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Farmers Abandoning GMO Seeds And The Reason Will Surprise You

32K views 98 replies 27 participants last post by  wildbranch2007 
#1 ·
#45 ·
"Experts" have been painting doom and gloom scenarios about our capacity to feed the planet's increasing population for, at the very least, centuries. And yet, here we are, over seven billion people...

Food production (and world hunger) is, first and foremost, an economic problem. Arable land is unevenly distributed. Capital and means of production is unevenly distributed. Agronomic expertise is unevenly distributed. Population is unevenly distributed. Logistical expertise and capacities are unevenly distributed.

When farmers keep using the same old practices, no matter what, because that's the only thing they know, that's waste. When farmers have great fields, but no machinery to work it, that's waste. When farmers have great yields, but no warehouse to preserve it, that's waste. When farmers have great grains, but no fertilizers to boost growth, that's waste. When great lands are turned into housing neighborhood, that's waste. There is a LOT of waste in the world. And the answer to it, and world hunger, is not potential, it's $. You'd think that countries with a lot of hunger would waste less than us perfect-food-obsessed north-americans, right? Wrong. Waste is atrocious in third-world countries. It just wastes elsewhere. It is wasted because, for the same amount of seeds, they will get a lot less yields and require a lot more labor. It is wasted because they lack the funds to invest in warehouses to keep the food in controlled atmospheres. Because the distribution networks are inferior.

Conventional or organic has nothing to do with it. All farmers in the world could be organic and we could still significantly increase global food yields. After all, there is a vast array of alternatives to synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. In most cases, even the local small-scale organic hippy north-american farm will significantly outproduce third-world farms. We've got the best seeds. The means to analyze our soils, to analyze our compost and manure. We've got the machinery to work the ground properly. The fertilizers to optimize growth. The agronomists to scientifically evaluate best practices. The vast array of pesticides, both organic and not. Refrigerated trucks. The capacity to find and ship to far-away customers via the internet for premium prices. The tunnels to protect crops from bad weather. And so on.

I don't think many people realize just how productive our farms have become, and how third-world farms could very well obtain the same levels of productivity if only they had access to the same resources and markets. There is plenty of room for global production to rise, with or without GMO crops.
 
#50 ·
It isn't just naturally evolving resistance to Roundup. Actual genetic material is migrating from GMO crops to noxious weeds. This is a fairly ominous development, and one that we were assured would not happen.

http://www.isb.vt.edu/brarg/brasym96/brown96.htm



Ian, it's no joke. No-till systems that formerly relied on Roundup just aren't working very well anymore in many areas.

http://www.weedscience.org/summary/home.aspx

I think a lot of farmers are starting to feel like they've been played for chumps. Not a happy sensation.

Says David Ehrenfield, Professor of Biology at Rutgers University, "Genetic Engineering is often justified as a human technology, one that feeds more people with better food. Nothing could be further from the truth. With very few exceptions, the whole point of genetic engineering is to increase sales of chemicals and bio-engineered products to dependent farmers"
Well, he's probably a commie. But if you haven't heard much about this stuff, it's worth Googling around a little. It's costing farmers serious money.
 
#53 ·
A great many people seem to feel that if it works on my .25 acre organic garden then it should work in Agribusiness. The difference between .25 acres and 4000 acres of soybeans is far more than just "Scale". I wonder if they realize how much time is spent by the average farmer hedging on the commodities market? I am pretty sure that most of these well-meaning city people are convinced that the worlds food problems could be solved by a simple conglomeration of these .25 acre organic gardens.
 
#55 ·
Well, those weeds that have become roundup resistant have 'naturally' evolved their own resistance.

There's no evidence of genes jumping from GMOs to weeds.

That's what usually happens when you use the same product, year after year. The pests become resistant.

That's one reason why farmers switch to other types of seeds, and then use their own choice of pesticide products.

Even Monsanto is getting into the 'organic seed' game.
 
#56 ·
Maybe. If they would work. There are lots of Americans who are American'ts. They don't know how to work. I don't know how to work. Not like the migrant workers I know of. Not like a number of beekeepers I know of.

Do you really think that there are enough people like my Uncle Gordon and Grandpa Porter who worked a 200 acre farm in Iowa last generation?

Besides, the land is worth too much for anyone to be able to buy and work such a small piece of productive farm land. Most places. And it also keeps getting covered up by concrete and asphalt for parking lots and highways.

Some of the once most productive crop land, bottom land, in Cherokee County, NC got covered up by a 4 lane highway right down the middle of the valley, instead of along the side which would have left most of it available for cultivation. Happens all of the time.
 
#60 ·
I think one of the reasons you big farmers are defending what you do is.....what would you do if you could not drive around in a big tractor that drives itself. you don't really care that your feeding milllions of people cheap food because why would that be something you would be proud of. I bet if this generation of farmers had to farm like the farmers of the early 1900s you probably would not even want to farm. do you big farmers ever think about how easy you have it. you always say we don't get it. where does all this food come from. well take away your tractor and your chems and your hybrid seed and how good of a farmer would you be?? I can only hope that cheap food goes away sooner rather than later. do you know what happens to people that eat cheap food. they don't get smarter I can tell you that for sure. and just for the record..im not very smart. I work hard to make up for what my brain may lack. I do know that some one that works hard to eat is far better off than some one that eats for free. there are way to many people on this earth eating for free.
 
