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Born-n-bred and live on a farm. GMOs are a form of proprietary lock-in backed by legal restrictions. The underlying problem with almost all GMOs is that they

by iam-TJ 11y ago

Born-n-bred and live on a farm. GMOs are a form of proprietary lock-in backed by legal restrictions. The underlying problem with almost all GMOs is that they are tied to a particular chemical combination, and the seed must be re-purchased every year (the harvested seed is sterile and/or you cannot (legally) re-seed). Those chemical/GMO businesses then have a strangle-hold on the farmers. Farmers are enticed by low prices until a substantial percentage are 'hooked' and then the prices rise - just like Microsoft's Embrace, Extend, Extinguish policy. Here in the E.U./U.K. we've resisted GMOs but the pressure (mostly from global/U.S. seed/chemical producers) on the politicians to allow them is constant. Until these global seed producers emerged (latter half of the 20th century in concert with the chemical manufacturers) farmers either kept back some of their own harvest for seed or bought at-will from other farmers without restriction. Such seed sells for a slight premium (due to quality and cleanliness - low numbers of alien species) over other seed.

Obi_Juan_Kenobi 11y ago
Ask your folks about the hybrid seed they've been buying since before you were born. GMOs didn't change a thing about the economics of seed because hybrid crops have been around for a lot longer. It's only when you recognize this that the decline of seed co-ops makes sense. It didn't just start to happen recently, it's been going on for decades. As long as GMOs are so expensive to take to market (and they're dirt cheap to develop), then they're only available to the big companies. Open up the market, and you can have GMOs that serve other interests.
- iam-TJ 11y ago
  I was born in the mid-60s and my memories go back to 1970 when I first helped 'dress' the seed corn (wheat and barley). My grandfather was using much the same process when he began farming around 1910. Seed wheat, barley, potatoes and oil-seed rape (Canola) are still produced using the same breeding process we've used for several generations, but with the added benefit of having very much more accurate technical support for measuring the benefits (or lack thereof) of new strains. Hybrid seeds through selective breeding is something very different from a single human-engineered genetic intervention.

by iam-TJ 11y ago

Obi_Juan_Kenobi 11y ago

Ask your folks about the hybrid seed they've been buying since before you were born. GMOs didn't change a thing about the economics of seed because hybrid crops have been around for a lot longer. It's only when you recognize this that the decline of seed co-ops makes sense. It didn't just start to happen recently, it's been going on for decades. As long as GMOs are so expensive to take to market (and they're dirt cheap to develop), then they're only available to the big companies. Open up the market, and you can have GMOs that serve other interests.

iam-TJ 11y ago
I was born in the mid-60s and my memories go back to 1970 when I first helped 'dress' the seed corn (wheat and barley). My grandfather was using much the same process when he began farming around 1910. Seed wheat, barley, potatoes and oil-seed rape (Canola) are still produced using the same breeding process we've used for several generations, but with the added benefit of having very much more accurate technical support for measuring the benefits (or lack thereof) of new strains. Hybrid seeds through selective breeding is something very different from a single human-engineered genetic intervention.