GMO Updates
Oregon Senate Bill 789,
Small Victory for Willamette Valley Seed Producers
November 2024: The Willamette Valley in central Oregon is a phenomenal place to grow seed, and Fedco partners with many seed growers in that region. The area is particularly important for Brassica seed production, supplying more than 90% of many brassica seed varieties to growers all over the world.
Unfortunately, it is also a desirable place to grow genetically modified canola. GMO crops pose serious threats to seed crops due to cross-contamination as well as increased pest and disease pressure. A protective cap that limited canola production in the region to 500 acres expired in June 2023. On June 25, the Oregon Senate Bill 789 passed, extending existing protections. The original goal of this bill was to make these protections permanent, but the legislation was amended—as part of negotiations to end this summer’s Republican walk out—to add another sunset of July 2024 and mandate that the Oregon Department of Agriculture lead a work group of stakeholders on both sides of the issue to come up with possible “co-existence” solutions by September 30, 2023.
Fedco endorsed SB789. Unlimited canola production in this area would be detrimental to many seed farmers with whom we have longstanding relationships. In addition, sourcing GMO-free affordable high-quality Brassica seed would become substantially more difficult for Fedco because we would have to do expensive GMO tests on the majority of the Brassica seeds we carry. Therefore, we strongly support the limit and mapping of GMO canola production in the Willamette Valley.