Potatoes // Current TV

Exploring French cooking: Pommes De Terre a la Boulangere

Simple and delicious french potato side dish... more

Candi_Fox
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Ignatio Chapela on BASF's announcement to move GMOs out of Europe

Ignacio Chapela will be familiar to readers of Stuffed and Starved. He’s a soil biologist at Berkeley and an outspoken critic of genetically modified crops, a position which has focussed the wrath of the biotechnology industry upon him. Here is a short analysis he penned earlier today on news from Europe that chemical company BASF will be pulling its GMO operations from Europe, where they are unwelcome (because ineffective and dangerous), and moving them to North Carolina.

Will the English-speaking media lose its nerve and write about it? Based on past experience, my wager goes to the habitual policy of silence, and I expect that the news will continue all but unrecorded in English. Most of us will not celebrate as we should.

Other languages do comment and give a little more detail, albeit still briefly. In German, the word is printed clearly: “BASF admits defeat”, while in French: “The number one chemical concern in the world, the German BASF has announced on 16 January 2012 that it gives up the development and marketing of new transgenic products intended for the European Union.”

Clearly put: one of the largest among the few who banked on the GMO route to do agriculture is giving up in its own home turf, defeated by public opposition to its products which evidently do not live up to expectations.

You will find some records in the business websites, mostly deploring the European hostility towards GMOs, the loss of jobs (about 150-170 in Europe, although many are relocated to North Carolina, for an overall loss of about 10 jobs altogether) and repeating again the idea that rejecting GMOs in the environment is tantamount to committing economic suicide and “rejecting the future” as if this was possible.

I say that the future holds very little promise for GMOs altogether, and BASF is only the first to have the capacity to recognize the thirty years of bad investments. They can afford this move, which is not unannounced and forms part of a year-long reconfiguration of the company to navigate tighter economic straits ahead, because they are diversified and have strengths in other fields. Monsanto and Syngenta, for comparative example, have stood in complete dependency of GMOs since their mothership companies shed them off to swim or sink on transgenic markets twelve years ago; Bayer and Dow stand somewhere in between. Where Monsanto’s stock would have floundered if they announced they were closing GMO R & D in St Louis, Missouri, BASF’s stock hardly budged on the equivalent news (it actually ticked upwards in the Frankfurt exchange) – the timing of the news release may well have been a token of deference to BASF’s partner Monsanto, protecting the latter’s stock from the shock on a day when the US stock markets are closed.

The reasons for the failure of BASF’s products in Europe are many and very diverse, but the fundamental truth stands that over the decades no real benefit has offset the proven harm caused by GMOs. It is fine to blame “the European public”, but we know that this public is no better or worse than our own in the US or anywhere else – had there been a GMO equivalent of the iPad, masses would have thronged the streets of Europe clamoring for their use. But it may be just as true that BASF would continue to push GMOs into Europe were it not for the tireless and creative work of many hundreds of thousands, the kinds of numbers needed these days to make a self-evident point which counters accepted official policy. So I say to our European friends: embrace the credit that is hurled at you and loudly celebrate what will not be announced as your victory in the newspapers.

We are left in desolate America, though, land of government by Monsanto, where BASF is relocating its GMO headquarters (some specialty technical BASF outfits remain in Ghent and Berlin). In the North it is impossible to know where the nearest non-GMO plant may be, while in the South and in Mexico the tragedy of GMO soy- and corn-agriculture continues apace, driven by corrupt or willfully ignorant governments and against public opinion much stronger and much more vocal than what we have seen in Europe. Far from recognizing the failure of GMOs altogether, something that should have happened at least a decade ago, BASF identifies the opportunities offered by the brutal realities of the Third World, opportunities which are better capitalized with the centralization, mechanization and property-rights enforcement possible only through GMOs. As we celebrate the lifting of perhaps one third of the pressure upon Europe to give in to GMOs, let’s not forget those places where they will continue to be used as the effective spear-head of corporate biological mining of other lands.Ignacio Chapela will be familiar to readers of Stuffed and Starved. He’s a soil... more

JanforGore
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4 months ago
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American loses Stones by consuming Potatoes

In a significant development, an American who consumed only potatoes for two months,... more

suzane
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1 year ago
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Weekly Mulch: How to Avoid Gobbling Your Way Through the Holidays

Editor’s Note: Happy Thanksgiving from the Media Consortium! This week, we... more

MediaConsortium
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1 year ago
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Vegan Potato Salad - Recipe

From FOODS FOR LONG LIFE... Vegan Potato Salad - A Healthier Way To Prepare... more

EthicalVegan
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1 year ago
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Mel Gibson SPUD rant!

A new interpretation of Mel's rant ... performed by robot potatoes.... more

petermmarino
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1 year ago
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United Kingdom Talk Video Thursday 1st April 2010

Thursday's edition of my three times a week talk show.Watch or the show here on... more

ChrisReardon
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2 years ago
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The Botany of Desire

Flowers. Trees. Plants. We've always thought that we controlled them. But what... more

covelogibbs
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2 years ago
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Add Extra Antioxidants to Your Diet with Blue Potatoes | Healthmad

Deeper hues in our foods mean more antioxidants to protect our health. Now the potato... more

CHANLEEPENG
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2 years ago
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Holy potatoes for sale on Ebay

Whilst Jesus has been claimed to appear on a range of snackfoods, toast, irons on... more

sophosthegreat
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2 years ago
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United Kingdom Talk Video Saturday 2nd January 2010

Saturday's edition of my three times a week talk show.Watch the show here on... more

ChrisReardon
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2 years ago
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From the Ground Up

A profile on Michael "ToTs" Heagerty of Syracuse NY. "ToTs" has... more

crispyonthemic
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2 years ago
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Dirty Dozen: Why to Always Buy Organic Potatoes

There are foods that I buy organic only occasionally, when I'm feeling flush, and... more

Dorothee
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2 years ago
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POWER FRUITS & VEGGIES: BodBeat Episode 9

http://www.bodbeat.com Five amazing fruits and vegetables that can boost your immune... more

BodBeat
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2 years ago
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'Farming First' in Mozambique: Lessons for African Agriculture and Food Security

Two experts on African agricultural development visited farms in Mozambique ahead of... more

farmingfirst
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2 years ago
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Homemade seasoned mashed potatoes & steamed broccoli w/ boca burger

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ajrmy
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2 years ago
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Pornstar or Potato

Can you tell the difference ?

bigredkev
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2 years ago
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Potato Days Festival- Barnesville, MN

A unique family festival that celebrates the Potato Heritage of Barnesville. Events... more

amaness
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2 years ago
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'Spudly Duckling!' Kid finds potato shaped like a duck

Let's all pause for just a moment and say 'Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh! Isn't that... more

burukku16
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2 years ago
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Jacket Potatoes

After years of hearing about potatoes filled with beans, I have finally tried one.... more

joshuaheller
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3 years ago
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5 comments

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