> I guess I think it is very hard to read Dennis Avery and not get confused.
> I'm never sure whether we are or aren't going to run out of food in his
> opinion. I just know whichever side he is on its going to justify big
> business rolling on without consequences. Do people see through his logic?
> Or does his message work on people similar to the crap that PBS airs as
> commercials for ADM. (Their commercial says they are extremely concerned
> about feeding the hungry world. That is why they are doubling in size at
> least every 5 years.) The true issues surrounding food security and
> sustainability are being blurred by the corporate heavy hitters in my
> opinion.
We see vertical integration in the hog and poultry industries and I hear
that, offshore, quietly, it is also happening in field crop production
as seed breeders/producers are also buying into farms, land, shipping,
warehousing/storage, brokerage all over the world in order to guarantee
year-round delivery of product to supermarket chains, depriving American
farmers, some local, of that lucrative market. Is it possible that
grass/grain/bean farmers in the American Heartland will see increased
competition and lowered prices from attempts by big seed companies to
become vertically integrated in the field crop
(grass/grain/bean/vegetable.fruit) arena? They can produce the seed, grow
it overseas or in the US, process/warehouse it/distribute it themselves
for sales in the US, thus undercutting American farmers and forcing them
into bankruptcy. If they are then able to buy up land from backrupt
farmers they can increase their stranglehold on food production. Sal's
forwarded article describing problems farmers are having growing GE crops
in North Dakota seems to describe yet another mini-array of tools big
agribiz can use to drive farmers out of business, especially the organic
ones.
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