27 November 2002
CORN 'PHARMA' NAMED/CORPORATE CONTROL
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With reference to item 2 be interesting to know how many neighbours of the secret pharma were growing corn. Dale Farnham, an Iowa State University agronomist says, "No one knows how far the corn pollen can travel, some studies have said a quarter of a mile."
1. How long until monsanto own the corn seed stocks in the US?
2. Pocahontas neighbors suspected something
3. Bio-corn growth could threaten EU sales, and more from Crop Choice
4. US farm quotes
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1. How long until Monsanto own the corn seed stocks
in the US?
...
On 26 Nov 2002, at 17:33, Mike Miller wrote:
Back in March, Kathy Carter-White said:
"In essence, this has to do with a monopoly on the means of production, and with foreclosing an infinite wealth of natural selection which is always taking place thru open pollenation. "
How long until monsanto own the corn seed stocks in the US? Mike Miller
snip
"If current studies are any indication, Monsanto could control nearly
all of the canola seed in the region. In August, research was made public
from a test at the University of Manitoba that found 32 of 33 commercially
available seed lots planted with canola that was not supposed to be Roundup
Ready contained the trait of herbicide resistance.
Will other farmers be forced to grow wheat instead of canola like Schmeiser? Will the olive oil or sunflower industry get an unexpected boost from Monsanto? "We don't know what's going to happen next spring. The seed stock is all contaminated. Planting it would violate Monsanto's patent. If farmers [purchase from] a seed company they know full well that Monsanto can destroy or keep their crop."
"Monsanto is basically saying, 'If that gene is in your field it's ours.' That's overstepping what's reasonable," said Dan Charles, author of "Lords of the Harvest." snip
One Farmer's Resistance Against Monsanto
By J.A. Savage, AlterNet
November 25, 2002
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=14637
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2. Pocahontas neighbors suspected something
By JERRY PERKINS
Register Farm Editor
11/24/2002
http://desmoinesregister.com/business/stories/c4789013/19789865.html
Who planted the Pocahontas cornfield?
Tony Laos, president of ProdiGene, the company that planted experimental corn in Pocahontas County last year, said the crop was designed to contain a swine vaccine.
ProdiGene and U.S. Department of Agriculture officials have declined to say where the field was in Pocahontas County or who grew the corn. But Pocahontas County Sheriff Bob Lampe said two investigators from the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service office in Phoenix recently stopped at his office and asked where they could locate Timothy Hoefing, who farms near Manson.
One investigator, J. David Neal, referred questions about the case to Jim Rogers, a spokesman for the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service in Washington, D.C. Rogers said he could not discuss the matter while an investigation is in progress.
Hoefing could not be reached for comment. A woman who answered the phone at his residence hung up on a reporter.
Officials say the Pocahontas producer failed to make sure all the "volunteer corn" from the previous year's biotech crop was removed before it could possibly pollinate a neighboring field.
Neighbors said Hoefing, who is called "T," never told them he was growing an experimental crop.
Donald Peters, who lives near Hoefing, said he knew Hoefing was growing some type of special crop. Several weeks ago, Peters said, he noticed semi-trailer trucks parked along a road while an adjacent cornfield was combined.
"I knew it had to be a special crop because they didn't haul it to an elevator around here, and it took them about a week to finish," Peters said.
Kevin Stein, who farms north of Hoefing, said he heard Hoefing was experimenting with a pharmaceutical crop.
"Maybe I"m just ignorant, but I"m not too concerned," Stein said.
Gary Hoeppner, who farms south of Hoefing, said Hoefing would have told him if there had been a problem.
"He"d tell me if it would have affected me," he said.
***
3. Farm News from Cropchoice
An alternative news service for American farmers
http://www.cropchoice.com
Here are some of the news items on CropChoice this week. Please
check
http://www.cropchoice.com for others.
1. Pandora's gene in a Trojan horse
I think it quite possible that many of the genetically modified crops,
animals and soil organisms undergoing field tests will prove harmless when
they creep out of their creators' control. But the genetic engineers would
have us believe that none will ever be harmful, because they assume we
can control everything that happens in crop fields and after harvest, and
that we can foresee all the potential effects of gene manipulation...
http://www.cropchoice.com/leadstry.asp?RecID=1149
2. Alternative energy answer may be blowin' in the wind
(Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2002 -- CropChoice news) -- Before Ohio homeowners, farmers and utilities invest in alternative power sources, they'll need to know which way -- and how fast -- the wind blows, energy experts said this week.
"Don't expect (utilities) to charge out and try all these new things,'' Larry Flowers of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo., told about 300 people at the Ohio Wind Power Conference in Dublin... http://www.cropchoice.com/leadstry.asp?RecID=1148
3. Illinois farmers-Bio-corn growth could threaten EU sales
(Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2002 -- CropChoice news) --
U.S. plantings of new biotech corn varieties not approved by the European
Union should be avoided because it would threaten American shipments, including
$400 million worth of corn gluten, an Illinois farm group declared yesterday.
The Illinois Farm Bureau's board of directors...
http://www.cropchoice.com/leadstry.asp?RecID=1140
4. What's really before you on the Thanksgiving dinner table?
(Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2002 -- CropChoice guest commentary) -- One cannot help but wonder as most Americans and their families sit down at the table for their holiday meal on Thursday if they are aware, or much less even care, about the menu of corporate irresponsibility, crime, corruption, deception and human suffering that is spread out before them...http://www.cropchoice.com/leadstry.asp?recid=1141
4 US farm quotes: https://ngin.tripod.com/farming.htm
Donald White, a University of Illinois plant pathologist, on why US farmers have gone for GM corn: "...what happens is there is a herd mentality. Everyone has to have a biotech program." White's view chimes in with a University of Iowa study on why farmers were growing GM soya which concluded, "It is interesting to note....that increasing crop yields was cited by over half the farmers as the reason for planting GMO soybeans, yet yields were actually lower".
"I've been a seed dealer for Monsanto for 18 years and this is the year we are going to have to part ways. They've forgotten that they have to serve farmers. I don't think they care who we've got to grow for. They're just concerned with making a fast buck." Steve Mattis, an Illinois farmer and seed dealer
"No, quality has not improved. I still believe the [GE] seed is a major, major problem and I think a lot of people agree with that." William Dunavant Jr., chief executive of top U.S. cotton merchant Dunavant Enterprises, January 2002
"The promise was that you could use less chemicals and produce a greater yield. But let me tell you none of this is true." Bill Christison, President of the US National Family Farm Coalition
"....you guys [US Government] created this monster; you clean it up. I have learned my lesson. No more GMO crops on this farm ˜ ever." US farmer and GM seed salesman, Nebraska
"The only truly safe seed selection will be seed corn free of any genetic modification" A.E. Staley Manufacturing Co. in a letter to corn suppliers, November 2000