"I love that you've brought this to attention. An extensive database of uncommon but resistant and hardy plants/foods could be developed and organized by climate. Ease of growth and processing should also be taken in to account. I will try to…"
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Sustainability Issues in Farm Industry News article
One of the innovations I investigated projected what farming will be like in 10 years (in 2013). While some of the innovations discussed sounded exciting, others were troubling to me for a number of reasons. I have been studying "ethical eating" as part of the Unitarian Universalist church's "study/action issue," and much of what I have learned suggest that the practices proposed in this Farm Industry News article are problematic at best and counter-productive to the kinds of sustainability that the earth needs and that this game, I think, is promoting.
For example, one spokesman discusses using sensors with "confined livestock like poultry and pork" to help "sense levels of infection which triggers dispersal of proper medication...to prevent a disease outbreak." The problem is that it's the very practice of factory farming, of raising "confined livestock" in CAFOs ("Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations"), that makes the animals sick in the first place, leading to the need for antibiotics (overuse of which creates antibiotic-resistant bacteria). This is not to mention the strain on the local environment resulting from the excess waste from so many animals, or the abuse of (often illegal) immigrant labor to do the work of processing the meat. I learned of these issues in two books: one by Michael Pollan called THE OMNIVORE'S DILEMMA and one by Eric Schlossser called FAST FOOD NATION, and both of these authors are interviewed in the recent doc**entary "Food Inc."
In addition to these issues, the article mentions the use of Roundup Ready soybeans for improved weed control, but these seeds are genetically modified and owned by Monsanto, which is trying to corner the seed market with questionable business practices leading to the beginning of anti-trust investigation. When it comes time for farmers in third-world countries to buy their seeds yearly rather than re-using seed as most farmers have been doing since agriculture was invented 10,000 years ago, I hope they don't meet the fate that some U.S. farmers have when Monsanto sues them for co....
So needless to say, I was somewhat conflicted when I read this article. I know that there are great needs to be met and that this game is about creating a positive focus on how to solve these very serious food security issues--both current and forthcoming--but I felt the need to share what I have learned recently about some of these
For example, one spokesman discusses using sensors with "confined livestock like poultry and pork" to help "sense levels of infection which triggers dispersal of proper medication...to prevent a disease outbreak." The problem is that it's the very practice of factory farming, of raising "confined livestock" in CAFOs ("Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations"), that makes the animals sick in the first place, leading to the need for antibiotics (overuse of which creates antibiotic-resistant bacteria). This is not to mention the strain on the local environment resulting from the excess waste from so many animals, or the abuse of (often illegal) immigrant labor to do the work of processing the meat. I learned of these issues in two books: one by Michael Pollan called THE OMNIVORE'S DILEMMA and one by Eric Schlossser called FAST FOOD NATION, and both of these authors are interviewed in the recent doc**entary "Food Inc."
In addition to these issues, the article mentions the use of Roundup Ready soybeans for improved weed control, but these seeds are genetically modified and owned by Monsanto, which is trying to corner the seed market with questionable business practices leading to the beginning of anti-trust investigation. When it comes time for farmers in third-world countries to buy their seeds yearly rather than re-using seed as most farmers have been doing since agriculture was invented 10,000 years ago, I hope they don't meet the fate that some U.S. farmers have when Monsanto sues them for co....
So needless to say, I was somewhat conflicted when I read this article. I know that there are great needs to be met and that this game is about creating a positive focus on how to solve these very serious food security issues--both current and forthcoming--but I felt the need to share what I have learned recently about some of these
Views: 24
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Comment by Ayala Sherbow on March 15, 2010 at 6:23pm
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Thank you for the info and the insightful critique.
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Comment by Michele Baron on March 24, 2010 at 3:33pm
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Excellent post. It is horrible when an individual, empowered by aggregate wealth, "buys" the organic and productive seed stock, and "rights" to those seed stocks--when people, animals, pollinators--all interdependent organic creatures--have depended on these seeds (and rhizomes, and roots.....) for survival for our shared thousands of years... Governments are not always the best protectors of the Earth, or of the people(s) whom the governments are charged to serve, but it seems that laws and fair practices, Agricultural and other departments should be more active to protect the eating populations of the world (that is pretty much all of us) from potentially catastrophic seed stock control, depletion. How about proprietary rights on hybridized stock--especially if they sterilize nearby 'organic' productive plant varietals--in some instances, isn't the introduction of new species of hybridized seeds (especially if original seed stocks are being removed from public availability) similar to eradication of a food species? Aren't these practices speeding us all towards greater food insecurity? What do you think? Oh, and thank you for the post, Richard.
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Comment by PJE on April 9, 2010 at 7:54pm
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Terminator seeds are so obviously immoral I can't see how Montsanto can continue Montevilo would be a better name. Why does anyone buy cheaper eggs when a few more pennies can buy happy ones. There's so much people would happily do if they just saw the problem.
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Comment by M. on April 9, 2010 at 8:27pm
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So many of the things in this article are already happening, and as so often happens in ag news articles some of the most controversial aspects of this article are easy to miss. When Mr. Boehlje talks about the biotechnology development predictions for the next few years, he is really talking about genetically engineering animals on a mass scale so they will grow in more profitable and marketable ways (think chickens with huge breasts, or pigs that produce additional amino-3 fatty acids). I have written a couple articles on this topic for legal journals, and the developments are happening much faster than most people realize.
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