"Martin Branson" wrote in message
m...
Dean Hoffman wrote:
Was Monsanto giving the seed away as some sort of promotion or trial?

My initial assumption was that they gave it away the first year in
order to gain a foothold in the market. I did a bit of research to
answer your question, and found I was wrong. According to an article
clipped from the Jakarta Post:

Branita Sandhini, a subsidiary of the multinational Monsanto Group,
said it would provide the seeds and fertilizer through a credit
scheme. Then the company said it would buy the farmers' cotton at a
good price, allowing them to pay off their debt to the company and
improve their income.

Ultimately, yield was far below Monsanto's promise, and they set a
lower than expected price for the product, trapping the farmers in
debt to Monsanto. Monsanto, of course, denies all these claims.


as Dean commented

Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store

This happens with all companies to all farmers, never worried you before
when it happened to us, why is it worrying you now?

Jim Webster