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Do you have any idea about agricultural breeding? There are some fundamental factors which are hard to overcome. Mendelian genetics more or less dictates that
by bayesian_horse 7y ago
Do you have any idea about agricultural breeding?
There are some fundamental factors which are hard to overcome. Mendelian genetics more or less dictates that hybrid breeding schemes are superior, in the big picture, to line breeding. But those schemes require long term organizing and capital investment.
Which is why companies have any say in breeding at all. The Open Source Seed Initiative would need to replicate this through cooperation in a community.
Farmers don't have big margins. They can't afford to waste money on crops that underperform, for whatever reasons. They can't afford to lose money on produce that isn't marketable for whatever reason.
- anigbrowl 7y agoCompanies don't eat food and don't starve if they go without it so their opinions as corporate entities are moot as far as I am concerned. If it is more profitable to let people die they will do so.
- bayesian_horse 7y agoCompanies are owned, operated and regulated by Human beings. I'm not saying "companies" have never done wrong, but I think your attitude is way over the top. And there is no way an agricultural company will benefit by tanking production. What the OSSI wants to do is to put more power into the hands of farmers, and thus avoid the farmers being squeezed by a near-monopoly of certain breeding companies. It's really about prizes and margins, not about total agricultural output. Come to think of it, I guess the whole world has to be starving before there is a large-scale food shortage in the US of A.
- anigbrowl 7y agoSure they are, but distributed consciousness and individual consciousness isn't the same thing. A corporation doesn't have a body and that dichotomy is often used by individuals to dissociate themselves from things they would not be willing to do on an interpersonal level. This is a general issue with organizations.
- deogeo 7y ago> Do you have any idea about agricultural breeding? [..] Which is why companies have any say in breeding at all. Do you have any idea about industry lobbying to restrict the use of traditional seeds [1]? Companies use every trick they can to increase profits and control - a superior product is merely one of them. There is also lobbying, marketing, anti-competitive contracts... It beggars belief to be so naive as to think otherwise. [1] http://www.arc2020.eu/european-seed-legislation-a-turning-point-for-the-future-of-peasant-agriculture/ http://www.arc2020.eu/european-seed-legislation-a-turning-po...
- bayesian_horse 7y agoI wasn't talking about lobbying and anti-competitive efforts at all, but rather I pointed out that there are particular reasons those companies have a stake in this at all. High performance breeding is a complex endeavor and as such requires capital, organization and time. OSSI will not be able to do it with less capital, organization or time, but they might put competitive pressure on such companies.