The Seed

The Biotechnology and 21^st century agriculture advisory committee convened on August 30^th and 31^st in Washington, D.C. at the USDA headquarters. The Group consisted of a diverse group of 24 people with interest in biotechnology, organics, international markets, and farming.  On day one, the Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, met with the Committee to give his charge. The meeting was recorded and public comment was allocated also on day one. Day two of the meeting was followed up with the attendance of the Deputy Secretary, Katherine Merrigan, who reiterated the charge and gave us the battle charge. USDA Economic Research Service doctors Greene and Fernandez gave a report on the current data available on the distribution of costs, risks, and returns on different agricultural production systems on day two also. The Committee will be focusing its efforts on Co-existence of genetically engineered, conventional and organic commercial crops. Efforts include the possible enumeration for unintended contamination of conventional and organic crops by genetically engineered crops.  Potential workgroups were formulated and future meeting dates were discussed.