• Home
  • About
    • Hundred Percent Cotton Media Kit
  • Cotton 101 — Farm Basics
  • Policies & Privacy
  • Contact
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube

Hundred Percent Cotton

  • Home
  • style
  • farm
  • at home

November 16, 2012

Food Dialogues and CNN’s Ali Velshi Wondering If His Socks are GMO VIDEO

The Food Dialogues is a series of conversations being put together by the US Farmers & Ranchers Alliance and today, there was a session held in New York. I wasn’t there but I tuned into the last hour and a half during which GMOs (ie, genetically modified organisms) were being discussed.

The description of the session read:

What impact do GMOs have on the environment and long-term health? What more is needed to educate consumers about how their food is grown and raised? What role does science play when addressing issues tied to food, including health concerns, drought and feeding a growing population? Join a discussion where farmers, ranchers and leading experts on biotechnology (GMOs) give straight answers to today’s most pressing food concerns.

Dr. Bob Goldberg, plant molecular biologist currently using genomics to identify all of the genes required to “make a seed”, UCLA

Jerry Slocum, Mississippi soybean farmer

Dr. Julie Howard, Chief Scientist, Food Security, USAID

Gregory Jaffe, Director of Biotechnology, CSPI

Fred Kirschenmann, president of the board of directors, Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture and distinguished fellow, Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University

Cheryl Rogowski, New York organic farmer

via The Food Dialogues New York | The Food Dialogues.

But the highlight of the clip may have been a totally unexpected question from the audience and a quick reply. Ali Velshi, CNN’s Chief Business Correspondent, Anchor of CNN’s Your Money and a co-host of CNN International’s weekday business show World Business Today was the moderator. He was great. He kept the conversation going and helped make sure that it was respectful and interesting.

Socks Provide Levity Throughout the Panel

The discussion had included talk of his happening socks — I mean just look at the two photos I have here. The guy is dapper and his socks did draw your eye in. He had lots of folks tweeting about it and when I asked for photos, both Susan Crowell of Farm & Dairy Magazine and Chuck Zimmerman of AgWired were happy to send photos along which was great because the video was not as fixed on these socks as they should have been.

CNN    GMO socks? 

Deep Discussion About Bt, Humor About the Socks

If you want to watch the full hour and a half, the video is embedded below. If you just want the sock-related highlight, this will help you find my favorite parts!

Around 30 minutes into the conversation, it got fairly deep with Dr. Goldberg talking at some depth about biotech and the science. His points were all spot on, but Velshi also brought levity in saying he had a flight to catch because the comments were lengthy. Poor guy thought he was going to get away from bt when another audience member asked another question about Bt (bacillus thuringensis, the protein that some worms can not digest so it prevents them from having much of a negative impact).

Around 36 minutes another question was asked and it was “a little technical” and it’s back to bt and Velshi didn’t understand the question and said he felt he was being punked. It was great. But the next question, one he took from Twitter at 38:54 minutes was seemingly done just to change the pace & elicit a smile. when someone asked “Are your socks genetically modified?” And Goldberg couldn’t help but say “Probably yes actually if they are cotton” and the audience erupted with laughter! And TWITTER LIT UP WITH IT! Some of the tweets included:

  • Tom Giovanetti ?@tgiovanetti “Your socks are probably GMO if they’re cotton.” #foodd
  • Andy Vance ?@AndyVance: HILARIOUS: @AliVelshi audience Q “Are your socks genetically modified? Goldberg: “Probably, if they’re cotton.”#bringingdownthehouse #FoodD
  • Amy Roady ?@amyroady:  Who knew that a comment about cotton socks would get so many laughs during a biotech discussion. Love it! #foodd
  • Emily ?@westoftheloop:  Biggest laugh of the day RT @tgiovanetti: “Your socks are probably GMO if they’re cotton.” #foodd
  • Meghan Cline ?@CityGirl4Ag:  Are your socks genetically modified? Nice one! #FoodD
  • Elizabeth BT ?@eburnsthompson:  Love this… @AliVelshi “Are you socks genetically modified?”… Dr. Goldberg (UCLA): “Probably yes, if they are cotton” #FoodD #GMO

me in front of a few bales of cottonPairs of Socks in a Bale of Cotton

I wonder if anyone attending the Food Dialogues in New York knows how many pairs of socks you can make from a bale of cotton. I do. 🙂  You can make 8.6 pairs of mid calf socks from a pound of cotton and that means you can make 4,321 mid-calf pairs of socks from a bale of cotton!

