4 ms·

The demonization of GMOs has been one of the most frustrating things for me to witness. GMOs are not inherently bad (as everyone here is basically agreeing with

The demonization of GMOs has been one of the most frustrating things for me to witness. GMOs are not inherently bad (as everyone here is basically agreeing with), but it is unfortunate that their primary use case right now is for a shitty company to squeeze more profit out of its customers, so you can kind of see why it's easy to be against GMOs. I still don't agree with it though. I hope public opinion changes on this, but I don't have much hope until some very positive things actually start to happen with GMOs.

maxerickson 10y ago
The market for glyphosate-resistant crops is competitive, it isn't just Monsanto selling them. (glyphosate itself went out of patent in 2000, the various resistance mechanisms may be under patent)
- socialist_coder 10y ago
  Their business practices surrounding it though, are terrible, to say the least. If they wanted to give GMOs a bad name, they couldn't have done a better job.
  - sampo 10y ago
    There are so many urban legends about "Monsanto is evil". Do you have an example of some actual evildoings?
    - socialist_coder 10y ago
      Like so many other things in our world today, the truth is distorted by spin on all sides. Everyone has an agenda and it's quite difficult to know if what you're reading is actually factual. You can google it yourself and read both sides of the story for hours and still come away like you aren't sure what the actual deal is. But, it does seem safe to say that Monsanto as a company is only in it for the money, much like the vast majority of other companies. Do they care about farmers? Do they care about food? Do they care about people? Or do they only care about making money? I think it's clear what the answers are, but I can't really blame them for that, I blame our system at large. But still, they could choose to be less greedy, less capitalist, and a little more human. It's very easy to hate them as it is now. Anyways, it doesn't really matter what the actual truth is. The public hates Monsanto and to them, GMO and Monsanto seeds are one and the same. Until we see more usages of GMO that are not tainted by questionable business practices, this won't change. We need a GMO farming company that puts the farmer and the food first, not profits. Secondly, and this is a whole different issue, I do not think our modern industrial farming practices are sustainable in the least. Industrial farming companies exist only to sell fertilizers and pesticides and other profitable things. They are not interested in fixing any of the problems with modern industrial farming because that would not be profitable. Again, capitalism is the problem, not really Monsanto. Interestingly enough, Monsanto started out as a chemical company. So it's no wonder they push chemical based solutions to farming problems. For an alternative to modern industrial farming, google forest gardening, aquaponics, or food forests. This applies "the 5 whys" to modern industrial farming: Why do we need fertilizers and pesticides? What problems do they solve? Why are those problems? Finally, you come to the conclusion that trying to grow hundreds of acres of the same crop is just not what nature is built for. Nature wants diversity, nature wants things that look like forests. Industrial farming is what you get when Man tries to force Nature to do something that is not natural.
  - maxerickson 10y ago
    I'm under the impression that farmers consider it a valuable risk management tool. That is, they plant Roundup Ready crops because they like how it works. There's other seed available, so the ones that plant them are choosing.
mrep 10y ago
Would you mind telling me why cause I don't care if other people waste their money buying non GMO food?

maxerickson 10y ago

The market for glyphosate-resistant crops is competitive, it isn't just Monsanto selling them. (glyphosate itself went out of patent in 2000, the various resistance mechanisms may be under patent)

socialist_coder 10y ago
Their business practices surrounding it though, are terrible, to say the least. If they wanted to give GMOs a bad name, they couldn't have done a better job.
- sampo 10y ago
  There are so many urban legends about "Monsanto is evil". Do you have an example of some actual evildoings?
  - socialist_coder 10y ago
    Like so many other things in our world today, the truth is distorted by spin on all sides. Everyone has an agenda and it's quite difficult to know if what you're reading is actually factual. You can google it yourself and read both sides of the story for hours and still come away like you aren't sure what the actual deal is. But, it does seem safe to say that Monsanto as a company is only in it for the money, much like the vast majority of other companies. Do they care about farmers? Do they care about food? Do they care about people? Or do they only care about making money? I think it's clear what the answers are, but I can't really blame them for that, I blame our system at large. But still, they could choose to be less greedy, less capitalist, and a little more human. It's very easy to hate them as it is now. Anyways, it doesn't really matter what the actual truth is. The public hates Monsanto and to them, GMO and Monsanto seeds are one and the same. Until we see more usages of GMO that are not tainted by questionable business practices, this won't change. We need a GMO farming company that puts the farmer and the food first, not profits. Secondly, and this is a whole different issue, I do not think our modern industrial farming practices are sustainable in the least. Industrial farming companies exist only to sell fertilizers and pesticides and other profitable things. They are not interested in fixing any of the problems with modern industrial farming because that would not be profitable. Again, capitalism is the problem, not really Monsanto. Interestingly enough, Monsanto started out as a chemical company. So it's no wonder they push chemical based solutions to farming problems. For an alternative to modern industrial farming, google forest gardening, aquaponics, or food forests. This applies "the 5 whys" to modern industrial farming: Why do we need fertilizers and pesticides? What problems do they solve? Why are those problems? Finally, you come to the conclusion that trying to grow hundreds of acres of the same crop is just not what nature is built for. Nature wants diversity, nature wants things that look like forests. Industrial farming is what you get when Man tries to force Nature to do something that is not natural.
- maxerickson 10y ago
  I'm under the impression that farmers consider it a valuable risk management tool. That is, they plant Roundup Ready crops because they like how it works. There's other seed available, so the ones that plant them are choosing.

mrep 10y ago

Would you mind telling me why cause I don't care if other people waste their money buying non GMO food?