Rising Food Prices May Start With Seeds

[k0xxx]

Article from the LA Times . Our old "friends" at Monsanto are back in the news.

"Today, four companies account for 50% of the world's proprietary seeds for major crops. The leader is Monsanto Co., whose marketing practices the Justice Department is investigating."

 

[Wifezilla]

In 2000, a bag with enough Roundup Ready soybean seeds to fill 1 acre of land would have cost him $17. Now, he said, he pays as much as $50.

He and his neighbors tried to figure out why the cost of seeds has jumped when they visited a Monsanto demonstration field last summer.

"Someone asked, 'Why are they priced so high?' " Leake recalled. "They told us, 'The price of soybeans has gone up and our company believes we are deserving of higher seed prices because of the extra traits we're giving the farmer.' "

"What can you do?" Leake asked. "There's really no alternative."

Evil evil evil evil

 

[freemotion]

Yes, but, um....maybe some farmers will look for alternatives? At least might start thinking for themselves instead of blindly serving Monsatan?

It has been very interesting in my house this past winter, having conversations with my father, who grew up on a farm, and had many plans as to how he would run it. He didn't, left to be the first to go to school, but still has ideas.

Killed the white rooster this morning. I think I'll keep him. Who needs Monsatan, anyways?

 

[Ldychef2k]

This discussion is so far above my pay grade that I am not really qualified to participate. But I have a question. If costs increase to any business, the increase is passed on to the customer. Why does that make Monsanto evil? Sorry to seem stupid, but I don't understand the reaction.

 

[Wifezilla]

Monsanto has driven a lot of other seed places out of business and now that they have 80-95% of the market they are jacking up the prices. The farmers who would in the past buy from someone else can't because they no longer are in business.

"One contract provision likely helped Monsanto buy 24 independent seed companies throughout the Farm Belt over the last few years: that corn seed agreement says that if a smaller company changes ownership, its inventory with Monsanto's traits "shall be destroyed immediately."

Quarles, however, said Sunday he wasn't familiar with that older agreement, obtained by the AP, but said, "as I understand it," Monsanto includes provisions in all its contracts that allow companies to sell out their inventory if ownership changes, rather than force the firms to destroy the inventory immediately.

Another provision from contracts earlier this decade regarding rebates - also help explain Monsanto's rapid growth as it rolled out new products.

One contract gave an independent seed company deep discounts if the company ensured that Monsanto's products would make up 70 percent of its total corn seed inventory. In its 2004 lawsuit, Syngenta called the discounts part of Monsanto's "scorched earth campaign" to keep Syngenta's new traits out of the market.

Quarles said the discounts were used to entice seed companies to carry Monsanto products when the technology was new and farmers hadn't yet used it. Now that the products are widespread, Monsanto has discontinued the discounts, he said.

The Monsanto contracts reviewed by the AP prohibit seed companies from discussing terms, and Monsanto has the right to cancel deals and wipe out the inventory of a business if the confidentiality clauses are violated.

Thomas Terral, chief executive officer of Terral Seed in Louisiana, said he recently rejected a Monsanto contract because it put too many restrictions on his business. But Terral refused to provide the unsigned contract to AP or even discuss its contents because he was afraid Monsanto would retaliate and cancel the rest of his agreements.

"I would be so tied up in what I was able to do that basically I would have no value to anybody else," he said. "The only person I would have value to is Monsanto, and I would continue to pay them millions in fees.""
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/12/14/business/main5978152.shtml

More of their evilness
http://www.foxbghsuit.com/oakhurstdairy.htm
http://www.nelsonfarm.net/issue.htm
http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/Monsantovsusfarmersreport.cfm
http://www.mindfully.org/GE/2005/Monsanto-Prosecuting-Farmers12jan05.htm
http://www.percyschmeiser.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsanto#As_plaintiff

Remember, I am a capitalist. If they were simply dominating the market by offering a superior product, I would be applauding them. But that isn't what I see.

 

[freemotion]

This discussion is so far above my pay grade that I am not really qualified to participate. But I have a question. If costs increase to any business, the increase is passed on to the customer. Why does that make Monsanto evil? Sorry to seem stupid, but I don't understand the reaction.

Monsatan has created a monopoly and has made it impossible to farm (mostly...check out Joel Salatin's Polyface Farm) today without being enslaved to them. Have you seen Food, Inc. yet? Some interesting stuff on Monsatan's practices and how they work hard to put farmers out of business if they don't buy from them. And succeed. It happened to some of my father's neighbors when he lived in Maine. The wind/bees cross-pollinated crops with Monsatan GMO dna and their teams of investigators came in and sued the farmers for stealing patented genetic material. Even though what really happened is that Monsatan's pollen CONTAMINATED the farmer's crops, well, Monsatan has lots of money for lawyers and the little guy doesn't. Guess who loses.

All of us.

 

[ToLiveToLaugh]

This discussion is so far above my pay grade that I am not really qualified to participate. But I have a question. If costs increase to any business, the increase is passed on to the customer. Why does that make Monsanto evil? Sorry to seem stupid, but I don't understand the reaction.

I think part of the idea, too, is that Monsanto's higher seed prices are because of these "extra traits" that they're giving the soybeans. The problem is, no one wants those extra traits, it's just because monsanto has the monopoly both on sales and education, so farmers buy.

No alternatives, and they're only offering the "deluxe model".

 

[old fashioned]

Atleast they are finally being investigated and "hopefully" the investigation will be thorough and impartial (no ex-monsatans to defend or overlook their evils)

I (we) can only pray they will be found out for the monster they really are and will be stopped from doing such business again.

Probably not, but it's a good dream anyway!

Wait a minute.....why the Justice Department and not the FDA or Ag?

 

[kcsunshine]

Maybe because the FDA and Ag are in Monsanto's pockets?

 

[On Our own]

Maybe because the FDA and Ag are in Monsanto's pockets?

What gov agency isn't in some corp's pocket??? "Hey work for the gov for a few years and we'll give you a cushy job later if you help us while you are in!" Or vice versa.....


Monsanto's costs did not go up, the value of the farmer's product went up so Monsanto decided to take a front end cut... They are relentless in taking out farmer's who will not be assimilated! They'll destroy them just because they are trying to farm without using Monsanto products....... Wifezilla can tell you, as can I, the lengths to which they will go just to get back at some one.