Post-Truth and Ag Policy: Boulder County Colorado
I've known of the stewing agricultural pressure cooker known as Boulder County, Colorado for several years, and this week the inevitable happened. Affluent city dwellers have used post-truth emotional arguments to denounce scientific and agricultural experts, placing their Whole-Foods-informed truthiness above evidence. The county harbors 25,000 acres of farmland, most of it under needed irrigation. The space has been greened by annual plantings dominated by corn and sugar beets. Over the last two decades these crops have transitioned to genetically engineered (familiarly "GMO") seeds that bear traits to limit farmer costs and reduce environmental impacts. Boulder County plans to restrict farmer seed choice based on politically-motivated, emotionally driven rhetoric that denies basic scientific facts. But last week a county council voted 2 to 1 to 'phase out' the use of genetically engineered seeds, putting restrictions on farmers about the plan