BOULDER — Matt Pierce has a day job. But at night and on the weekends, the 27-year-old is trying to make it as a farmer, cultivating 1,200 acres.
And when he’s not at work – or in the fields – he’s volunteering his time as a member of Boulder County’s Food and Agriculture Policy Council, which voted Thursday night, after seven hours of public testimony and deliberation, to recommend against allowing genetically modified sugar beets to be grown on open space land.
The decision, which nearly every panel member described as excruciating, was not what Pierce had hoped for.
“I do farm and I don’t raise sugar beets,” Pierce said. “And I don’t know what to say except to say it – I don’t believe that everybody has the right to take the tool away from the farmers. It’s hard enough to make a living at this.”
In December, six local farmers asked the county for permission to grow the genetically modified beets on open space they already lease from the county. GMO corn is already allowed by the county.
The county commissioners will make the final decision at their meeting Aug. 25, taking into account the conflicting opinions of the council and the Parks and Open Space Advisory Committee, which voted to recommend the genetically modified sugar beets at a meeting last week.
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