Monsanto documentary

[Chris McN]

Hi All,

Today at my real job (purchasing non-print material for a medium size academic library) I got a request to purchase this video documentary on the horrors of the Monsanto Corp and its bid to take over world crop production. The documentary is entitled LE MONDE SELON MONSANTO [THE WORLD ACCORDING TO MONSANTO] and is directed by Marie-Monique Robin. There are plenty of virals of this documentary across the web, one being here:

http://wideeyecinema.com/?p=105

There is a companion book, but it looks as though it is only available in French so far. (Le monde selon Monsanto : De la dioxine aux OGM, une multinationale qui vous veut du bien / author: Marie-Monique Robin) and it can also be purchased from www.arteboutique.com, It's supposed to be rich with hitherto unpublished documents and the testimonies of victims, scientists and politicians involved with Monsanto.

I must confess I haven't had a chance to actually view any of the video, but because of the recent postings on the garden forum about Monsanto (and Round Up in particular) I thought that it would be of interest to the gardening community.

So hopefully, we'll have a real live discussion on this thread...

[wingdesigner]

That sounds similar to a documentary I saw on PBS or some obscure cable channel while I was recuperating from surgery a few years ago. I'm pretty sure it was in English, though, as my French is pretty rusty. Or else it was subtitled.

[rootsy]

For all of the benefits that big M has brought to agriculture I believe they are literally Satan...

If you took the time to investigate and learn about this company you'd be appalled by what farmers have to deal with. With technology has come control. Monsanto wants control...

It is very difficult to find a non GMO seed today... and with the big M you only "lease" the technology that is within the seed that you put in the ground... If you so much as think about harvesting your crop, say soybeans, which also contains the patented technology owned by Big M and replanting it... you'll find yourself in a world of hurt...

With the elevated commodity prices over the past 2 years everyone and their brother that has anything to supply to the agricultural community has jacked their prices to the moon to get their greedy little slice of the pie while the getting is good...

So once again... the farmer squeaks along, especially small to mid sized farmers... any potential "significant" profit has evaporated in the wake of outrageous input and fuel prices.

[opabinia51]

I think that it is very important that people are educated about comapanies like Monsanto and agricultural exploits in general. Round up may be biodegradable but, studies have shown that it can persist in the environment for up to 10 years after applied. Chemicals such as 2,4 D are incredibly toxic to plants, soil, soil ecology and yes, even to people.
Methyl Bromide is another chemical that is very volatile and very toxic that is applied as an herbicide (I believe).


Anyway, the more people can read on these topics the better informed they will be the hopefully people will choose to do healthy things for themselves and their environments.

I had a sessional at University who did a lot of work in Central and South America where a lot of North America's food crops are grown (and this work is exploited by companies several companies which will remain nameless but, they are not hard to find if you go looking) where workers are not shown much less required to use proper safety precautions while using these nasty chemicals. DDT is still used to this day. I have heard of farmers spraying DDT on there crops while having the product drip onto their backs, when my prof mentioned the toxicity to the farmer, he said: "No, it's not toxic. Look!" and sprayed it into his hand and drank it.

I've personally been on the banana plantations where the workers are in the fieds while these pesticides are sprayed on the banana crops and that is just the start..... These guys live for about 10 years working on the plantation and then they are done.

Wade Davis has described natives using DDT to fish with in Brazil and other countries.

Anyway, my whole point is that we really need to take a hard look at the way we've been living and what we can do to make this world a better place. Should corporations rule the world? We the individual consumer have a lot of power, let's use it.

And in our home gardens, let's be responsible and not use harsh chemicals and work with nature, She will reward for our efforts. I can personally attest to that.

The soil is our friend, nurture her and she will nurture us and our plants.

[rootsy]

Big M goes a lot deeper than Glyphosate... Round-up is the least of anyone's worries in the agricultural community...

Manipulation of the seed market makes the perceived evils of Round-up look like a pebble next to Mt. Everest.

Unfortunately today's modern farming practices dictate the use of various herbicides and pesticides in order to achieve optimal yield potential from today's commercial crops. Without Glyphosate, 2-4D, Atrazine, triazine, dicamba, callisto, warrior and a plethora of other chemicals on the commercial market non-residual and residual weed control with today's no-till, strip tillage and even conventional tillage would be a nightmare. All of the seed genetics would be a waste and we might as well crawl on back to the 1930's or 40's and fire up our Farmall M's with the 3 bottom trip plows and 2 row hill drop planters... Conventional cultivation in today's soybean and corn production would be a regression back to 1940's technology and with the price of fuel, time requirements and operation costs everyone would pretty much go under, even with $5 corn and $12 beans. With 1800 acres of corn, soybeans and alfalfa in the ground there is absolutely no way I could manage it and make it pencil out on ancient, out-dated, farming practices.

