Currently, two market leaders, Monsanto and BASF, have entered into a $1.5 billion partnership to engineer stress-tolerant plants. ETC says that the two companies own “nearly half of the patent families related to engineered stress tolerance.” Globally, the top 10 seed corporations already control 57% of commercial seed sales – a trend that will intensify if the patented “climate ready” seeds gain widespread acceptance.
Shand explains that the alternative is to let farmers and nature do what they have done for millennia – experiment with their own breeding of crops, foster the free exchange of germplasm, and manage and conserve a diverse set of crops over generations. GMO crops will not only entail greater costs to the world’s farmers, especially in the South, they will preclude the evolution of locally adapted crop varieties and responsible co-evolution with the environment.
Would you like to comment?
Join Diigo for a free account, or sign in if you are already a member.