Six U.S. farm groups challenged Dannon USA’s pledge to switch to non-GMO ingredients in its yogurt as “the exact opposite of the sustainable agriculture you claim to be seeking.” The chairman of the National Milk Producers Federation, Randy Mooney, said, “This is just marketing puffery, not any true innovation that improves the actual product offered to consumers.”
Dannon, the largest U.S. yogurt maker, announced in July that it was putting non-GMO yogurt lines on sale. Over time, it said, its Danimals, Oikos and Dannon brands “will evolve to contain non-GMO ingredients to add more choices” for consumers, and by the end of 2018, “the cows that supply Dannon’s milk for these three flagship brands will be fed non-GMO feed.” An estimated 80,000 acres, a sliver of U.S. cropland, would be planted to non-GMO crops to supply rations for the dairy cows, estimated the company.
In a letter, NMPF and the American Farm Bureau Federation, American Soybean Association, American Sugarbeet Growers Association, National Corn Growers Association and the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance, said genetically engineered crops were key in boosting yields and reducing erosion. “Taking away this technology is akin to turning back the clock and using outdated 20th century technology to run a business,” says an NMPF release.