Harvesting Fear
Recently there was an article in Vanity Fair about Monsanto. It was, I think, a good article and one that strikes fairly close to home as I work about one half mile down the road from the Monsanto location discussed in the article. It is the same facility Michael Pollan discusses in his books, and it is there that much of Monsanto’s plant research takes place.
Each day as I pass the facility it’s hard not to think about the stories I’ve heard regarding farmers being sued for reusing their genetically modified Round Up ready seeds, and the Vanity article leads off with one such story showcasing the ruthless tactics with which Monsanto goes after farmers that are often economically unable to fight back. Much of the article, however, lays out a brief history of the business and details some examples of the environmental devastation Monsanto has created in their wake of research. Also, there’s information about Monsanto’s new pet project: the dairy industry.
Not happy with their current level of entrenchment in the agriculture industry, it seems Monsanto is now making strides to ensure they will assist with the fast, cheap supply of all your families dairy needs as well. All this of course from one of the same companies that brought you Agent Orange and dioxin.
However you feel about the consumption of genetically modified foods, Monsanto has homogenized many agricultural commodities, and I think most of us would agree that having 90% of anything coming from one source is a bad idea. Even before you get to the environmental ramifications the lack of biodiversity could cause, there is simply the matter of taste; and for those of us that love food, variety is everything.
Take the time out of your Earth Day to read the article and in two weeks show your support of the farmers doing things the right way at our Local Farmers’ Markets.
9 Responses to “Harvesting Fear”
Ugh, Monsanto sucks. I heard Percy Schmeiser speak in college. He’s one of the Canadian farmers who was threatened by Monsanto when a neighboring crop cross-pollinated his crop, ruining his history of seed-savings. When Schmeiser counter-sued, he lost. Talk about the rights of corporations superceding the rights of individuals. The whole thing made me sick.
Percy is in the documentary “The Future of Food” which I showed to my environmental sustainability class. Once, I had a sub who told my kids that her husband worked for Monsanto. Bad move. One of my kids asked “How does he sleep at night?” Whoops. I felt bad for her, but secretly fist-pumped when they told me.
Don’t even get me started about patenting life forms…
By KBO on Apr 22, 2008
one of the reasons I wouldn’t take local monies from Monsanto for any of the projects we were doing…..nor work with Gateway Greening which would have been such a great collaboration.
It was enlightening to work on the Govenor’s Ag Task Force. The moderator was a 24 year vet from Monsanto, how do you think those meetings got skewed? Nothing like being the token “farmers market/organic member”….lots of great contacts though and it was interesting sitting down to a “commodity from Ca. meal” and talking with MO commodity program leaders about foods that were then in season and what their mom’s used to make. They remember the flavors of “real food”. Funny how they think that those foods cannot exist in todays environment….yet it will affect them to their core to talk about picking blackberries and their mom’s making pie, these are 50-60+ year old men.
Bill Heffernen did his body of research at Mizzou on who owns the food companies in the USA/world. It comes down to only a small group that own the vast majority. Wonder if the CEO’s of these corporations eat from an estate garden or their personal chefs by from local farmers markets….I can’t imagine them eating the processed food they manufacture at their home or corporate exec dining rooms.
By Julie Ridlon on Apr 23, 2008
Yeah, KBO, who would imagine recognizing property rights in life forms. It’s been done for centuries. For example, I can’t just walk into a hospital and grab a newborn to take home. The newborn’s parents have a property interest in it because they created the baby. Who would bother to innovate in agriculture if you couldn’t patent your work (the result of hundreds of millions of dollars of investment).
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KBO, it is sad to see a teacher who apparently is more concerned with WHAT his/her students think rather tha HOW they think. I guess you do an imaginary fist pump every time they reaffirm one of your core beliefs.
