Save our Seeds

Against a background of continuing calls from the GM lobby for the Government to back the growing of GM crops in the UK, a new report shows that GM seed prices in America have increased dramatically, compared to non-GM and organic seeds, cutting average farm incomes for US farmers growing GM crops. In the 25 years from 1975 to 2000, non-GM soybean seed prices rose a modest 63%. Since 2000, as GM soybeans came to dominate the market, the price rose by a massive 230%. Farmers buying Monsanto’s new Roundup Ready 2 soybean seed in 2010 will pay 42% more per bag than they paid in 2009. Maize (corn) growers planting the new GM variety ‘SmartStax’, will pay more than twice as much as farmers planting conventional non-GM seeds. This is almost four times more than conventional farmers paid just ten years earlier. Today, GM cotton seed costs $700, a staggering six times the price of non-GM cotton seed. From 1975 to 1996, the price of cotton seed only doubled, but in the GM cotton era, it has risen from $73 to $589. In a recent speech Monsanto CEO Hugh Grant said the company’s goal was to double gross profits in 2012, from 2007 levels. He said that increases in the price of new GM RR 2 soybeans and GM ‘SmartStax’ maize hybrids will create about one-third of the company’s gross profit growth in 2012. Peter Melchett, Soil Association policy director, said:“This new data on the massive rises in the costs of GM seeds for those US farmers who now have no alternatives, coupled with steep increases in pesticide use, should serve as a stark warning to UK farmers. If GM crops are allowed here, UK farmers could find themselves contributing to another doubling of Monsanto’s profits.”

Monsanto is the largest seed company in the world. It controls 95 percent of the market for insect and herbicide resistant cotton traits. In 2008, Monsanto had shares of up to 65 percent for traited corn and soybeans and about 45 percent for traited corn. During the late 1990s and through the 2000s, Monsanto acquired almost 40 companies.

One out of every four farmers who plants genetically engineered (GE) corn is failing to comply with at least one important insect-resistance management requirement. That increases the likelihood that pesticide-resistant bugs will threaten the future of biotech crops and some of their non-biotech neighbors. That finding comes in a report released today by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, which is calling on the Environmental Protection Agency to not renew registrations of the GE corn varieties unless compliance rates improve.

Genetically modified squash plants that are resistant to a debilitating viral disease become more vulnerable to a fatal bacterial infection, according to biologists. "Cultivated squash is susceptible to a variety of viral diseases and that is a major problem for farmers," said Andrew Stephenson, Penn State professor of biology. "Infected plants grow more slowly and their fruit becomes misshapen."

Germany’s incoming government drew mixed responses on Monday to its cautiously-favorable policy toward genetically-modified organisms (GMOs). The incoming coalition between the conservative and pro-business liberal parties which won Germany’s parliamentary elections in September announced its core policies over the weekend which included a statement in overall favor of GMO crops if they are found to be safe.

The Obama Administration has just announced the nomination of Islam Siddiqui, a pesticide industry lobbyist, to the position of Chief Agricultural Negotiator, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Green activists say that the appointment places the president’s commitment to progressive environmental policy in serious question.

The Polish government adopted draft legislation to limit the cultivation and sale of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) by setting up GM-free zones. ”The new law on GMOs is to protect Poles against the flood of foods that are genetically modified,” said Prime Minister Donald Tusk, adding that, ”thanks to this law, if passed by parliament and signed by the President, the government will be provided with the tools to control and enforce strict regulations on food that could be detrimental to human health.”

The Irish Government will ban the cultivation of all GM crops and introduce a voluntary GM-free label for food – including meat, poultry, eggs, fish, crustaceans, and dairy produce made without the use of GM animal feed. The policy was adopted as part of the Renewed Programme for Government agreed between the two coalition partners, the centre-right Fianna Faíl and the Green Party, after the latter voted to support it on Saturday.

An industry-bankrolled PR company has attacked what it calls pseudoscience in EU legislation, as a years-long war between the defenders of enlightenment and the partisans of obscurantism comes to Brussels. Grayling, the world’s third largest public relations company, on Monday launched ’ScienceMatters,’ a campaign to promote ”science-based policy-making.” The group wants to take on bad science and what it describes as scaremongering about technology.

Agent Green has submited two legal proceedings at the Bucharest Court of Appeal against Ministry of Agriculture and the National Agency for Environmental Protection because the institutions refuse to publish the locations where cultivation of GM maize MON810 takes place. The organziation has requested the court to oblige the institutions to publish the national register with locations cultivated with GMOs, to cover the trial costs and to fine the responsible persons with 20% of the gross salary for each day of delay on executing the court decision.