I’ve been hesitant to jump into the foray of Genetically Modified Foods (GMO’s) for it is so very contentious, and the definition varies from specialist to specialist.

From what I’ve read, GMO’s are products that have had foreign DNA inserted into them in the lab. They are products that are not compatible in normal cross breeding situations.

Wally was a man of science and he appreciated cross breeding of tree fruits. When the Elephant Heart plums came out ( now called Ox Hearts), he was one of the first to plant a tree ( that I know of). I remember them as a thirteen year old and eating the fruit at all stages of ripeness. That would be in the summer of 1964.

For a long time the main cash crop in apples for Wally was that of the Winesap, Macintosh, and Red Delicious. He grew an acre of Reds and 4 acres of Winesaps. The Macs were interspersed with the Winesaps.
He knew the Winesaps were on the way out for the semi dwarf and dwarf apple trees were coming in, through selective breeding. He didn’t seem to be prepared to embrace the new way of growing apples.

To the best of my knowledge, Wally sold the 12 acres of the original orchard around 1969. On the remaining three acres( he bought from a neighbor years back), he continued to plant the larger trees, although he did put in solid set sprinklers, so he embraced the new ways somewhat.
He observed the dwarf and semi dwarf plantings for 13 years but he still wasn’t convinced it was the way to go or he may have felt like he didn’t want to bother any more because of his age.

I’m not so sure Wally would have embraced the GMO concept of DNA transplanting from animals to plants and vice versa because he knew that ignoring the natural order invites a host of problems.

I don’t know why there is such a rush to get these products into our food supply, surely it couldn’t be for the money could it?

Today’s scientists need to do a lot more investigating before proving that GMO’s are safe. If it takes 10 years for a drug to come into the market, it better be twice that before GMO’s come into our food supply.

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