January Workshop Focuses on Alfalfa Hay and GMO Challenges

WSU is hosting a workshop for alfalfa hay growers the day prior to the Northwest Hay Expo that will focus on concerns and methods of making sure alfalfa hay is GMO free if desired and where GMOs are acceptable.

Steve Norberg will host the event and said for growers who export, foreign markets can be particularly sensitive to GMOs and GMO levels in agricultural products they import.

“A lot of this is about tolerance. How much tolerance is the market going to be willing to accept of the genetically modified or GMO material in the hay and so we need to understand how they’re going to test, what level they’re going to test.”

The workshop will allow for conversations on markets, economic impacts of GMOs, as well as networking opportunities to discuss successful strategies.

Norberg said accidental GMOs in alfalfa hay is a fair-sized problem, but with some countries accepting of some levels of genetic modification, and others not accepting of any, it’s a balance.

“We’ve got to learn how to work with both markets at the same time and basically how do we co-exist and how do we refine our ability to produce so that we can market our product where we would like.”

The workshop on prevent or mitigating GMOs in Organic Hay is January 17^th starting at 7:00 a.m. It’s free, but they do ask for registration as lunch will be provided.

Registration can be found here.

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