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Gosh, you really want to grow some crops, I see. Well, I've got these seeds that are completely resistant to disease, only they cost 10x more than regular seed
by calambrac 17y ago
Gosh, you really want to grow some crops, I see. Well, I've got these seeds that are completely resistant to disease, only they cost 10x more than regular seeds and they're engineered so that you don't get any more seeds from the results. But you'll get a huge yield, we promise, more than enough to keep coming back to us and buying.
...One year later...
Oh, you say your crop failed? We didn't mention they needed twice as much water? That maybe they weren't as resistant to disease as we said? That there's another disease we hadn't engineered against? That the pesticides they were engineered to work in conjunction with will ruin your soil for everything else? Now you have no money left? Hmm, well... that sucks for you. Thank your government for our lucrative subsidies, though. When you commit suicide, I'm sure we'll be able to find a large corporate farming operation to come in and take over.
GMO isn't the problem (that we know of). Abuse of GMO, for the purpose of locking farmers in, that's the problem.
- rjurney 17y agoFrom your hypothetical, you don't sound like you know a single farmer, but I'll agree with you: GMO patents are wrong and should not be allowed. GMO For the People.
- calambrac 17y agoI don't personally know any farmers in impoverished parts of rural India, where this scenario isn't hypothetical at all, no. As to what I sound like, my uncle is a successful independent farmer in North Dakota. He's not organic, but he strongly opposes GMOs in their current form strictly because of the lock-in issue.