Fight over canola pits biofuels vs. organics

[Omaha Steve]

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20120927/DA1HVUFG0.html

Sep 27, 3:24 AM (ET)

By JONATHAN J. COOPER

SALEM, Ore. (AP) - Wet winters and cool, dry summers make Oregon's Willamette Valley one of the best places on the globe to produce seeds for organic broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and a variety of other vegetables known as brassicas.

That means the fields south of Portland are also an ideal place to grow canola, another brassica whose seeds can be pressed to extract oil for food or renewable fuel.

But you won't find any canola here. It was banned from the Willamette Valley to protect the delicate vegetable seeds from being contaminated by pollen from canola or destroyed by the pests and diseases it brings.

Demand for renewable energy, however, has helped fuel a push to grow canola in the region, raising a tense conflict between producers of organic foods and renewable energy in a state that cherishes both.+

FULL story at link.

[mopinko]

1. fuck that. algae.