It has been two months since I sat across Carmen at her beautiful farm in Comox Valley, Vancouver Island, to hear the story of Eatmore Sprouts farm and her love for the land, the lifestyle, and the community.

The first part of our talk has been up on an earlier blog linked here. Today, I cover the second part, almost without editing. Since the recording was done outdoors, on a windy day, and with birds chirping, and a other man made sounds of farm activity in the background, the audio is more lively, real and rustic, instead of hospital clean and lab produced.

Her farm produces, among other things around 4,000 pounds of organic alfalfa sprouts every week, which she sells wholesale and can be found in stores in the island, in the lower mainlands, as well as in other provinces. This is a significant part of her business.

But, is Health Canada approving GM alfalfa, the future of that business looks uncertain. Genetic pollution may finish off all sources of organic alfalfa seeds in Canada. She ponders the future and watches the dark clouds gather over the horizon, with events that might change the face of traditional farming in Canada.

Her objection to GM food, she claims in her own blog on her web site, is multifaceted and relates to seed independence, health concerns, fact that independent safety tests are not done in Canada, genetic pollution, use of chemicals, the difficulty of organic and genetic farmers to co-exist without contamination, the consumer;s inability to choose or reject GMO due absence of labelling, to name a few.

As I sat listening to her, my mind wandered, to lands near and far, to far off regions, nation and continent, where people like Carmen are watching the gathering clouds over the horizon, and pondering the future of our collective food security, health, and fate of the traditional organic farmers.

The second part covers a half hour where she explains her work, and the issues with GM crops in the valley, were some of the dairy farmers prefer to feed their cattle with GM corn. As a result, tension may be rising in the community, as various communities in the island are having their municipalities declaring themselves GE free, and the dairy farmers are resisting any move that they see as a threat to their survival.

These are questions that are not just valid for the Comox valley, but for the entire planet.

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