Legislation to Protect Wild Rice Heard by Senate Committee

March 17, 2005

St. Paul: Minnesota State Senator Becky Lourey (DFL 08) brought her bill to protect Minnesota's state grain, wild rice, before the Senate Agriculture, Veterans, and Gaming Committee yesterday. The bill, SF 1566, prohibits genetically engineered wild rice from the state, specifying that "a person may not release, plant, cultivate, harvest, sell, or offer for sale in Minnesota a genetically engineered organism containing or related to wild rice."

Senator Lourey, a member of the Committee, explained the importance of wild rice to Minnesotans and the threats to the native grain from potential genetic engineering. She yielded the remainder of her time to the experts who attended the hearing to testify in support of the bill.

Winona LaDuke, White Earth Tribal Member and Director of the White Earth Land Recovery Project, spoke about the sacredness of wild rice to Anishinaabe people and the threats to natural stands of wild rice from cross-pollination if genetically engineered wild rice is developed and introduced. She said, “we export our natural hand-harvested wild rice to Germany, Italy, and Japan, and genetic contamination would mean a closing of these markets to our product. ‘Natural’ and ‘genetically engineered’ are not compatible terms.”

John Persell, Director of Water Quality for the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, spoke about the ecological importance of natural wild rice stands. He explained, “rice beds support the ecology of fisheries and lakes across the state of Minnesota.” He urged the committee to view the development and release of genetically engineered wild rice as an invasive species that could be a huge financial and environmental liability.

Dennis Olson, Director of Policy for the Institute of Agriculture and Trade Policy, stated that there, “currently exists no technology to segregate genetically engineered from non-genetically engineered crops.” He continued, stating, “any genetic contamination of natural wild rice could mean a loss of export markets for both paddy farmers and Native producers.”

George Spangler, Professor of Fisheries and Wildlife in Conservation Biology at the University of Minnesota, stated “passing this legislation would be a hallmark for cooperative natural resource management.” As a member of the University of Minnesota’s academic community, he stressed that the bill would not stifle academic freedom at the University. The bill does not affect any current research that the University of Minnesota is pursuing.

Three people testified against the bill, including Beth Nelson, President of the Minnesota Cultivated Wild Rice Council, and Ron Phillips, Regents Professor of Agronomy and Plant Genetics at the University of Minnesota. Ms. Nelson stated that it is currently too expensive to pursue genetic modification of wild rice and that, therefore, legislative action is premature. Professor Phillips urged the Committee against closing off the University’s options to genetically engineer wild rice in the future.

After hearing all of the testimony, the Committee voted unanimously to lay the legislation on the table, which means that any committee member can make a motion to reconsider the bill at anytime. A meeting is being planned for this summer, to bring together legislators, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Tribal Representatives, paddy rice farmers and other stakeholders to solidify support for the bill. Senator Lourey plans to resurface the bill in next year’s legislative session.

To hear the full testimony of the Senate Hearing Click here
Senate Bill 1566 starts around the 2 hour and 5 minute mark