The World According to Monsanto

"There's nothing they are leaving untouched: the mustard, the okra, the bringe oil, the rice, the cauliflower. Once they have established the norm: that seed can be owned as their property, royalties can be collected. We will depend on them for every seed we grow of every crop we grow. If they control seed, they control food, they know it -- it's strategic. It's more powerful than bombs. It's more powerful than guns. This is the best way to control the populations of the world" -Vandana Shiva, Physicist, New Delhi India

Food Sovereignty, or the right to keep our seed for use as food, future crops, and to preserve the genetic diversity in our staple foods, should be a right granted to all persons in the world. Contamination from GMO crops is adversely affecting the World's poorest people and subsistence farmers from South America, to India to the USA. Yes, there are farms in the US where people are struggling to be self-reliant in food so I've included them too. Our right to have ancient seed varieties of peas, beans, corn be preserved genetically is becoming harder and harder due to cross-pollination from Monsanto's genetically modified crops. Pollution from pesticides and fertilizers is literally killing people the world over.

And people tell me I'm crazy for wanting to be an organic grower.

I think you're crazy for NOT supporting local organic farms. So I am re-posting this movie which I will note was funded in part by the National Film Board of Canada. And I will stop complaining about Monsanto. Infact I'll leave off this post by telling you something wonderful about Monsanto who really are a chemical company and not the agriculture company many people think of, and holders of more than 15,000 patents. Did you know that Monsanto was the company that developed LED technology? I love LED's and find them very useful.

Boycott Monsanto - Really? Is that the answer?

Here's a question for you and it's a simple one. Do you support Monsanto, the undisputed leader in the GMO world. Do you? If you don't know about Monsanto then consider yourself blessed and believe me when I say that ignorance is bliss. But if you do know...how do we balance the need for greater food production to feed the world's growing population against the supposed evils of their 'Frankenseed'. That's my term, so don't get too upset.

We hear about boycotting companies and I'm not too sure how effective that actually is unless a large number of people are involved and talking about it on a daily basis to keep the idea in the general populations mind all the time. Besides, how would we know what companies to boycott? Most farmers in the US are now using Monsanto seed so does that mean you can't buy bread or flour? Or put gas in your tank containing ethanol from GMO corn? If you look through the list below you'll see that most breakfast cereal makers are there as are the big 2 soda makers Pepsi and Coca-Cola. Don't forget, it's corporations like those that own thousands of other restaurants and food labels. Almost every bite you eat in a day could come from one of these guys. So how would a boycott really work? Here's a list of non GMO foods.

I believe that it should be a basic human right to be able to grow food and save our own seeds to trade with others and to re-plant next year. That's the biggest beef I have with Monsanto at the moment...taking away peoples right to choose. Our heirloom, tried and tested varieties are vanishing at an alarming rate in favour of the mass produced and commercially grown. It's sad. What do you think we should do about this situation? I'm really interested to know.

UPDATE: See what Monsanto is up to now. Agent Orange resistant corn, oh boy! And they are losing the battle against the corn root worm that's becoming resistant very quickly. Check out the article on RT here. And if you have a little time you can watch this truly horrifying movie about Monsanto.

Monsanto vs. Brazillian Farmers

It seems that wherever you look these days, someone is getting a group together to sue Monsanto, the US based company responsible for unprecedented numbers of Genetically Modified Organisms or GMO's for short. The ones we're concerned with are the food crops that have traits built right into their DNA so that they can resist chemical weed killers. For example, roundup ready canola is a type of canola that's immune to the chemical herbicide Round-Up. Farmers spray the weed killer over their fields to kill every other plant but the canola is unaffected.  Just not natural, but handy for farmers who don't want to have to hoe each crop by hand.

Some people get upset to think that altering DNA is risky and could produce some unforeseen results. But what really irks me are the farmers who have to pay Monsanto for seeds each year and if they keep back a portion of their crop to be next years seed, they are either sued or charged a fee. Farmers who traditionally have kept back 10% of their crop to sow next year are now not allowed or have to pay a percentage of their income to Monsanto, even though they've paid it already on the initial batch of seed. So how long should they keep paying for? 1 year? 5 years? Should they pay at all? Do you think farmers should be allowed to keep their own seeds? Here's an interesting article about a group of farmers in Brazil who are fighting back against the monster corporation Monsanto. http://www.rt.com/news/monsanto-brazil-seed-soy-908/