One small victory for humanity

[FluffyMcDeath]

While the predominant strategy in the world these days is to do whatever you want and seek permission later (war in Iraq, mortgage fraud, etc), at least in one little case it hasn't worked. A judge has ordered the destruction of a GMO crop that was planted after it had been disallowed.

 

[Fade]

Now if we could only get them to outlaw that genetically modified motor oil that Canada foists off on the world under the guise of edible cooking oil called Canola Oil.

Note: Canola Oil does a perfectly good job as an insecticide.

 

[metalman]

Not too many sugar beets are being planted in November, the 2010 crop has already been harvested.
This year 95% of sugar beet plantings were genetically modified, Roundup Ready seed from Monsanto, a crop approved 5 years ago by the USDA.
There is only enough conventional seed available for 5% of nation's sugar beet farmers for next years plantings .About half the nation's sugar comes from sugar beets.

The recommended permit process for planting genetically modified sugar beets next year would require farmers to hire trained third-party inspectors and auditors to ensure compliance with the requirements of the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Farmers would have to monitor fields for three years after planting the modified beets and destroy any "volunteer" plants. Seed companies would have to maintain a four-mile distance between the modified beets and other commercial seed crops.

Expect farmers will switch to other crops rather than sugar beets in 2011, like GMO soybeans or corn

USDA releases genetically-modified sugar beet-seed options

 

[metalman]

Now if we could only get them to outlaw that genetically modified motor oil that Canada foists off on the world under the guise of edible cooking oil called Canola Oil.

Note: Canola Oil does a perfectly good job as an insecticide.

The name "canola" is an acronym for "Canadian oil, low acid" a variety of rapeseed oil developed in Canada. "rape" in rapeseed comes from the Latin word "rapum," meaning turnip.

Machinists found rapeseed oil clung to water- or steam-washed metal surfaces better than other lubricants. A high demand developed for rapeseed oil for use as a lubricant for steam engines.

Canola oil is good base source for manufacturing biodiesel! :wink:

 

[metalman]

The search for GM citrus to save the citrus industry

 

[FluffyMcDeath]

Now if we could only get them to outlaw that genetically modified motor oil that Canada foists off on the world under the guise of edible cooking oil called Canola Oil.

I still prefer the old name - rapeseed oil. The marketroids didn't think that sounded so good. Driving through Alberta I remember the huge yellow fields of rape in bloom. Doesn't that sound romantic - fields of rape!

Anyway, we have been vicitmized by the GMO business too. The guy in Canada that has done most for farmers is Percy schmeiser. Back over twenty years ago Monsanto found GMOs growing amongst his crop, their GMOs so they charged him with violating their patents. But the plants on his land were not his intended crop. They had basically infected his land and his seed stock blown from passing trucks. Because he saved his seed from season to season as his family had done for generations breeding their own strains his seed stock was heavily contaminated. Monsanto forced him to destroy generations of work to protect their patent and would not admit any wrong doing. The judge being ignorant of biology sided with Monsanto and so Percy launched a lawsuit against Monsanto and the case didn't go anywhere.

Later Percy sued again when he discovered that his fields had again become infested with Roundup Ready Canola. After 5 years he won payment of $660 without stipulation. (He had previously been offered a similar sized settlement but with the stipulation that he would not be able to speak of it).

It is a very small victory considering the damage that Roundup Ready rapeseed has done to the industry, the land and to individual farmers. Roundup Ready products are a great way of selling Roundup but they are not intrinsically more productive or hardy than other varieties and they tend to cause increased usage of Roundup (as intended I would assume) which results in more damage to the microflora in the soils and decreasing yields over time plus is leading to the proliferation of weeds that have managed to acquire the Roundup Ready traits from blown pollen or bacterial plasmids or independent evolution of similar resistance.

It has also caused farmers to take on more debt than they otherwise would have if they were simply using their own family seed and as more seed becomes the Roundup Ready variety even any competitive advantage it may theoretically have given any farmer is neutralized by the the fact that everyone grows it. The net result is no benefit to farmers, increased costs than the alternatives which in many cases cannot take the place of the Roundup Ready seed and worse, which farmers will have to continue to pay the Roundup Ready license fees just in case there is left over seed in their fields to protect themselves from suit.

GMO has been bad bad bad all around precisely because it is run for profit rather than benefit. I would not deny that GMOs have th3e potential to increase hardiness and improve yields but that is not what the technology has been used for nor is it what the technology is likely to ever be used for under the current legal and corporate structures (in fact the current legal structures were deliberately lobbied for by the large GMO agri-cos to protect their predatory monopoly practices).

 

[metalman]

Roundup Ready products are a great way of selling Roundup but they are not intrinsically more productive or hardy than other varieties and they tend to cause increased usage of Roundup

So why do 95% of farmers plant the Roundup Ready varieties?

The Roundup Ready varieties reduce the risks of farming by reducing the total amount invested in the crop, and reduces the risk of no crop.

Roundup is the cheapest herbicide available. Spraying Roundup is a substitute for tilling the soil, direct fuel savings, the higher the cost of diesel fuel, the greater the fuel savings.

 

[metalman]

GMO has been bad bad bad all around precisely because it is run for profit rather than benefit. I would not deny that GMOs have th3e potential to increase hardiness and improve yields but that is not what the technology has been used for nor is it what the technology is likely to ever be used for under the current legal and corporate structures (in fact the current legal structures were deliberately lobbied for by the large GMO agri-cos to protect their predatory monopoly practices).

GMO THC Oranges

 

[metalman]

GMO has been bad bad bad all around precisely because it is run for profit rather than benefit. I would not deny that GMOs have th3e potential to increase hardiness and improve yields but that is not what the technology has been used for nor is it what the technology is likely to ever be used for under the current legal and corporate structures (in fact the current legal structures were deliberately lobbied for by the large GMO agri-cos to protect their predatory monopoly practices).

GMO THC Oranges

GMO golden rice

 

[FluffyMcDeath]

So why do 95% of farmers plant the Roundup Ready varieties?

There are several reasons for that. One is a strong marketing campaign from Monsanto directly to farmers. The other is a strong intimidation and legal campaign against non using farmers.

Monsanto were certainly aware of the crops potential to self seed and for the genes to propagate in pollen. Instead of acknowledging this they have used these "volunteer" plants to legally threaten and harass farmers. Many farmers were forced into licensing the crop even though they didn't grow it just to avoid legal consequences and once they were licensing it they may as well go all in. Once a farmer is in the program it becomes costly to get out.

It is difficult to get rid of herbicide resistant plants so it often means switching crops at least for a while to something that you may not be set up for (which comes with upfront costs. Once you do this you have the problem of acquiring new seed and you are stuck dealing with patent seeds again from the same guys that are only pushing GMOs.

If you were a seed saver you no longer are and you wont become one again because nobody is selling you seeds that you can legally save.

Once farmers have gone over to GMOs they are no longer independent but work for the seed companies. They are now beholden to whatever price the seed vendors collude to set and as the number of seed companies become smaller the collusion becomes easier. Also as the seed vendors merge the varieties get squeezed. Modern agriculture is monoclonal single variety agriculture and very dependent on high energy inputs. It is highly productive under ideal circumstances but stands a high risk of falling over completely under stress. In this way it is much like the oh so very successful financial industry.

Once a significant portion of farmers are using one technology the competitive advantage disappears. All yields may have gone up (if the product meets the brochure bullet points) but price per ton falls while farmer costs remain elevated.

Don't confuse me for a Luddite. I'm not against technology. I'm just against the ownership structure. It's dangerous and it's rigged.