Posted on 04/17/2009 9:28:02 AM PDT by Squidpup
ping for later
A great reason NOT to permit seed monopolies to exist in the market place ...
Pretty costly mistake.
I don’t have major issues with GM foods but sometimes because you can isn’t a good enough reason.
They better leave the job to the bees! You can’t fool Mother Nature!
I don’t think that’s the correct take away from this case.
Seedless corn? Isn’t that cornless corn? Sounds more like a pollination problem.
They just have to market it as “new diet corn”!
Corn isn't bee pollinated. It is pollenated by winds.
The problem is, if you can produce a variety of food in the marketplace that doesn’t seed, for whatever reason and these varieties become the standard...what are you left to fall back on should something like this happen? If “natural” and yes I am quoting that because while not bioengineered, no modern cultivate crop ios from from having been manipulated by human intervention at some point along the way, plants aren’t being grown, you don’t have seed for the next year.
Monsanto is the devil.
Monsanto gave a failed corny response.
Shame when plants refuse to fornicate in the lab.
“In countries where the rule of law exists, Monsanto is liable for damages big time. Monsanto has the right to develop and sell its own exclusive variety of corn. the African farmers have the right to file a lawsuit and to shop for straight varieties (non-Bt) corn. Just because Monsanto has developed a line that failed or can’t be used for re-seeding in subsequent years doesn’t mean all other varieties have disappeared from the marketplace.”
All fine well and good ... and my comments are not in opposition to GM seeds or plants. I am very concerned about a monopoly of seed corn as any subsequent failure can lead to wide spread starvation. Sure, a lawsuit will be filed but who does it help after the fact?
I don’t know that immediate remedy is available unless a judge would be asked to take some emergency action (food money, etc) for these farmers. If Monsanto wants to continue to do business, they’d better be thinking of something.
It’s still best done by nature.
I've worked on a project trying to raise corn in Africa. Note that only 280 out of 1,000 had a problem. don't jump to conclusions because THIS ARTICLE HAS AN AGENDA!
There are a lot of management problems raising corn there. Fertility is a PROBLEM! Half of our US donated supplies of seed, fert and chem, disappeared to the high govt officials and the local farms crops were bad. To get the tillage and planting done on our project we had to hire the equivalent of the state department of transpiration - didn't work.
The odds of raising a good crop there are slim and none. Based on the above numbers, I would say it was a success.
“Monsanto is the devil.”
Oh really? I just thot they were a publically held corporation—i.e. MON, based in St. Louis.
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