In sci.agriculture Jim Webster wrote:

"Brian Sandle" wrote in message
...
[...]

So much of the GM stuff is loss leader that the companies would probably
pay that to keep up market cofidence in their seeds, so they can still
sell their associated chemicals which bring in the profit.

Gods you talk rubbish. You have of course evidence to back this up?

Here is something to go on with:


Linkname: AGNET AUGUST 27
URL: http://131.104.232.9/agnet/2002/8-20..._august_27.htm
Last Mod: Thu, 29 Aug 2002 11:38:17 GMT
size: 1169 lines


[...]
US FARMERS REAP HEAVY PENALTY FOR SOWING GM CROPS
August 27, 2002
New Zealand Herald
[...]
GM crops have, says
Hatchard, had a disastrous impact on United States farm economies.
[...]
All around, the US food industry has lost billions of dollars in
exports
since introducing GM crops.
US maize prices are at their lowest for 30 years - down from US$3
($6.43) to
$1.30 ($2.79) a bushel.
In 1996, before GM crops were introduced, US maize farmers made a
profit of
US$1.4 billion.
Last year, they lost US$12 billion. The US Government picked up a
third of
this through farm subsidies. Our Government could never afford to
protect
farmers this way.
The key strategy helping US companies recapture lost export markets is
a GM
contamination tolerance of less than 0.1 per cent for approved
varieties and
zero tolerance for unapproved varieties.
Francis Weavers, of the Life Sciences Network, assures us that many
countries are proceeding to commercialisation of GM crops, and that
New
Zealand will miss out unless it follows suit.
In fact, four countries grow 98 per cent of GM crops - the US, Canada,
Argentina and China. All are busy backtracking. Hatchard says that
China and
Argentina are facing commercial realities and implementing plans to
reverse
their commitment to GM crops.
The gates to Europe and Japan for North American GM commodities have
all but
closed.
Canadian canola exports to the EU were worth $180 million in 1996 but
zero
in 1997 and since.
US corn exports to the EU have, similarly, fallen from millions of
metric
tonnes to almost zero since GM Bt corn was introduced.
Canada is implementing voluntary labelling laws and calling for
restrictions
on GM planting of new varieties. Even the US Department of Agriculture
is
committed to a voluntary GM segregation scheme.
Others try to tell us that the wide-scale adoption of GM technology in
North
America implies that US farmers have embraced GM technology because it
is
more profitable. In reality, the marketing of GM seed in North America
and
elsewhere is achieved through a loss-leader policy designed to capture
market share rapidly and create an irreversible shift to GM seeds.
Hatchard goes on to say that the question for the Government is not
green
versus conventional but should we expose the mainstay of our economy,
the
farm sector, to the market strategies of giant US agribiotech
companies
which do not have our interest at heart?
There are no proven market models for either farmers or food companies
to
gain benefits from GM crops. To date, only herbicide companies have
reaped
profits.