Kelowna posted May 23, 2015 @ 01:47pm by Stacy Penner

March Against Monsanto Draws Big Crowd in Kelowna

Protests gathering at Parkinson Rec for March Against Monsanto. (Photo Credit: KelownaNow.com)

Protestors were out in large numbers and with lots of spirit on Saturday morning in Kelowna.

The March Against Monsanto is a worldwide grassroots movement for food and seed freedom, a cleaner environment, and for labelling on GMO foods. In Kelowna, more than 100 people chanted and marched against Monsanto, a GMO giant that controls much of the seed market. The peaceful protestors did their best to make a commotion as they marched up the pedestrian bridge by Parkinson Recreation Centre and down Highway 97, all to the honks of vehicles passing by.

Photo Credit: KelownaNow.com

Signs for protesters at March Against Monsanto. (Photo Credit: KelownaNow.com)

A big topic of discussion on Saturday was Arctic Apple, the non-browning GMO apple that in March was approved for commercial sale in Canada. Created by Summerland’s Okanagan Specialty Fruits, the Arctic Apple is the first GMO apple to ever be approved in Canada and the United States.

The BC Fruit Growers’ Association is opposing the GMO apple approval “due to possible market backlash that could impact all apples.”

Ron Pinkney speaking to the group gathered at Parkinson Rec. (Photo Credit: KelownaNow.com)

The Penticton March Against Monsanto group joined with Kelowna this year as a show of solidarity against the Arctic Apple in Summerland.

“If the Arctic Apple isn’t labelled as genetically modified product, consumers who do not want to buy genetically modified food will not have the choice, as labelling is voluntary at this time,” says Ron Pinkney, a local apple farmer of Green Acres Organics in East Kelowna. “The concern for me as a farmer is there will contamination from genetically engineered apples.”

Photo Credit: KelownaNow.com

Though he acknowledged that Okanagan Specialty Fruits’ arguments that cross-pollination is not a concern for Arctic Apples, Pinkney says that cross-pollination is a natural occurrence and that it could happen sometime in the future.

Okanagan orchardist and former director at the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen Allan Patton summed up the protest to a cheering crowd. “If I don’t have the ability to control what I grow as a commercial or as an organic orchardist, then you as consumers don’t have any control over what you eat,” said Patton.

“And that is wrong.”

Photo Credit: KelownaNow.com

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