3 ms·

Patented seeds have funded GMO research which has saved literally hundreds of millions if not billions of lives through famine reduction. Yes it sucks for farme

Patented seeds have funded GMO research which has saved literally hundreds of millions if not billions of lives through famine reduction. Yes it sucks for farmers, but I can't see how it has been anything other than absolute boon for humanity.

sethjgore 4y ago
Absolute boon for “humanity” is a such abstract notion. The reality is that farmers are robbed and food we eat are way less nutrient dense, etc etc. boon…for whom?
- ROTMetro 4y ago
  Would there be another way to feed 7+ billion people? How many human lives would you trade for more nutrient dense food?
Cerium 4y ago
Autocorrect between boon and boondoggle?
wazoox 4y ago
> Patented seeds have funded GMO research which has saved literally hundreds of millions if not billions of lives through famine reduction. Sources? References? Sounds like PR bullshit from Syngenta, frankly. For a start, half the world population is living off subsistence agriculture, i.e. not patented nor GMO seeds.
- whimsicalism 4y ago
  > half the world population is living off subsistence agriculture Doubt GMOs have yet saved hundreds of millions like the green revolution did, but this claim is false.
jimbob45 4y ago
>Bad thing is good because it funded good thing I’m not sure your reasoning makes sense to me.
narrator 4y ago
Norman Bourlag is the guy mostly responsible for the huge increases in agricultural productivity in the 20th century and he gave most of his stuff away.
somenameforme 4y ago
Apologies for the excess of links below. I find posts that spam links annoying, but if somebody believes GM products have saved millions/billions of lives, then they won't (and shouldn't) believe rando internet guy, and all the points are pretty distinct. --- GMOs were first made available in 1994 [1]. You can find data on famine deaths over time here [2]. Global famine deaths were near zero per 100k before GMOs had been developed. As an aside on this, the reason for historic famines was often not a lack of food or crops, or even weather - but war, which disrupts supply lines and may damage production. GMO products are also primarily only grown in the USA and Brazil. [3] Of the two largest countries in the world, India has a complete ban on GM products except cotton, and China previously had a complete ban but lately has been in a state of flux, in no small part because of trade concessions - the US really wants to sell GM soybeans to them. The vast majority of GMOs are used to feed Americans, Brazilians, livestock, and cars. If you don't understand that last one - US/Brazilian corn is often turned into heavily subsidized ethanol fuel. Which absolutely sucks as a fuel in every possible way [4], but has found a place in the market thanks to governmental regulation. --- [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flavr_Savr https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flavr_Savr [2] - https://ourworldindata.org/famine-mortality-over-the-long-run https://ourworldindata.org/famine-mortality-over-the-long-ru... [3] - https://sci-hub.ru/https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-92399-4_10 https://sci-hub.ru/https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007... [4] - https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevensalzberg/2016/04/25/why-are-we-growing-corn-to-fuel-our-cars-three-reasons-why-ethanol-is-a-bad-idea/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevensalzberg/2016/04/25/why-a...
- Anarch157a 4y ago
  We don't use that much corn to make ethanol here in Brazil. The share of corn in our ethanol production is only 13% of the total[1], the rest is from sugar cane. According to the research institute Embrapa, most of our corn is for human or animal consumption. As for your affirmation that it sucks for fuel, the growth of corn as a competitor for sugar cane in the production of ethanol here in Brazil is not "thanks to government regulation". In our country, sugar cane farmers have a lot more pull with the government than corn farmers. If government meddling was an issue, it would make the use of corn as a source of ethanol more difficult, not easier. If ethanol producers here are turning to corn, is because it has economical benefits. --- [1] https://digital.agrishow.com.br/graos/etanol-de-milho-como-e-feito-e-quais-sao-suas-vantagens https://digital.agrishow.com.br/graos/etanol-de-milho-como-e...
Marazan 4y ago
There has not been a single famine since the beginning of the 20th century that was not man-made (i.e. due to either people in power preventing aid reaching those who needed it or by people in power stripping people of their food). GMO crops have nothing to do with famine reduction.
- whimsicalism 4y ago
  I doubt we would call any famine post-20th century apolitical due to how recent they are but many of them likely would not have occurred if food had been easier to grow, political dysfunction aside.

sethjgore 4y ago

Absolute boon for “humanity” is a such abstract notion. The reality is that farmers are robbed and food we eat are way less nutrient dense, etc etc. boon…for whom?

