Green | November 17, 2008 | 15 comments

Monsanto: feeding a company to starve a country

source: http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_15614.cfm

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JanforGore
Monsanto purchased a brazilian sugarcane ethanol company for 290 million dollars. Who the hell is that going to feed?

From the article:

At a time when many people were questioning causes of the recent food crisis, many more were investigating how our food systems can move forward to sustainably feed the increasing world population. Recently, the U.N. Task Force on Trade, Environment and Development released a report touting the noteworthy yields and economic benefits of organic agricu... in Africa. Even recognizing that organic production offers significant hope for increasing food security. Another report released earlier this year by the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Scien... noted that a "radical change" was needed for agriculture, and that agricultural biotechnology held little promise. But corporations like Monsanto took a different approach to the problem -- exploiting the food crisis as a means to sell more of their own biotech seeds.

Monsanto-s website is rife with articles discussing how its applications of biotechnology will supposedly solve the food crisis. Back in June, on the cusp of the World Food Summit, Monsanto announced plans to double crop-yields by 2030 with biotechnology. The New York Times covered the story including a quote from a soybean genetics expert at the University of Nebraska who stated, The hype-to-reality ratio of that one is essentially infinity ... seeing an exponential change in the yield curve is unlikely. But while experts were doubting Monsanto-s claims, a Business Week article quoted Hugh Grant, the head of Monsanto, saying, That isn-t a feel-good thing ... Satisfying the demand curve is a great business opportunity. Grant may consider that quote a gaffe, but it was a telling sign regarding where Monsanto-s true interests lie: not with people, but with profits.

Last week Monsanto purchased Aly Participacoes Ltda, a Brazilian company involved in sugarcane breeding and sugarcane ethanol. Monsanto-s press release noted, Global demands for raw sugar and biofuels are beginning to rise at a faster pace than the current production levels in sugarcane, a crop that is essential to meeting these demands, said Carl Casale, executive vice president of global strategy and operations for Monsanto.

Last time I checked, hungry people can-t eat ethanol and probably can-t afford sugar. So why, in the middle of a food crisis, is Monsanto investing in sugarcane ethanol?
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15 comments // Monsanto: feeding a company to starve a country

  • darkhorsejim
    • 0
      darkhorsejim  

    • Monsanto, Merck or Proctor & Gamble – take your pick – evil corporations who will stop at nothing to gain your trust & then your money, while they slowly sicken & even kill you with their products. They are nature’s enemies with their unscrupulous business practices. Footholds are easily obtained in developing nations desperate for foreign investors – no questions asked. This is just another approach to reach their ultimate goal of controlling the world's food supply with the consumer’s health less important than profits.

      For now, our only defense is for consumers to not support these dangerous companies by carefully shopping for products that do not come from environmentally & socially unfriendly sources or their subsidiaries. The irony here is that using some of their products can sicken you, & then they sell other products that claim to cure these ailments. The fewer customers these monsters have, the less power they wield & the less damage they can do. We can no longer rely on gov'ts to put the best interest of their citizens above greed & “corporate crimes” against humanity & nature.

    • 4 years ago
  • jubal
    • 0
      jubal  

    • Great headline Jan. It certainly got my attention. The audacity of greed that allows people to justify the things they do in the name of the Almighty; Dollar that is.

    • 4 years ago
  • Virtual_Will_Rogers
  • SeaJade
    • 0
      SeaJade  

    • "The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says that common ALDEHYDES CAUSE CANCER IN HUMANS. Aldehydes (like Formaldehyde and Acetaldehyde) are produced when various types of biofuel (especially ethanol) are burned. The European Union has BANNED the use of Formaldehyde throughout all of Europe.

      In stark contrast, the U.S. Congress REJECTS well-documented scientific input and SUBSIDIZES the production of huge volumes of cancer-causing atmosperic Aldehydes with billions of scarce taxpayer dollars a year, increasing our escalating national debt. Many U.S. legislators do not even know what Aldehydes are, where they come from, or the serious health damage that corrupt politicians have MANDATED.

      Brazil burns large quantities of ethanol. Atmospheric Aldehydes are therefore very high in Brazil, which has shortened their average life expectancy.

      Do you want the U.S. Congress to FORCE your children to breathe increasing amounts of DEADLY EMBALMING FLUID?"

      By Larry Hartweg ZEDmaster@ZeroEnergyDesign.com

    • 4 years ago
  • jubal
  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  

    • That's beautiful, but yes, should be added that it isn't a guarantee that their poison corn hasn't blown even there. I'm planning on going to Monticello within the next year. Can't wait. Hopefully the "glitch" here will be worked out. I mailed support but got no answer either.

    • 4 years ago
  • queenofit
    • 0
      queenofit  

    • I guess I should add, MAYBE his corn field is GMO free, no one can be certain any longer. Gee Thanks, all those who participate in feeding the Monsanto Monster.

    • 4 years ago
  • Commentor
    • 0
      Commentor  
    • queenofit:

      you don't even have to feed Monsanto monster to have GM crops which then you are sued as not having licensed them from Monsanto. Due to NAFTA and other such agreements the suits won by Monsanto in Canada are usable as precedent in the USA.

      Since Round-up(r) ready(r) seed generally means you have to apply Round-up(r) they make money on both ends.

      Monoculture crops tend to eventually get some sort of supper attacker that devastates it === Look at what happened to bananas and is about to happen to them again.

    • 4 years ago
  • queenofit
    • 0
      queenofit  
    • Image

    • Hey JanforGore,

      Here is nice GMO free cornfield photo, which I took recently, of Thomas Jefferson's corn field at Monticello.

      And why are your photo's not showing up? I wondered that also.

    • 4 years ago
  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  

    • Which brings us now to toxic test tube food in our supply worldwide due to transgenic contamination and the use of pesticides and herbicides without consumers knowing what it is really doing to our health. The track record proves that the Monsanto company is only in business to make money... lots and lots of money and at the expense of humanity and our environment. And people need to know about it.

    • 4 years ago
  • JanforGore
  • JanforGore
  • JanforGore
  • JanforGore
  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  

    • Doesn't that BT bacteria virus laden toxic test tube corn look so desirable? Anyone who tries to tell me there is no difference between that evil looking stalk and REAL corn is simply a liar.

    • 4 years ago
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