Home |
Search |
Today's Posts |
|
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Animals avoid GM food
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. |
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Forum | |||
using foraging animals as lawnmower substitutes; return to having animals around every home | Plant Science | |||
[IBC] Avoid Nothing (Was [IBC] Trees to avoid collecting or trying to work with !) | Bonsai | |||
GM crop farms filled with weeds (Was: Animals avoid GM food) | sci.agriculture | |||
Animals avoid GM food (Was: biotech & famine) | sci.agriculture | |||
Animals avoid GM food (Was: biotech & famine) | sci.agriculture |