On March 2, 2004, Mendocino County, California, became the first county in the nation to ban genetically engineered crops and animals by passing a ballot measure backed by the county’s organic farmers. Agriculture officials began to enforce the ban the day after voters approved it.
Some of the country’s largest agribusiness interests spent more than a half million dollars locally to defeat the initiative, fearing that it could set a precedent. Their fears were well founded, as environmental groups in neighboring Sonoma and Humboldt counties immediately began preparing drives to qualify similar initiatives on the November 2004 ballot.
A consortium of agribusiness interests calling itself CropLife America spent $500,000 on a two-month campaign to defeat the measure. CropLife was supported by local and state farm bureau leaders and members of the county’s conventional agricultural establishment. But a coalition of organic grape growers, businesses, and local political figures, which spent only about $70,000 on an educational campaign, convinced voters that they should take a stand against GMO crops.
CropLife refused to speculate about possible legal or legislative challenges to the ban. Mendocino County voters in the 1970s adopted an initiative to ban aerial spraying of pesticides, but within two weeks, the state legislature stripped counties of the right to institute such a ban. Supporters of the GMO ban said they are prepared for an assault on the ban by agribusiness. “We’ve had this ordinance reviewed by top lawyers, who say they’re confident it will stand up to any challenge,” said initiative spokesperson Laura Hamburg.
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