Local anti-GMO forces celebrated a Friday ruling allowing them to join Jackson County in defense of last year’s voter-passed ban on growing genetically engineered crops in the county.
Our Family Farms Coalition and others have said they question Jackson County’s knowledge of the issue and will to fight GMO proponents who are suing the county. Pro-GMO farmers say the new ordinance violates the state Right to Farm Act, which halts suits over perceived “nuisances” related to farming.
The ruling Friday allows Oshala Farm in the Applegate, Ashland farmer Christopher Hardy and two Portland-based environmental action groups, Our Family Farms Coalition and the Center For Food Safety, to join Jackson County as defendants against the suit filed by local farmers — Schultz Family Farms and James and Marilyn Frink — who grow GMO-alfalfa and claim the new ordinance would cost them $2 million each.
Some 120 GMO foes Wednesday packed District Court in Medford as both sides argued about the intervenors’ request. Now the main issue — the legality of the county’s new ban — moves forward in court.
Our Family Farms Coalition promised to “vigorously defend” the ordinance, using lawyers from the Center For Food Safety and Earthrise Law Center at Lewis and Clark Law School.
Read full, original article: GMO opponents can join Jackson County in defending ban
