People frequently ask me why cotton farmers do this or that. One of the most common questions is about GMO cotton, or why they would plant a cotton variety that has been genetically modified in one way or another.
I have talked about the choice in bits and pieces, but I think this post by Suzie Wilde of I Kissed a Farmer fame does a great job of explaining her farm and the choices they make. Rather than try to speak for her, I am just putting the first couple of paragraphs here with the recommendation you visit her blog to read the rest. 🙂
A Buggy full of Cotton
For harvest season this year, I left my office each day at noon to go run the boll buggy for the Farmer I Kiss. So why would I go to work early to get my office work done, then drive 40 miles to the dusty, noisy, bumpy, late night job of cotton harvesting? Because harvest season is the best time of the year. It means we actually beat the Chihuahuan Desert and produced cotton!
The cotton harvester puts a load of cotton in my buggy, then I take it to the module builder . What’s that got to do with GMO cotton you ask? Running the boll buggy gives me time to think in peace without the mess of papers that clutter my desk back in town. Being the cotton ginner’s daughter and farmer kisser that I am, I sat there thinking about, what else but cotton and how GMO technology has made our industry very different than the cotton industry of just a decade ago. Some people don’t understand the science behind the technology, and what you don’t understand, you normally fear. Some people, like the Farmer I Kiss, have embraced the technology and love the wonderful benefits that it has provided
You can read the rest at https://kissedafarmer.blogspot.com/2012/11/a-buggy-full-of-gmo-cotton.html
[…] Why would a farmer plant GMO cotton? […]