In this article, we study the relationship of temporality and ideology through examples from a local controversy over field testing of genetically modified organisms, in casu maize, in a rural area in the north of Denmark. Our primary focus is on ways in which participants represent time on shorter or longer timescales, and how these timescales are linked discursively. Our data stem from three sources: a video-recording of an anti-GMO demonstration in a minor town in Denmark, a recording of a (...) public meeting of farmers who consider possible advantages of growing GM crops, and a focus-group interview with citizens. We argue that temporality contributes significantly to the discursive construction of genetically modified crops, and we suggest that a temporal perspective should be added to the repertoire of critical discourse analysis. (shrink)