When she read about an Illinois Farm Families field tour, Heather Guido applied. In May, she and other women in the City Moms group visited Paul and Donna Jeschke at their family farm.
“One of the first questions and most-common questions we get from the moms is ‘Why do you grow GMOs?’” says Paul Jeschke, a Grundy County corn and soybean farmer.
“I tell them it is a choice, and for me, non-GMO takes more management — keeping track of the crop and pesticides applied — and farmers can’t make any mistakes when it comes to cleaning the combine, bins, trucks and sprayers.”
He tells them pesticides require special handling and have health risks.
“But as far as I have seen, GMOs don’t have any health risks, and they have been around for over two decades,” Jeschke says. “And, I always tell the moms I welcome any evidence they find that tells me otherwise.
“I’m not saying there is no risk with GMOs, but with no known illnesses to date, I feel comfortable using them and having them on our farm,” Jeschke says.
Donna Jeschke says this is new information for many in the City Moms program.
Read full, original article: Groups respond to GMO questions
