In Mendocino the industry (via CropLife America) threw more than half a million dollars at the ballot and lost. They were seen as the big outside vested interests trying to push the locals around.
So now the lobbying is being done via local sources - farm bureaus, farm press etc. - and is presented as local farmers standing up for their rights in the face of, what Harry Cline of Western Farm Press dubs, "out-of-staters", socialists and the equivalent of the KKK.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4453
Harry shows no equivalent concern about the Farm Bureau, which has passed resolutions opposing the Voting Rights Act - the cornerstone of US civil rights protection, the Equal Rights Amendment, gun control and an increase in the minimum wage. Some Farm Bureaus have also been notable amongst those who have formed alliances with the so-called Wise Use movement to lobby against environmental regulations.
http://www.gmwatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=267
For more on CropLife America
http://www.gmwatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=159
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Altered crops lobby money skips Marin
By Keri Brenner, IJ reporter
Marin Indpendent Journal, October 14 2004
http://www.marinij.com/Stories/0,1413,234~24407~2467420,00.html
Money is pouring into agriculture-rich Butte and San Luis Obispo counties to fight Nov. 2 ballot measures banning genetically altered crops - but Marin opponents say no one is flashing a bankroll here.
"We've not been offered any money; we probably wouldn't take it anyway," said Henry Grossi, board president of the Marin County Farm Bureau. "We like to be fair and balanced; we don't want someone to turn around and say, 'You're Monsanto's guinea pig.'"
Last night, the 11-member Farm Bureau board was scheduled to vote at its headquarters in Point Reyes Station on Measure B on Marin's ballot. The measure would ban cultivation of genetically engineered crops in the unincorporated areas of the county.
"This measure is really unneeded; it's preventing you from growing something that you don't grow out here anyway," said Grossi, of Marshall, who runs a beef cattle ranch. "It probably will do more harm in the future than good - as new products come in, some of those might have benefit to our farmers."
The Marin County Elections Office said no Measure B opponents filed campaign finance reports by the filing deadline last week. Supporters of the measure, GMO Free Marin, filed reports showing they raised $51,162 as of Sept. 30.
"Perhaps they (biotech industry supporters) don't see Marin as a priority," said Renata Brillinger, of Californians for GE-Free Agriculture. "We don't agree; Marin has a vibrant agricultural economy. It's not unimportant to residents of Marin."
CropLife America, a biotech industry trade group, spent a reported $621,000 in a failed attempt to defeat a GMO ban in Mendocino County. The measure, passed by voters March 6, was one of the first of its kind in the nation.
Earlier this year, Trinity County also passed a measure banning genetically altered crops.
In Butte County, however, opposition is well-financed. The Citizens for Accountable Agriculture, whose main sponsor is the Butte County Farm Bureau, reported contributions of $102,965 as of Sept. 30.
The contributions included $25,000 from Red Top Rice Growers Inc. in Biggs, according to summary statements provided by the Butte County Clerk's Office.
The office was not able to send detailed statements on the other contributors. But according to Brillinger, some $35,000 came from the Butte farm bureau itself.
Supporters, Citizens for a GE-Free Butte, raised $15,768.
"Where does a small little farm bureau like Butte's get $35,000?" Brillinger said. "I think in this current round of initiatives, (biotech groups) are going through the farm bureaus instead of being obvious biotech group contributors, like they did in Mendocino with CropLife America."
Dave Kranz, spokesman for the California Farm Bureau Federation, disagreed. He said the money was coming "mainly from farmers and farm organizations within Butte County.
"If you're asking if CropLife America is funneling money through the farm bureaus, the answer is no," Kranz said. "That money is coming from those organizations' budgets, which comes from their dues-paying members."
Lisa Dry, a spokeswoman for Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) in Washington,D.C., said the Butte opposition was doing its own fund-raising on a local level.
"They've been clear they want to maintain this as much grassroots as possible," Dry said. "It centers more around farmers having choice about what works best in their farming practices."
She said BIO has not given money to fight any of the California measures.
"We're providing education and literature, if they ask," she said.
In San Luis Obispo County, Citizens for a Sustainable Future - No on Q, a group sponsored by the San Luis Obispo Farm Bureau, reported contributions of $23,848.
Mark Souder, a Farm Bureau spokesman, said agriculture was the second largest industry in the county - behind tourism - with wine grapes being the biggest commodity. He did not have details on contributors, and the county elections office provided only summary totals.
Kranz said some local biotech firms were part of the opposition group to the San Luis Obispo measure, but national biotech trade associations did not play a part.
Supporters, the Committee for Measure Q, took in $9,753.
Backers of a ballot measure in Humboldt County, meanwhile, have withdrawn support for their measure after it was found to have legal flaws. They plan to reintroduce it after fixing the language, Brillinger said.
"It was disappointing in the short run," Brillinger said. "But what we did find was a huge amount of support for the concept."
Contact Keri Brenner via e-mail at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.