ROTMetro 4y ago
Would there be another way to feed 7+ billion people? How many human lives would you trade for more nutrient dense food?

Cerium 4y ago

Autocorrect between boon and boondoggle?

wazoox 4y ago

> Patented seeds have funded GMO research which has saved literally hundreds of millions if not billions of lives through famine reduction. Sources? References? Sounds like PR bullshit from Syngenta, frankly. For a start, half the world population is living off subsistence agriculture, i.e. not patented nor GMO seeds.

whimsicalism 4y ago
> half the world population is living off subsistence agriculture Doubt GMOs have yet saved hundreds of millions like the green revolution did, but this claim is false.

jimbob45 4y ago

>Bad thing is good because it funded good thing I’m not sure your reasoning makes sense to me.

narrator 4y ago

Norman Bourlag is the guy mostly responsible for the huge increases in agricultural productivity in the 20th century and he gave most of his stuff away.

somenameforme 4y ago

Apologies for the excess of links below. I find posts that spam links annoying, but if somebody believes GM products have saved millions/billions of lives, then they won't (and shouldn't) believe rando internet guy, and all the points are pretty distinct. --- GMOs were first made available in 1994 [1]. You can find data on famine deaths over time here [2]. Global famine deaths were near zero per 100k before GMOs had been developed. As an aside on this, the reason for historic famines was often not a lack of food or crops, or even weather - but war, which disrupts supply lines and may damage production. GMO products are also primarily only grown in the USA and Brazil. [3] Of the two largest countries in the world, India has a complete ban on GM products except cotton, and China previously had a complete ban but lately has been in a state of flux, in no small part because of trade concessions - the US really wants to sell GM soybeans to them. The vast majority of GMOs are used to feed Americans, Brazilians, livestock, and cars. If you don't understand that last one - US/Brazilian corn is often turned into heavily subsidized ethanol fuel. Which absolutely sucks as a fuel in every possible way [4], but has found a place in the market thanks to governmental regulation. --- [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flavr_Savr https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flavr_Savr [2] - https://ourworldindata.org/famine-mortality-over-the-long-run https://ourworldindata.org/famine-mortality-over-the-long-ru... [3] - https://sci-hub.ru/https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-92399-4_10 https://sci-hub.ru/https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007... [4] - https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevensalzberg/2016/04/25/why-are-we-growing-corn-to-fuel-our-cars-three-reasons-why-ethanol-is-a-bad-idea/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevensalzberg/2016/04/25/why-a...

Anarch157a 4y ago
We don't use that much corn to make ethanol here in Brazil. The share of corn in our ethanol production is only 13% of the total[1], the rest is from sugar cane. According to the research institute Embrapa, most of our corn is for human or animal consumption. As for your affirmation that it sucks for fuel, the growth of corn as a competitor for sugar cane in the production of ethanol here in Brazil is not "thanks to government regulation". In our country, sugar cane farmers have a lot more pull with the government than corn farmers. If government meddling was an issue, it would make the use of corn as a source of ethanol more difficult, not easier. If ethanol producers here are turning to corn, is because it has economical benefits. --- [1] https://digital.agrishow.com.br/graos/etanol-de-milho-como-e-feito-e-quais-sao-suas-vantagens https://digital.agrishow.com.br/graos/etanol-de-milho-como-e...

Marazan 4y ago

There has not been a single famine since the beginning of the 20th century that was not man-made (i.e. due to either people in power preventing aid reaching those who needed it or by people in power stripping people of their food). GMO crops have nothing to do with famine reduction.

whimsicalism 4y ago
I doubt we would call any famine post-20th century apolitical due to how recent they are but many of them likely would not have occurred if food had been easier to grow, political dysfunction aside.