When A Bean Is Not A Bean

There are two main crops in Nebraska - corn and soybeans.

Ever since I moved to the state, I have had a property that was surrounded by farm ground
and, each year, have had the notion of helping myself to a few ears of field corn
or a pocket full of soybeans that would never be missed.

And, each year, my conscience won out and I did not take what was not mine.

This year, however, there was a different scenario.

After the soybean crop was harvested and placed into storage in my bins, on my property, there was a small pile of spilled beans that were left on the ground.

I made a mental note of this, but still figured I couldn't lay claim to them because the farmers equipment was still parked by the bins and certainly he would shovel them up when he was finished.

After a week passed, the farmer was finished with harvest, moved his equipment home and didn't bother with the small pile of spilled beans.  I figured either I lay claim to it, or my chickens would next spring.

So, feeling rather pleased with myself for finally getting some free soybeans, I sent the girls down to filled up two bread sacks full and bring them to the house (even though I knew that was way more than we would ever need) and leave the rest  for the chickens to discover next spring.

You know, it took me all of about 30 minutes after they brought them into the house, to realize exactly what  had been brought into the house, and what we were intent on consuming.

Why it never dawned on me before I actually had them in my possession baffles me.

I felt bad...or was it sad...or was it mad?

Here was free food, supposedly very healthy food, grown locally, fresh and
ours for the taking - yet - inedible.

Inedible by me, my family, and by any animal I intended to eat.

I still can't get my mind around it.

I am not used to looking at a pile of soybeans and not seeing healthy food.

I am not used to looking at a dried bean and not seeing chicken food.

I am not used to having to worry about eggs from my chickens if they consume soybeans.

I am used to worrying about saturated fats, nitrates, msg, food dyes, the list goes on.
But a simple bean?  A bean made inedible, so that there could be less weeds and more (inedible) beans.

I work with farmers everyday and have nothing against them.  That is not what this is about.
This is just about how I am disappointed, disheartened, deeply concerned and admittedly confused.

Here are a few things I found to add in case you aren't familiar with
genetically modified (GM)  or, as it is sometimes termed, "Biotechnology"
varieties of soybeans.

This is not news.

I think the first GM soybeans were planted in Nebraska in 1996.

But to me, it is news, because it hit too close to home and because I was naive.

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Nebraska farmers planted record acreage of soybeans

By Robert Pore robert.pore@theindependent.com Published: Sunday, July 4, 2010 12:20 AM CDT

Nebraska soybean producers planted 5.4 million acres, up 13 percent from the previous year and a record high, according to the USDA. Biotechnology varieties resistant to herbicides accounted for 94 percent of the planted acreage, down from 96 percent last year.

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Don’t Eat These Beans If You’re Thinking of Having Children  Posted By Dr. Mercola | October 05 2010

Genetically modified soybeans are called Roundup Ready. They are inserted with a bacterial gene, which allows the plants to survive a normally deadly dose of Roundup herbicide. Although the spray doesn’t kill the plant, its active ingredient called glyphosate does accumulate in the beans themselves, which are consumed by rats, livestock, and humans.

There is so much glyphosate in GM soybeans, when they were introduced Europe had to increase their allowable residue levels by 200 fold.

Although there is only a handful of studies on the safety of GM soybeans, there is considerable evidence that glyphosate—especially in conjunction with the other ingredients in Roundup—wreaks havoc with the endocrine and reproductive systems.