An Iowan’s home from a Monday trip to Chicago to herald a landmark in bio-technology. Dean Kleckner is chairman of TATT, a group called “Truth About Trade and Technology.” The “trade” part stands for agricultural trade, he explains, and the “technology’ term means not high-tech computers but biotechnology. It’s ag trade and agricultural biotech the group stands for. And the milestone is a staggering total of American farmland planted in genetically-engineered seed. The billionth acre has been planted, “Billionth with a B,” he points out, adding the major bio-tech crops are corn and soybeans and they just appeared a decade ago with three million acres, and by last year it totaled 951-Million acres. The former longtime head of the Iowa Farm Bureau, Kleckner says in nine and-a-half years the technology’s been adopted quickly and it’s increasing by leaps and bounds. He compares it to a brand-name fast-food chain that used to have signs counting the millions served. With a billion he says McDonald doesn’t even count any more, and he says we’re on the verge of no talking any more about bio-tech, since he thinks “It’s the new conventional agriculture.” It’s not quite everywhere yet, but the U.S. is the main user of bio-tech and at Kleckner says last year 17 other countries planted bio-tech crops too. Two countries he’s surprised to see coming around rapidly are China and India, which comprise a third of the world’s population. He says he tells “My friends in Europe, who are really still fighting against this, hey people wake up, smell the coffee, the biotech was is over — you lost.” In all this time with all those acres, Kleckner says there’s never been a case of illness or death blamed on bio-tech. There’s a counter on the group’s website, truthaboutTrade-dot-org, and you can “tune in” and watch it counting up the new acres being planted. http://www.truthabouttrade.org/
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