#64 ·
wow.......i grew up on a farm continuously in the family since 1713, that's when we got the deed anyway probably actually a couple of years longer. a couple of my brothers still run it and a couple of us bought our own and stared from scratch. many of you have no idea how hard it really is. farming has never been easy. it has always been commercial or you will not be in it for long. wow..... are a lot of us today a long way from reality or what?
 
#70 ·
well take away your electricity and truck and see how good of a beekeeper would you be??<<[/QUOTE]

but I could still produce honey and run my business, could you still run your 3k acre farm with mules. good luck with that. the only reason I jumped into this is because you big farmers think your way is the only way.

ian, your on here everyday. maybe have a little to much free time on your hands. that proves my point right there. if your farming practices were harder like they used to be I don't think you would be wasting time on here all day everyday..

the farmers that take care of the land and give back to the land and sell to their friends and neighbors are great, but the ones that only take from the land and sell what they take to china are not good for anything I care about.
 
#81 ·
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/04/business/energy-environment/04weed.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

It's not that they have no control over it. It's that unforeseen consequences (herbicide resistant weeds) have ended up making things worse rather than better. So now there's a sort of herbicide arms race. For example, seed companies are getting approval to stack their GMO seeds with multiple herbicide resistance, and they're advising farmers to buy more varieties of herbicide to deal with resistant weeds. It's great for them-- they get to move more product.

Not so great for farmers. The amount of Roundup required to control weeds has steadily risen over the last few years, so that application rates are much heavier now than they were when Roundup ready crops were first introduced. It would be naive to expect that the same thing won't happen again with the additional and less benign herbicides that will be required to control roundup resistant weeds.

2,4-D is poised to step up, since Dow AgroSciences is developing resistance to this herbicide in their new GMO varieties.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/gmo-seeds-resistant-to-2-4-d-considered-for-u-s-approval-1.2483195

Maybe it's just me, but this seems like the sort of treadmill that just keeps going faster until you go flying off, no matter how fast you run.
 
#83 ·
It's not that they have no control over it. It's that unforeseen consequences (herbicide resistant weeds) have ended up making things worse rather than better

What is frequently mis-understood or just ignored is that the herbicide resistance is to roundup, not the other available herbicides. All of the herbicides that were used on the various crops before are still available. So a farmer can and should use the same herbicides he used before roundup to rotate and to control the resistant weeds. It is nearly impossible for species to develop resistance to multiple modes of action. So the release of 2-4D and dicamba is a good thing in that it should control resistance. If the rotations are done between these resistance technologies the problems should be reduced, but there has to be rotation between the modes of action.
Dave
 
#84 ·
A little perspective may be in order here. The alarm bells about roundup resistance seems to be ringing the loudest from those individuals and groups who have already made their opposition to gmo's quite clear. Farmers have dealt with herbicide weed resistance since, probably, the year after 2-4-D was first introduced. The fact that there are weeds not easily controlled by glyphosate isnt a terribly dire situation. I talked recently with a close friend, and one of the brightest people I know, that farms thousands of acres in central Minnesota in addition to owning a farm service business that applies the whole range of fertilizers, and pesticides. He said they currently look at glyphosate as an excellent grass control product with the benefit that it controls most all broad leaves as well. Its limitations are that there are a few resistance issues and because there is no residual effect it dosent control late emerging weeds that can pop up under the crop "canopy". Not a big issue in his mind as there are many effective and economical alternatives that can control those specific weed problems. The point is that the term "super weeds" which has great dramatic effect isnt akin to an old B grade horror flick threatening all man kind. Its just another farming challenge but one that has easily applied solutions.
Fear not folks, if all else fails farmers can always replace chemical control with the ole mechanical tillage methods of multiple passes through the field, disturbing and drying the soil with each pass, burning incredible amounts fuel in the process. And lets not forget about all the resulting erosion issues that we used to deal with years ago. Remember? That was like sooooooo 1970.
 
#86 ·
China announced they no longer accept GMO corn from the U.S. We export much of our corn to them and other countries. So...wonder if this trend of other countries regulating and placing band on GMO, leaves less export opportunities. HOW ABOUT SOIL MANAGEMENT? quit putting chemicals into the ground! As for less corn fed beef...thanks to GMO beef..the list goes on.
 
#88 ·
We have a big field thoroughly infested with PigWeed (Nasty Stuff). Infestaton happened over the last 2 years. As soon as it warms up the field will be thoroughly tilled and then a surface adhering herbicide will be applied Must be the first time in 10 years that the land has been tilled. The PigWeed is not due to Glycophosphate - it's just a tough, voracious, weed. The field is 80 acres.... so 800 acres has avoided tillage. Have any idea how much diesel it takes to till 800 acres, if nothing else... think of the environment.

These arguments always become political so quick....
 
#93 ·
Why don't I see these weed choked soybeans. Across my front yard is a field of approximately 1000 acres, all GMO -RR- Neonics. My bees don't die, between the rows is a clean as a whistle. It seems like I should see at least some sign of these problems. I mean, we debate them all the time here on BeeSource.
 
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