unconscionable that you would permit the introduction of a product having so little utility and yet causes assured harm to a broad range of Canadian farms. The second reason for this letter is to forward the results of a petition I started in April. I started this petition with the hope of obtaining 100 signatures in support of my request for your intervention. Much to my surprise, the signatures soared to over 48,000. Clearly, I am not alone in my concern. Most impressive in the response to this petition is the range and depth of opposition to genetically modified organisms in our food system. From coast to coast to coast Canadians are concerned. This observation takes me to my third point. Food is getting a lot more important. Perhaps you too have made this observation. Food is becoming more important in corporate boardrooms and in the minds of consumers. People are wanting to know more about what’s in their food and how it’s produced. This, on the whole, is a good thing. In our business, producing beef, lamb and garden produce for our community, I find that in addition to the humane raising of animals, avoiding the use of genetically modified organisms in animal and human food is foremost in people’s minds. I believe that as the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food it falls upon you to not be a bystander in this struggle between consumers and corporations. At some point this struggle will become political and your record and the record of the Liberal Party will be held up for review. It is best to stay ahead of such issues. So this takes me back to my original request, that you stop the introduction of GM alfalfa. I, for one, will have to stop using alfalfa in my forage mixtures to avoid the inevitable contaminated seed. At best “clean” seed will become a lot more expensive. Alfalfa is an excellent legume but there are others. Excluding alfalfa from my forage mixes is not going to kill my business but it’s an unnecessary restriction and one that I should not be forced to take. Sincerely, David Dockendorff Silver Rapids Farm 1162 Pioneer Rd. Powassan, ON P0H1Z0