Emily Eaton - Growing Resistance: Canadian Farmers and the Politics of Genetically Modified Wheat

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Growing Resistance

Canadian Farmers and the Politics of Genetically Modified Wheat

Emily Eaton

University of Manitoba Press

Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada

R3T 2M5

uofmpress.ca

Emily Eaton 2013

Printed in Canada

Text printed on chlorine-free, 100% post-consumer recycled paper

16 15 14 13 1 2 3 4 5

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database and retrieval system in Canada, without the prior written permission of the University of Manitoba Press, or, in the case of photocopying or any other reprographic copying, a licence from Access Copyright (Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency). For an Access Copyright licence, visit www.accesscopyright.ca, or call 1-800-893-5777.

Cover design: David Drummond

Interior design: Jessica Koroscil

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Eaton, Emily, 1980

Growing resistance : Canadian farmers and the politics of genetically modified wheat / Emily Eaton.

Includes bibliographical references and index. Issued also in electronic formats.

ISBN 978-0-88755-744-6 (pbk.)

ISBN 978-0-88755-435-3 (PDF e-book)

ISBN 978-0-88755-440-7 (epub e-book)

1. WheatGenetic engineeringCanada. 2. Transgenic plantsPolitical aspectsCanada. 3. FarmersPolitical activityCanada. 4. WheatPrairie Provinces. 5. Wheat tradePrairie Provinces. I. Title.

SB191.W5E28 2013 633.110971 C2012-908121-3

The University of Manitoba Press gratefully acknowledges the financial support for its publication program provided by the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Manitoba Department of Culture, Heritage, Tourism, the Manitoba Arts Council, and the Manitoba Book Publishing Tax Credit.

Contents

Tables & Illustrations

TABLES

Organizations involved in the 31 July 2001 coalition to stop the introduction of Roundup Ready (RR) wheat

Major importers of Canadian wheat

Exports by country of destination for wheat, durum wheat, and wheat flour, 20012002 crop year

Seeded area (acres) in the prairie provinces

Percentage of farms growing wheat in the prairie provinces

Average farm price in the prairie provinces

Annual returns for wheat and canola

ILLUSTRATIONS

Wheat area distribution in Canada

Average wheat production by province, 19972001

Major wheat producers

Market share of world wheat trade

Monetary value of total Canadian wheat exports, 19992008

The regulation of plants with novel traits in Canada

Acknowledgements

Thanks go first and foremost to the participants in this research who gave up their precious time to this project and answered difficult questions from a probing outsider. My mom (Valerie Veillard) and my dad (Bob Eaton) provided me with a home and access to a car during my field work and are significantly responsible for the success of my field work. They instilled in me a keen sense of social justice from day one and for that I am most grateful. Mom also helped me rework parts of the dissertation into a more accessible book.

This book is based on my doctoral dissertation, which I wrote from within a wonderful community of friends and academics at the University of Toronto. Scott Prudham played a huge role as my supervisor. He gave me rigorous yet generous and encouraging feedback on written work and contributed much to my broader intellectual development. I am lucky to still call him a friend. I am also grateful to my supervisory committeeDeborah Leslie, Michael Bunce, Emily Gilbert, and Jose Johnstonand my external examinerGavin Bridgefor the important feedback and guidance they gave me.

During my time in Toronto I benefited immensely from amazing friends and colleagues. Amy Siciliano, Vanessa Mathews, Jenn Ridgley, Patrick Vitale, Roger Picton, Jaume Franquesa, Marion Traub-Werner, Lisa Freeman, Paul Jackson, Kate Parizeau, Suzanne Mills and Zsolt Szekely. I hope we can continue reading, socializing, analyzing, debating, and organizing no matter where our lives take us.

Here in Regina this book was made possible by the security and research time provided by a tenure-track job (shamefully fewer and further between these days). The editors, publishers, and marketers at the University of Manitoba Press were a pleasure to work withso thorough and enthusiastic. Thanks for convincing me this was a story worth telling. Two anonymous reviewers provided kind suggestions, and Celia Braves skilfully crafted the index.

My love bug Simon Enoch and our Booker dog and Twenty cat continue to provide such a loving and fulfilling life. Simon has been so generous, not just with his love, but also by reading and commenting on chapters and sustaining an ongoing conversation about the difficult world we live in. These conversations about what is wrong and what is to be done are what keep me going.

Preface

In 2001, a unique coalition of organizations stood together against the introduction of genetically modified wheat to Canadian farms. This study of that movement is supported by a series of interviews I conducted with representatives of these organizations, employees of Canadian government agencies (including plant breeders, scientists, and regulators), representatives from biotech lobby groups, industry organizations, Monsanto Canada, and members of farm organizations that publically supported the introduction of Roundup Ready (RR) wheat.

I became aware of just how political the controversy over GM wheat had been when I began arranging interviews with agencies and employees of the Canadian government. Some scientists at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) replied to my messages indicating that their positions as federal scientists meant that it would be inappropriate for them to comment on the politics of GMOs. Federal scientists, I was told, did not enjoy the same academic freedom as their counterparts at universities. Others at AAFC generously accepted the invitation to participate in my research, but they all shied away from my questions about how research agendas are determined and especially about how science might be understood as a contested domain.

Getting an interview with anyone at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), the agency charged with the environmental regulation of plants with novel traits, proved to be the most challenging and frustrating part of the research. Over and over I was told that the CFIA regulates based on sound science; therefore, no one at that organization would have anything to say about the politics of GMOs. More than once, an interview was cancelled because it had not received clearance by the interviewees supervisor. My consent form was sent to the CFIAs legal department, and when I finally managed to get anyone to speak with me they would not sign their consent or allow the interview to be tape-recorded. It should be noted that these difficulties were encountered in trying to recruit interviewees at all levels of the hierarchy, from field inspectors to those in charge of the Plant Biosafety Office.

In this book I rely quite heavily on the interviews I conducted, and present much of the story of RR wheat through my participants voices. In addition to these forty-three interviews, I examined all articles pertaining to genetic modification in Western Canadas most prominent weekly farm newspaper, The Western Producer , from 2000 to 2006, and attended five public farm meetings.

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