Quote:
Originally Posted by ATAG_Bliss
Well, like anyone cares, but corn is a grass therefore you used to be able to spray 24d (a weed killer that doesn't kill grass) on the corn and then you'd row crop cultivate to try to get the rest of the weeds. This was pretty standard.
Nowadays - Low and behold monsanto and dekalb come out with genetically altered corn that is resistant to round-up (a weed killer that kills everything including grass). With the introduction to round-up ready corn, you spray once and forget it. No need to cultivate etc. Now, with that said, this is a great invention. But the round-up ready corn has a huge premium. Some farmers didn't want to pay an extra $30-70 per seed bag of it.
Here in lies the problem. Monsanto has a patent on life (specifically their round-up ready products) So when farmer joe's field (standard corn) is right next to bob's field (round up ready corn) and the wind blows and pollinates each others field. You now have round up ready DNA on both fields. Of course, Monsanto now comes in and sues farmer Joe's saying he owes Monsanto for a preminum for having their contaminated corn in his field.
Moral of the story, because of this patent on life - there is 0, nada, zip, zilch farms in the midwest that don't use Round-up ready corn. They control the ENTIRE grain market.
On the other hand you have soybeans. Unlike corn, beans are legumes and their bean pods actually produce a bean that can be replanted into the ground. Well it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that if you stored some of your old soybeans after harvest, you could then re-plant them next year. You'd take and have the seed cleaned and store it. Obviously, this was much cheaper than buying bags of seed beans.
Well long story, but the same thing happened with Round-up ready beans. If you don't buy them you will get sued, because, quite frankly, because of the natural wind conditions your field will always be contaminated with round up ready DNA. So everyone in the midwest has fallen suit and there is a 100% round up ready product being grown.
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The things you learn on combat flightsim forums!
I have to admit, as a person of scientific bent, that I thought GM crops were a good idea. When I realised why Monsanto were pushing them (herbicide resistant crops means we can sell more herbicide) I was saddened.
Not all GM is bad though. In the UK we have a government-funded project which is looking at GM wheat which is resistant to aphids through enhanced natural defences. Seems to me that this stuff will feed more people even though it doesn't involve lining the pockets of multi-nationals.
Yet there are still numpty-luddites over here who seek to destroy these tests.