Voters in 2 southern Oregon counties pass measures to ban most genetically engineered crops

Two neighboring southern Oregon counties on Tuesday voted in favor of a measure to ban most genetically engineered crops, Yuxing Zheng reports for The Oregonian. The measures in Jackson County, where it received 66 percent of the vote, and Josephine County, where it got 57 percent, "have managed to hit on some of the most hot-button issues in Oregon: property rights, local control and scarce resources for former timber-reliant counties." (Wikipedia map locates Jackson County; Josephine County borders it on the west)

"The Oregon Legislature in October passed a bill during a special session that named the state as the regulator of seeds. The law exempted Jackson County, where the crops measure had already qualified for the May ballot,"  Zheng writes. That put much of the focus on Jackson County, where supporters of the measure donated $1.3 million, and the opposition campaign from six biotechnology and agriculture companies, including Monsanto and Syngenta, donated $455,000.

Jackson County farmer Elise Higley told Zheng, "We fought the most powerful and influential chemical companies in the world and we won." But those opposed to the measure aren't giving in that easily. Barry Bushue, president of the Oregon Farm Bureau and spokesman for Good Neighbor Farmers, said in a press release, "While this election is over, this debate is not. We will continue to fight to protect the rights of all farmers to choose for themselves how they farm." (Read more)