Farmers in California are at the center of a new ballot initiative that may require some foods to be labeled if they were grown using genetic engineering, reports USA Today.
Activists in California have succeeded in getting a proposal onto the November 6 state ballot, asking voters if foods using genetically engineered ingredients should be labeled as such. Many farmers in California and elsewhere use these techniques to grow food, as opposed to "organic" farmers who grow things completely naturally.
California is far from the first state to raise the controversy as a ballot initiative. Alaska is the only state requiring such labeling, but only on seafood. Ten years ago, a similar question was on Oregon ballots, where it failed. In recent years, voters have been against such labeling in Connecticut and Vermont as well.
Yet those pushing the idea forward in California say their state will be different.
"It took us just 10 weeks to gather 971,126 signatures," Stacy Malkan of the California Right To Know group told the news source. "People have a right to know what's in the food we eat and feed to our children."
Those against the labeling say it's an attempt by organic growers to steal profits away from farmers who use genetic techniques, even though genetically modified food has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
"The funders of this deceptive measure want to put scary-sounding labels on safe, [genetically engineered] products so they can gain market share," Kathy Fairbanks, spokeswoman for The Coalition Against the Costly Food Labeling Proposition, told the news source.
No matter what techniques they use, all farmers need to have access to agricultural equipment to ensure their crops are properly planted and harvested. The online auction site IronPlanet offers combine harvesters, tractors and much more, often at a more affordable price than buying new.
