Print This PageMichael Doane
"Farming is mindset, lifestyle and tradition."
I grew up on a farm in Western Kansas. Our major operations were wheat and cattle. Both my grandfathers were farmers. My father and his three brothers farm today in close proximity. My wife's family raises livestock. I have a brother who is farming and another who plans to farm along side him.
Benefits of growing up on a farm include the "opportunities" to contribute to the family business. I had many of these, like weed control. We dug musk-thistle out of pastures, hoed devil's claw out of soybeans, and rogued shatter-cane out of grain sorghum. I sprayed perennial weeds like Johnson grass with a backpack sprayer.
Later, I harvested my fair share of green, thriving weeds in otherwise golden wheat fields. In some years, buckwheat and kochia would grind our harvest to a standstill - plugging equipment and turning an anticipated 10-day family work festival into a 14-day battle.
Early in life, I asked my father, "What would you do if you couldn't farm?" He struggled with the answer and finally said, "If I couldn't farm, I'd probably find some work, save a little money and try to get back into farming." Farming isn't a job in my family - it's a mindset, lifestyle and tradition.
Recently, I visited Jerry Due in Central Luzon - a lush corn and rice growing region of the Philippines. As we visited, I asked Jerry's wife, Jola if she worked the farm with Jerry and she said, "of course, I get to do a lot of the hand weeding."
I learned that previously the Dues had been losing a large portion of their corn crop each year to Asian corn-borer, an insect pest that thrives in this tropical environment. It wasn't economically sustainable to grow corn.
When a seed with built-in protection against Asian corn borer was approved by the Filipino regulators a few years ago, Jerry was among the first to try them. Yieldgard corn, a genetically modified corn hybrid, had dramatically increased his yield for two years in a row, and nearly doubled his gross profit from corn production. He knew their future would be better than the past.
Jerry is about my age, and we talked about another interest we share - we each have a 3-year-old son. He said of his son, ". . . by the time he reaches 7, perhaps I could put some money in the bank. And by the time he goes to school, he will have enough money to stay in the school." Fathers everywhere want a better education for their children.
Jerry's farm is about 1/100th the size of my family's farm in Kansas. He prepares the soil with a one bottom plough pulled behind oxen. He and his wife spray for insects with a backpack sprayer. They clear weeds from a growing crop with a hoe, no shoes, and sore backs.
Yet Jerry adopted biotech crops with the same approach as my family. He simply purchased and planted the seeds - no extra investment in equipment or added fixed costs and no specialized skills or knowledge. The most important agricultural technology over the past decade comes in a bag of seeds.
I feel good about the products Monsanto offers to farmers. They bring value and improve lives. I hope my family, Jerry's family, and millions of other farm families will gain even more benefits from biotechnology and better seeds.
And I hope that someday soon Jola Due's hand weeding will be unnecessary because her new seeds will also simplify weed control for her, as it has for many other farm families who live on large and small farms around the world.
Editor's Note:
Michael has visited farmers in their homes and fields in many parts of the world.
He recorded their first-hand accounts of farming and how the introduction of biotechnology
during the past decade has impacted their farms, families and communities. Video
case studies of these farmers can be seen at the Web site, "Conversations
about plant biotechnology."
Michael Doane is the former director of biotechnology acceptance for Monsanto and is currently an area sales manager in Des Moines, IA