The world demands a lot of product, cheaply. If you cannot produce a lot of product on a given piece of land the input costs will quickly put you out of business... Technology and evolution of operations has allowed us to grow 200+ bushel / acre corn when 50 years ago we'd be jumping for joy if we shelled 75 bushels / acre.

Not saying that there aren't any problems with it that don't need to be resolved, just saying that it is today's reality in the big game.

That being all said, I don't use much in the way of herbicides in the garden as there really is no need, small is manageable. Some Laudis on the sweet corn but it's a very safe chemical and that is about it, not even a spring burn down with the glypho other than a pre-emerg application on the pumpkins. I actually find it relaxing cultivating the sweet corn with the Super A on a summer's evening. The rest of the vegetables get the ole hoe and rototiller treatment. But then again the garden is the only thing to see the plow in the fall and without it the disk and packer would be better off in the scrap yard for as much use as it gets otherwise.

[TheLorax]

Big M goes a lot deeper than Glyphosate... Round-up is the least of anyone's worries in the agricultural community...

I would agree.

the more people can read on these topics the better informed they will be the hopefully people will choose to do healthy things for themselves and their environments.

I would agree.

[Charlie MV]

Personally I don't have much hope.

[TheLorax]

We have more power than you can imagine. It's called our dollar.

[opabinia51]

We have a tonne of power as consumers. We can:

a) Not purchase products
b) wright letters to companies that have unethical policies and practices
c) Let companies know that we won't purchase their products until they clean up their acts
d) Decide that we are willing to pay more for products when they are made and grown in an ethically centered way
e) Purchase an over packaged product, take all the packaging, wrap it up and mail it back to the company with a letter telling them that until they reduce their packaging content in their products that we will not buy that product.
f) Talk to local politicians about our concerns

Look at Mcdonalds in the 80's when they used all the styrofoam and consumers led a small war against Mcdonalds. Now mcdonalds uses paper products.

So we have a lot of power.

[Charlie MV]

fighting the devils.

[TheLorax]

I agree with opabinia51, our money talks when it comes to companies like Monsanto just as it did for McDonalds. How we spend it can make a difference.

[opabinia51]

Yes, how we spend our money does make a difference but, it is equally important to tell companies and politicians why we are spending money in a particular way.

And I forgot to put:

g) BUY LOCALLY! Buy locally grown produce and meats. Especially from small farms. And Grow your own.

[TheLorax]

Oh, I'm pretty verbal. I'm pretty good about share with them how I feel and why I won't be purchasing any of their products. I get the artificially generated pat responses but makes no difference to me as I'm well capable of taking my money elsewhere and do. I wouldn't go as far as to waste my money buying a product that is over packaged just to be able to box it up and send it back to them as that in my mind is a sale they don't deserve.

I am trying to grow my own. Not too many vegetables but a few. It's a start.

[opabinia51]

And something that I've found with visiting the local farms over the years is that I have developed a sense of community. A lot more community than going to the mall or heaven forbit the local big box store..



Some of the local farmers have even opened their doors up for me after or before hours to let me in to buy stuff. One time I was at my favourite local farm buying produce and wanted to get some frozen berries for a Christmas pie but, didn't have the cash on me.... told them I would come back after some Xmas shopping.... by the time I got back it was 1/2 hour after closing but, Vern was still inside and opened up, gave me my berries and didn't even want the cash right then and there.... I did give it to him but, you get the point.

Another time at Sun Wing farms, I was there late wanting to get a bunch of tomatoes and they ran to the door to let me in, I bought my tomatoes, had little chat with the folks there and was off.

I don't know of any large stores that do that!

[rootsy]

The problem with Monsanto is that the average consumer buying their $20 bottle of round-up doesn't even amount to a drop in the bucket when you look at what their chemical, seed and technology incomes are from the commercial agriculture sector. There are new technologies being developed every year but RR corn, beans, canola, sugar beets, etc are still king. Going to be very difficult to wean the commercial sector off of it... It is going to take some significant technology or a real change. Syngenta's Liberty and Herculex technologies for corn it is a start... With the RR 2 beans coming out and nothing else on the horizon for the bean sector that isn't going to change much.

Big corporations that rely heavily on the retail sector can be influenced more easily by the masses than those corporations that are knived deeply into the commercial sector.