LAKEPORT – On Tuesday the Board of Supervisors approved the membership of a new committee that will take up the divisive issue of genetically engineered (GE) crops in Lake County.

Supervisors Denise Rushing and Rob Brown, along with Deputy Administrative Officer Debra Sommerfield of the county's Economic Development Department, took applications for the committee and on Monday sat down to make their selections from among a number of qualified community members.

“As contentious as this issue has been in the past, I was impressed with the quality of applicants that we had,” said Brown.

Rushing agreed, and noted that everyone who applied is still welcome to attend the meetings, which will be public.

The committee will have representatives from a variety of interests, from conventional and organic farmers to those concerned with the environment and science.

Rushing, Brown and Sommerfield proposed the following individuals:

• Conventional farming: Schuyler "Sky" Hoyt, Michelle Scully;

• Organic farming: Lars Crail, Paul Lauenroth;

• Environment: Victoria Brandon, Steve Devoto;

• Science: Elizabeth Weiss, Broc Zoller;

• Agriculture support/services: Jeff Gleaves, JoAnn Saccato;

• Business: Melissa Fulton;

• Members-At-Large: Sequoia Lyn-Franklin, Andre Ross.

• Alternates: Deb Baumann, Glenn Benjamin, Stephen Grammer, Lorrie Gray, Larry Heine, Marc Hooper.

Brown said they're looking at holding their first meeting on a Thursday morning in mid-January.

Farrington asked about the at-large members, specifically Ross. Rushing noted that Ross is an attorney who also has mediation experience.

“That might be helpful,” Brown quipped, adding that they were looking for fresh perspectives.

Community member Joan Moss said she would have liked to see Sarah Ryan – environmental director for Big Valley Rancheria and a member of Coalition for Responsible Agriculture, who pushed for local GE bans – and organic farmer Phil Murphy, who also has worked on local GE crop moratoriums, included on the committee.

Brown said they chose people for the committee who they thought would add some reasonable dialog. He added that both Ryan and Murphy were welcome to attend the advisory committee's meetings.

Robey told Brown and Rushing “good job” for getting the committee set up.

Rushing said some people applied for committee membership after the deadline, and she encouraged them also to come to the meetings.

Brown moved to appoint the slate of members, with Rushing seconding. The board approved the committee membership 5-0.

Robey, who this fall introduced a GE crop ban proposal that was accepted in a 3-2 vote on Oct. 21 but which he later withdrew, said he felt the committee was the appropriate way to move forward on the issue.

“There are good arguments on all sides,” he said, noting it was worthwhile to try to reach consensus.

Earlier in the meeting, Robey had suggested they follow the same process used for the county's Erosion Prevention and Education Committee, which also had dealt with difficult issues but reached agreements. Brown agreed they would follow that process.

“It worked once,” said Robey.

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