Mount Vernon News

MOUNT VERNON — In 1924, the average dairy cow produced 11.4 pounds of milk per day, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In 2007, the average was 55.4 pounds of milk per day. What is responsible for this massive change?

“Technology,” said Ken Ruprecht, a Knox County dairy farmer who is concerned that a backlash against poorly understood technology is going to harm the world in general and the dairy industry in particular.

As recently reported in the Mount Vernon News, agribusiness corporation Monsanto has decided to sell off its division which manufactures Posilac, the trade name for a synthetically-produced, milk-boosting hormone known as recombinant bovine somatotropin (rBST) or recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH). The controversial hormone has been the target of attacks by organic food groups and has been banned in Europe and Canada.

“I’m not against conventional, I’m not against organic,” Ruprecht said. “I’m against the attack on technology.”

Ruprecht points out that rBST is hardly a new science. First discovered in 1937 but only introduced into general use in 1994, rBST may well be the most tested product ever introduced onto the commercial market in the United States. The banning of the product in Europe doesn’t faze Ruprecht, who points out that the continent has two understandable reasons for being over-cautious.

First, after the terrifying experience of fallout from the Chernobyl nuclear accident in Russia in 1986, Europeans are extremely concerned about any potential health issues. Second, milk production is heavily subsidized by most European governments. This would result in a major economic expense if production suddenly jumped 15 percent, the figure often cited in relation to rBST.

Ruprecht admits he was skeptical of rBST when it was introduced 14 years ago, but said he became convinced by credible research from universities. He feels that current doubts about rBST are not being backed by credible research. He pointed out that many opponents of rBST cite studies claiming it causes increases in bone disintegration and mastitis, a bacterial and yeast infection, in dairy cattle. Ruprecht said incidences of those problems have actually gone down since he’s been using rBST.

“Increased production requires better management,” Ruprecht said, adding that without that improvement, he wouldn’t doubt that there would be an increase in mastitis and other problems, although it wouldn’t be the fault of rBST.

Ruprecht and his wife, Marilyn, who is president of the Knox County chapter of the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation, keep on top of the latest information. A study released June 30 by Cornell University points out that the food supply required over the next 40 years will be approximately equal to the total amount of food produced throughout the history of humankind. The estimate is that the world’s population will reach 9 billion by the mid-21st century.

Ruprecht wonders how farmers will be able to feed all those people.

“I’m not sure how we’re going to do it without technology,” he said.

Another issue that some critics of rBST have raised is that a side effect is an increase in the level of the hormone IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor) in milk from rBST-injected cows. IGF-1 increases cellular production, a feature which is harnessed by the disease cancer to rapidly reproduce cancerous cells. Marilyn Ruprecht took on the issue by making a comparison.

“It would take drinking 400 glasses of milk [produced with rBST] in one day to equal the amount of IGF-1 found in your natural saliva,” she said.

Marilyn also worries that the organic/sustainability movement has some leading figures who approach issues in a manner more akin to religion than to business or science.

“Those organic gurus are now getting to the age for influence,” she said, explaining that such activists are now working their way onto boards of important organizations and institutions.

Ken Ruprecht said that once the use of rBST and the scientific studies supporting its safety are explained to people, most of them accept it. He added that most farmers are not used to doing public relations and public education, being occupied with managing their farms, but said they have little choice as more and more people become disconnected from rural America.

“I think farmers have to do a better job getting the word out,” he said.

But it goes beyond that.

“We’re not just farmers here,” Ruprecht said. “I’ve got children and grandchildren. I wouldn’t be doing anything to hurt them.”