ARTICLE: 'Agvocate' shares her passion of farming

The following is an article in the Mankato (MN) Free Press discussing how and why farmers choose to grow GMOs and dispelling other misconceptions about modern farming. 

There are two things that drive farmer and ag advocate Wanda Patsche crazy.

"One is GMOs. There's just a vast perception with consumers that GMOs equal bad and the science and research says the opposite." She said genetically modified organisms have produced crop seeds that don't affect the nutrition, safety or taste of food but do allow for hardier plants in the field.

"They're a good tool. We use less pesticide and we have better crops and it's easier on us and the environment because we're using less pesticide."

Her other pet peeve. "The use of 'factory farm.' That drives me crazy. Here in Martin County we're the No. 1 hog producer in the state and No. 6 in the country. People driving through here see a lot of barns and people maybe think of them as factory farms," said Patsche, of Welcome.

"But they're families, my neighbors and people I go to church with. Yeah, farms look different than they did years ago and we're making use of technology that is available, but they're family farms."

To read the entire article, please visit ithe Mankato Free Press website.