Some consumers are already scared of their food. Despite a lack of evidence, they fear that the raw material isn’t safe because it has been genetically modified, that giant meat packers will cut any corner to make a profit and that USDA inspectors are looking the other way all the time. New York Times best-selling author Alex Kava taps into all three fears in her new book, Hotwire. In her ripped-from-the-headlines style, Kava spins a tale where hamburger in school lunches is contaminated…

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When I walked into the International Sugarbeet Show in Fargo the other day, I said to the first farmer I met, “so how’s the beet business?   “Great,” he replied, “and it’d be better if we plant get Roundup Ready beets.”   Sugar prices are high for a change and sugarbeet yields last year were high, too. Some fields produced 35-40 tons per acre. Now, the goal is to get every field to produce that much.   The lawsuits over Roundup…

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I drove to Gackle, N.D., Sunday to attend a meeting at a Lutheran church about genetically engineered crops. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of America – the same branch that is in lots of hot water in conservative North Dakota for saying it is okay for gays to serve as ministers in its churches -- has drafted a social statement on genetic engineering to be voted on in October at a church-wide assembly in Chicago. The ELCA has adopted social statements on many topics including the…

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