Friday Food Facts

Worldwide, a third of crops are lost to pests. But, proper use of pesticides helps farmers protect our food supply. In the battle with the bugs, the best defense is a good offense. Arizona farmers fight with a variety of tools to keep your food safe.

News Flash, there are only 10 biotech crops approved of and growing in the United States. Also known as GMO crops and successful as reducing pesticide use and improving production, the biotech crops in Arizona are cotton, alfalfa, and corn.

While Arizona only grows three of the biotech crops, there are 10 crops available and on the market today:

1. Apple
2. Potato
3. Field Corn
4. Canola
5. Alfalfa
6. Soybean
7. Rainbow Papaya
8. Cotton
9. Sugar Beet
10. Sweet Corn
11. Summer Squash

And, while Arizona’s biotech crops are not considered direct food crops to consumers, according to scientists, there is no reason to avoid GMO foods. Why? There’s no nutritional difference between a GMO and its non-GMO counterpart unless it has intentionally added nutrients.

Who uses water? We all do. Yes, agriculture uses a lot of water. But, there’s a lot of water in the food we eat and it takes water to grow our food. Arizona agriculture grows for all of us.

Food Fact Friday

Arizona agriculture is beautiful, just beautiful. It’s local, global, organic and traditional. It’s fruits and vegetables, grains, cotton, beef, lamb, nursery plants, dairy, wine grapes and much more. Arizona agriculture is 23.3 billion dollars worth of beautiful. (Photo by Jonathan Dinsmore, a Yuma farmer.)

Nearly a third of Agriculture’s crops need the honey bees for pollination. That’s why farmers work to protect the honey bee. And so can you. Since they love flowers, grow a native pollinator garden for them.