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Uprooting State's Crop Bullies Would Benefit S.D. County
Technology Op-Ed
By: Vince Vasquez
2.19.2007
San Diego (CA) Business Journal, February 19, 2007
In his recent State of the State Address, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said California "leads the nation in biotechnology." That may be true, but if state lawmakers don't take action this year, the industry may be in jeopardy. At issue is the future of genetically modified (GM) crops in the Golden State. Commonly found in grocery stores, GM produce employs safe scientific solutions to common agricultural threats, such as weeds and pests, increasing farm yields and reducing the need for costly crop spraying. By allowing farmers to make more effective use of their land without excessive soil tillage, GM crops have helped reduce the release of tons of carbon dioxide emissions, a root cause of global warming. With these benefits in mind, GM crops have grown increasingly popular in the United States, and in California. A report released last month by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications found that last year the United States grew more than half of the world's GM crops. According to the National Agricultural Statistics Service, California farmers planted more than 175,000 acres of GM crops in 2006. Technological Ingenuity Though our technological ingenuity has provided cost-effective solutions for domestic growers and those in the developing world, resistance to GM goods has been high in some quarters, especially from "crop bullies" in the ideological havens of northern California. Absent scientific facts to support their cause, these individuals have used emotional rhetoric and scare tactics, successfully convincing lawmakers in Santa Cruz, Marin, Mendocino and Trinity counties to pass measures to ban GM crop cultivation. More fights at town halls and the ballot box are expected in the months ahead. That is especially true in San Diego County, which has the most to lose. Home to hundreds of life science firms, San Diego requires a strong and stable regulatory environment that embraces industry-wide research and therapies. Agriculture is also an important part of the county's destiny -- 250,000 acres under cultivation in the county contribute more than $1.5 billion to the local economy. Valuable Assets If California lawmakers don't launch measures to protect these valuable assets, farmers may be in future financial peril, and local biotech leaders may have no choice but to outsource research or leave for friendlier states such as Texas or Florida. Consumers, farmers and biotech companies are better served through a uniform legal framework, rather than navigating an unwieldy regulatory patchwork of 58 counties and hundreds of cities. Gov. Schwarzenegger and state lawmakers should weigh the merits of new pre-emptive solutions in the 2007 legislative session. State biotech public policy should heed scientific facts and sow the seeds of regional success, not regional destruction. When legislators protect economic growth and foster future innovation, Californians will continue to reap a healthy harvest.
Vince Vasquez is a public policy fellow at the Pacific Research Institute, a free-market think tank in San Francisco.
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