Why Farmers Plant GMO Cotton

The fact that most cotton grow in the US is GMO cotton may have been a surprise to Ali Velshi and to others, but the reasons for using biotech is clear for farmers. And having worked with cotton farmers for decades, I feel like I can summarize some of the reasons  biotech cotton is something farmers adopted so quickly & thoroughly:

  • Insects can be devastating to cotton — and if you aren’t familiar with the incredibly high insect populations we can have in the Cotton Belt, I’ve got friends in the Delta who would be glad to let you try to sit outside for an evening in July. There are bugs that will eat any and everything, moving or not. Cotton produces some great plant sugars, etc that attracts some of those insects when plants are flowering or putting on bolls. If you want to see some of the insects that can inflict economic damage on cotton, check out this photo library at Texas A&M (caution, seeing this near bedtime could be bad news for sleep patterns if you grow cotton!) The first biotech product in cotton was bt and it was on the heels of a devastating year where worms left some cotton farmers little or no cotton. Instead of having to spray pesticides routinely and still worry about control, bt products made control easier & more environmentally-friendly.
  • There are some additional weed management tools that are biotech-enabled. There are a few products that can now be sprayed over the top of cotton that couldn’t before GMOs were introduced. It’s good to, as Dr. Howard says, have another bow in your quiver. Another tool that can be used.
  • Farmers have seen the environmental advantages of using biotech cotton. They know how beneficial GMOs have been to the wildlife, soils, etc. A farmer talked to me about this for a blog post at work if you’d like to hear his thoughts.

What if you don’t want to buy GMO socks?

That’s easy. If you prefer not to have socks made of GMO cotton, you can buy organic cotton products or socks made of several other materials. I prefer the cottony goodness unless its cold, then I have to tell you, SmartWool rocks my world.

Do you have questions about GMO cotton?

I would be glad to get some of my cotton peeps to answer questions you have about biotech cotton so if you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

To see other posts in the series of 30 days of daily blogging, just click on the image above right wherever you happen to come across it. There will be a little of this and a little of that in the series, just like there is in my blog at any time! You can also see a list of several other bloggers doing the 30 day challenge on this post by Holly Spangler.

Related articles
  • The Case Against Sending TV Reporters Out in Hurricanes
  • U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance Names Nine Finalists For Its Faces of Farming and Ranching Search During The Food Dialogues(SM): New York
  • Food Choices, GMOs & Falling Skies
  • You Have a Biased Interest
  • Food Choices After Prop37

Sharing is caring!

0 shares
  • Share
  • Tweet
  • LinkedIn
  • WhatsApp

Filed Under: cotton, farm, more Tagged With: Ali Velshi, Cheryl Rogowski, CNN, daily blogging, feature, Goldberg, Iowa State University, Julie Howard, Sustainable Agriculture

« Cotton – Maybe My Last Photos of a Harvest Ready Field in 2012 (Day 6)
Why would a farmer plant GMO cotton? »

Comments

  1. Mary says

    November 16, 2012 at 11:51 am

    I have a question about GMO cotton fabric: would there be any trace of Bt protein left at all with the finished fibers?

    Someone on twitter once assured me that because of the modification that GMO undies would make you sterile.

    • Janice Person says

      November 16, 2012 at 8:32 pm

      The quick answer is no but let me get some more detail together and I’ll get back to you. Glad to help you understand.

Trackbacks

  1. Your Brooks Brothers Shirt May Have Started in El Paso, Texas says:
    October 5, 2013 at 8:46 pm

    […] Food Dialogues and CNN’s Ali Velshi Wondering If His Socks are GMO VIDEO […]

  2. CropLife America 2014 – I Went, I Saw, I Spoke | The Beef Jar says:
    June 8, 2014 at 11:14 am

    […] in this panel was because I was familiar with his work both on TV and when he moderated the US Farmers and Ranchers Alliance Dialogues in New York. Mr. Velshi gets it; he realizes how important agriculture is and he talks about that […]

Don’t miss any new posts!

My Cotton Rec!

I’m fairly picky about fabrics — I want cotton that is quality that lasts. Keeps its shape. That’s why I’m sharing this link. I truly believe in the products.  I get a referral fee for you using the links.

For years now, I’ve bought myself dresses and leggings, that show my love of writing, science, etc. from Svaha. I’ve bought gifts too — seriously awesome socks for kids with awesome women on them!

Check out my new podcast in your fave app!

Recent Posts

  • Embracing Vintage and Sustainability with Some Branding like J. Crew Always
  • We Will Long Miss Kenneth Hood
  • What is the Cotton Belt?
  • Cotton Pickers: How Do They Work
  • Remembering Scott, Mississippi & that Old D&PL Headquarter Building

Want the basics?

cotton 101 blue

About the Site

From the seed to our shirts, cotton has a unique fit in our environment and lives. This site seeks to celebrate and inform about the natural fiber. Read more on the about page.

What else I am up to

JPlovesLIFE

Great Cotton Educational Video

Finding Great Cotton Dresses for Year-Round Wear

Embracing Vintage and Sustainability with Some Branding like J. Crew Always

We Will Long Miss Kenneth Hood

What is the Cotton Belt?

This blog is part of the communications efforts by JPlovesCOTTON LLC.

Copyright © 2023 · Grounded Communications, LLC · Privacy Policy

0 shares