If you are trying to avoid GMOs and the potential for strange growths or zombie-like qualities this summer, participating in a CSA, or Community Supported Agriculture, may be a good choice.

If beef is what’s for dinner, officials in Boulder think it should carry the city’s name. Boulder’s Open Space and Mountain Parks Department is developing a “Boulder brand for natural beef,” according to city documents. And at the same time, the department is looking at partnering with a mystery company to convert about 200 acres of open space grazing land into a large “farm-to-table” facility as part of the city’s push for more local food production.

Ask any farmer to list his or her major challenges and the issue of who will take over the farm when it’s time to retire will no doubt feature in the top 10. According to government statistics about 40% of U.S. farmers are 55 years old and up, raising real concerns about exactly who is going to fill their shoes. The sad fact is that there are fewer young people getting involved in farming than ever, and many young people see no future in the family farm. As a result, countless family farms are being bought up and absorbed by larger industrial operations. In my opinion this is one of the greatest tragedies of our generation.

The idea of making school lunches better and healthier has gathered steam in many parts of the nation in recent years, but not equally for every child. Schools with money and involved parents concerned about obesity and nutrition charged ahead, while poor and struggling districts, overwhelmed by hard times, mostly did not.

The Jewish holy book the Torah was written many centuries ago, long before a person’s carbon footprint became a topic of discussion.

“We’re looking at GMOs, we’re looking at pesticides, we’re looking at an era where you can eat anything you want in any season because it’s coming from 5,000 miles away,” said Becky O’Brien, director of community engagement for the local chapter of Hazon. “None of that existed when teachings that we’re using now to make decisions around that stuff were written.”

The three Boulder County commissioners voted unanimously this afternoon to allow genetically modified organisms to be planted on county-owned open space land with restrictions. The commissioners supported the continued planting of corn that has been genetically engineered to resist the herbicide glyphosate or to resist insects. Planting GMO corn was first approved in Boulder County in 2003.

In the last several months — as three different advisory groups have weighed in on how Boulder County should manage its croplands — swarms of local activists, who believe genetically modified organisms should be banned on open space, have stolen the show.

This is a tweet sent by Colorado state Rep. Jerry Sonnenberg on Nov. 19 at the annual convention of the Colorado Farm Bureau, one of the agricultural powerhouses involved in generating the huge farmer turnout at the Dec. 8 cropland policy hearing. It is an apparent threat to state funding for Boulder County, should the commissioners decide to ban or phase out the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) on open space land.

Many are living in a candy shop psychosis in which we consider it a sensible trade to let the ice caps melt and the tumors take root if the Whoppers and PopTarts just keep coming. That illusion, however, is fading in a society that is beginning to see diet as a moral decision, related to essential human needs like vitality, social connections, fairness, security, kindness, and even sanity. In a world of changing values, near-future peers may not respect us if we are mindless, self-centered eaters.

But I am greatly saddened by the rancorous polarization that has characterized so much of this debate. And I have seen that the whole issue of GMOs on Open Space land has become something of a red herring.