Daily beewashing zen: RDO plants 675 acres in flowers for Syngenta corporate image project

The Park Rapids Enterprise reports in Operation Pollinator wildflowers in bloom that potato giant R.D. Offutt (RDO) is on the offensive in  the pesticide giant Syngenta's pollinator public relations effort with 675 acres planted in Hubbard County, which includes 116,941 acres of farmland according to the 2012 Census of Agriculture.

Given that R.D. Offutt farms over 60,000 acres of potatoes across the country, according to the Fargo, ND based company's website, we're a bit cynical here, based on scale alone.

There's also these passages in Nicole Vik's article (the photo of "wildflowers" seems to be mostly cosmos, a garden flower with origins in Mexico):

Operation Pollinator is an international biodiversity program, initiated by Syngenta, to increase the number of pollinating insects on commercial farms by creating habitats specifically tailored to the local conditions and native insects. . . .

[Wayne] Warmbold added that the completion of projects like Operation Pollinator is one of the reasons he likes working for R.D. Offutt Co.

"I know we get a lot of beating up about having to clear land but they also put back a lot," he said. "That's why I really do like working here. It's nice to work here and be proud of the fact that they're not a company that's just taking and taking."

It's not just clearing off forest land that causes RDO to get beat up, not that it's Mr. Warmbold's job to tell the media such things.

For that, Bluestem recommends visiting Toxic Taters, the campaign dedicated to educating the public about RDO's unsustainable farm practices that put people and pollinators in rural communities at risk:

Potato fields cover the landscape in central and northern Minnesota, stretching for miles in all directions. Nearly 50,000 acres of potatoes are planted in our state every year. Conventional potato production relies on pesticides that put the health of our communities at risk, and the people of Minnesota are calling for change. . . .

Almost all of the potatoes grown in our area are produced by a company called RDO. RDO is the largest potato producer in the world, and one the major suppliers of the potatoes used for McDonald’s french fries. McDonald’s claims that they foster sustainable agriculture. But we live near their potatoes, and we know that their practices aren’t sustainable. Read our stories to learn more about how these potatoes are impacting our community. . . .

Toxic Taters depends on many hands to make our efforts work. Volunteers lead the organization, defining our vision and strategies, and carrying out the actions with support from a very small staff. We thank everyone who gives of their time and energy. We also thank all those individuals who support our work through financial contributions as well as the following foundations; Ceres Trust, LUSH Philanthropies, RESIST, Headwaters Foundation, Patagonia, and Unitarian Universalist Fund for a Just Society.

Check it out. One could trust those dirty hippies--or Syngenta, which was bought this spring by ChemChina, a state-owned enterprise, Reuters reported in ChemChina Clinches Its $43 Billion Takeover of Syngenta.

Photo: Via the Park Rapids Enterprise, one of RDO's flower buffers (never mind the drift). Looks to us to be largely lovely cosmos blooming now, a common pollinator-friendly annual garden flower with origins in Mexico. According to the article, other flowers in the patches bloom at other times of the year, but flowers haven't competed well with grass:

 "Every year we try to plant some more, we do have some that are still planted from the first year," he said, adding that after two years the flowers began to get choked out by grasses. "They do come back but the first years are always the best."

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Comments

[Ben]

I am glad that a group has been formed to scrutinize RDO and their intensive potato growing practices, but I wish someone would take on Big Sugar in our state. In the Red River Valley, approximately 500,000 acres of rich soil is sacrificed to grow sugar beets every year. This scale of unsustainable land use practice dwarfs the potato growing operation by a factor of ten!