By Orrin on Apr 23, 2008
Wow, Orrin, didn’t expect to be fanning flames today. But, you opened yourself up with your idiotic analogy. The difference between your example and what I’m talking about is that you’re talking about KIDNAPPING. A parent can’t patent ALL babies or the species of humans, although that is what Monsanto does. I have no problem patenting your intellectual work, but Monsanto (and others) are trying to patent strains of flora that have existed in nature for thousands of years. To then attempt to bankrupt legitimate farmers who choose NOT to subscribe to their method of agriculture, is bullying, unethical, and completely unnecessary. If you read anything about the farmers that Monsanto has gone after, they are, for the most part, people who went out of their way to AVOID Monsanto’s products.
And, since you don’t know me, and you’ve never seen me teach, I would highly recommend that you refrain from judging my teaching methods. To suggest that I don’t care about my kids learning critical thinking skills is downright false and goes against my entire teaching philsophy. My students can tell you the pros and cons to industrial agriculture. Just because I dare expose them to the darker side of where their food comes from doesn’t mean that I’m brainwashing them.
In short, kick rocks. You don’t know me.
By KBO on Apr 23, 2008
Read up, KBO. I think my analogy is fine, but we can abandon it because it hits on kids, an emotional subject. But you recognize that kidnapping a kid is stealing, right? And so is taking a gentically modified seed without paying.
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Monsanto is not patenting every single seed that exists in nature, or any seed that exists in nature. Rather, Monsanto is patenting seeds which do not occur in nature — seeds which it has genetically modified through its own research and work. To put it another way, without Monsanto or a similar company, such seeds would never exist (for better or worse). What is wrong with patenting an innovation? And what is wrong with vigorously protecting a legitimate patent on a good that cost hundreds of millions of dollars to produce?
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I am not judging your teaching methods. What I am judging is your juvenile reaction to your student’s disrespectful treatment of a teacher.
By Orrin on Apr 23, 2008
These farmers aren’t stealing Monsanto’s patented seeds. Their fields are being cross-pollinated by neighboring fields and trucks crossing through properties. The farmers don’t want Monsanto products contaminating their fields. They aren’t seeking to profit off of Monsanto’s product. They are seed savers who want Monsanto products out of the crops they’ve worked for decades to preserve. How dare Monsanto sue them for everything they’re worth? It is completely unethical.
This is important because it is indicative of how we treat farmers in general. I think that consumers need to know more about where their food comes from because our country’s recent history is not very kind to those who produce our food. We treat farmers like crap even though they feed our country. I’m from Iowa. I’ve watched the family farm culture disintegrate for as long as I can remember. Monsanto are bullying those who don’t have the means to defend themselves.
And as far as my kids go: I wasn’t there when this went down. I didn’t reaffirm or praise them for treating the sub like this. In fact, I told them that’s not how they should treat visitors in the building. But, yes, I was happy to hear them retaining information and thinking about what they learned in class. If that’s juvenile, maybe it’s because I’m surrounded by teenagers all the freaking time. Deal.
By KBO on Apr 23, 2008
Unethical to sue a farmer when some of his fields, by his own admission, contained 68% of your seeds?
Unethical to protect multi-million dollar R&D and value to shareholders in a field where it is relatively easy to reuse seed without getting caught?
Hardly.
By Orrin on Apr 23, 2008
I, too, read the article on Monsanto. There is nothing nice about Monsanto. A cousin who worked there has struggled with cancer for years and had a daughter who was severely disabled and lived on a few years. We all know it was because of working at Monsanto.
I decry their tactics with farmers. I decry their seeds. I don’t trust them. Local and sustainable is what I’m trying to do…the reality, though, is that genetically modified seeds have entered so much of what we eat - including soy products and canola oil - that it’s hard to get away from the horrendous practices of the big boys.
What about Monsanto’s bullying on milk labels. They want to prevent milk from having a label that says no synthetic growth hormones were present in the milk…
As I said at the start of this post - nothing nice about Monsanto.
By Candelaria on May 4, 2008
I see this post is mainly about seed “technology” but here is a great update on the rBGH business that just proves people really don’t care for Monsanto’s practices. http://cleanerplateclub.wordpress.com/
By Kelly on Aug 7, 2008