Things that used to be on a blog.

Genetic modification

November 23, 2012

You know how GM is a plot by Monsanto to create sterile seed so farmers can't keep back part of their crop for planting next season and have to buy new seed? Twenty-five years ago I worked for a distributor of agricultural products and we had a man whose full-time job was seed sales because no Australian farmers ever kept anything back to plant next season. Well, no farmer that was a serious cereal crop producer.

You know how GM is a plot by Monsanto to make trillions of dollars by selling Roundup? Well, glyphosate is well out of patent so anybody can make it and if you want to get good money for a wheat crop you would like paspalum, ryegrass and other contaminants to be kept to a minimum.

You know how GM canola threatens the organic, natural canola market? Well, canola is a genetically-modified version of rape, modified to suppress the production of something that makes the oil unpalatable (and maybe even poisonous in large doses).

And don't get me started on the relevance of "tri-" in triticale, the wheat in all those rail cars that go through my town in the harvest season.