The first Oregon county to ban GMO crops reached a settlement with farmers who wanted $4.2 million in exchange for uprooting 300 acres of genetically engineered alfalfa. The settlement, between Jackson County, in southwestern Oregon, and the farmers, James and Marilyn Frink and the Schulz Family Farm, will allow them to grow and harvest the Roundup Ready alfalfa until the time, five to eight years from now, when they normally would re-seed the fields. At that point, the farms must switch to a conventional variety. Also, the farmers agreed not to appeal a federal judge’s ruling that the Jackson County ban, adopted by a 2-to-1 margin in a referendum in May 2014, does not violate the state’s right-to-farm law.
“Jackson County’s GMO ban was the first in the state, followed by Josephine County residents. The Oregon Legislature quickly stepped in to stop counties from banning GMO crops in a piecemeal fashion. Any future ban would likely have to cover the whole state,” said the Portland Oregonian.
The Jackson County ordinance said growers could harvest GMO crops in 2014 and were to remove them within 12 months. The ordinance took effect in June 2015.
The settlement does not preclude other farmers from challenging the settlement, which still must be approved by U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Clark, but they would face the barrier of Clarke’s decision that the crop ban is legal, the anti-GMO Center for Food Safety told Capital Press. “This settlement preserves their victory,” said an attorney for the center.
Proponents of the Josephine County ordinance will argue that the state pre-emption statute is unconstitutional, said Capital Press, based on court documents.