Gordon Couger wrote:

They are by no means the total answered to the problem but they are a large
piece. The reduction of pesticide,

inkname: GMO
URL:
http://www.soilassociation.org/sa/sa...O12092002.html
[...]

Increased use of herbicides: Contrary to claims from the
biotechnology industry, farmers are now more reliant on herbicides
(weedkillers). Certain crops have been engineered to be resistant to
specific herbicides to enable farmers to spray weeds without damaging
crops. Although it was claimed that only one application would be
needed per crop, several are being made. In addition, weeds are
developing resistance to these herbicides, and rogue GM plants that
grow after a harvest (volunteers) have appeared and spread widely. In
particular, GM oilseed rape volunteers- the GM crop most likely to be
introduced in the UK - have spread quickly, and some plants have
become resistant to several herbicides through cross pollination. As a
result, farmers are making more frequent applications and reverting to
older and more toxic chemicals.

[...]

erosion and nutrient transfer are
extremely voluble to the farmer, the environment and the world as whole.

Here in New Zealand we do not have commercial genetically modified crops. But
we do have no-tillage.

`Living Here' August 2003: (In Christchurch letterboxes today.)

`No tillage is a method of directly sowing new crop or grass seeds into
paddocks without ploughing or cultivating the soil. Thosae using this method
say it uses less msachinery and cuts fuel, time and machinery costs by up to
70%.'

`The no-tillage method sees Simon leaving harvest residues on the ground,
which improves the soil's organic composition and structure.
"Because of our soil's high organic matter, it has better water holding
capacity than soil under a culitivated system."
Simon irrigates less than many of his cultivating neighbourts, but still
retains good soil moisture levels. Moist soil is less likely to be picked up
by the wind, he says.'


The
big corporations would not be doing it if the state funded seed breeds had
been funded and given a free hand in the matter but they ran into the same
political correct carp at their institutions and went to work in an
environment that appreciated their work and played them well for it.

Don't blame business for picking up on a valuable process that the pubic
funded research were not moving forward.

It's a liability and now animaqls won't eat the stuff they are trying to
recoup something by palming it off on poor countries.

If you are concerned about big business direct you gaze and Nestle,

Nestle gone GE free, I understand.

Dunavant
Cotton Co. and the other privately held ag merchants that make Monsanto look
like the corner grocery store. Many of their higher ups can't set foot in
the US with out being served with a subpoena for anti trust violations.

Nestle did push milk powder instead of breast feeding, resulting in much
suffering from lack of clean water and also less natural immunity from
mother's milk.