I remember when buying seed was simply buying seed. You went to the feed store and purchased as many bags of seed that you needed, paid for it, loaded it in your truck, and went home to plant: simple, effective, and economical. Seed was saved for the next year’s planting, and that was normal. Not so anymore. Now a simple farmer must sign a grower’s contract with agribusiness giants in order to gain permission to plant GM (Genetically Modified) crops, which gives the seed company the right to monitor his farming operation, go onto his property to take samples anytime and anywhere it wants to, and to literally shut his operation down for non-compliance with the contract.

The Agreement

Why do farmers get tangled up in this mess? Probably because they have swallowed the lie that GM crops are beneficial, are thinking about higher profits, less work, and don’t take the time to read the fine print in the documents they sign. Now they are stuck. It’s either comply or go broke, and so the cycle continues.

Which brings me to the following question: when did we stop reading what we sign? Let me ask you a personal question. Do you read everything that you agree to whether it is in writing or via electronic medium? If you do, you are in the minority. Let’s take those agreements that we have to agree to every time we download a program. Do you read them? Do you go through all of the fine print and understand all of the terms and conditions? I didn’t think so. You’re not alone, neither does Congress. Not one Congressman read the entire Stimulus Package before it was signed. Reading the entire thing in as short a period as they were given was impossible. And so it is with farmers. Oh, they have the time to read the fine print, but do they?

I cannot imagine agreeing with the following statement that comes directly from the Monsanto Technology Use Agreement Terms and Conditions (TUA) for Roundup Ready Canola:

Item #4 The Grower grants Monsanto the right to inspect, take samples and test all of the Grower’s owned and/or leased fields planted with canola, or any other land farmed by the Grower, and to monitor the Grower’s canola fields and storage bins for the following three years for compliance with the terms of this Agreement…

Okay, so let me get this straight. Let’s say that I am a farmer, and I go into a store and buy Roundup Ready Canola seeds and sign the agreement. I plant the seeds, and after realizing that I would rather not use the seed again next year, I must make sure that I completely clean the fields, storage bins, seed cleaning equipment, and any place that a seed might get lodged and actually grow, because Monsanto can come in and inspect my fields and equipment for three years after my purchase to make sure that I am in compliance. If the company finds a Roundup Ready Canola plant anywhere on my property, then I am in violation of the agreement and the following paragraph of the Agreement comes into play:

Item #5 If the Grower violates any of the Terms and Conditions of the Agreement, the Grower shall forfeit any right to obtain any Agreement in the future and this Agreement may, at Monsanto’s option be terminated immediately. In the event of any use of the Roundup Ready canola seed, which is not specifically authorized in this Agreement, the Grower agrees that Monsanto will incur a substantial risk of losing control of Roundup Ready Canola seed and that it may not be possible to accurately determine the amount of Monsanto’s damages. The Grower therefore agrees:

a) to pay Monsanto $15.00 per acre for every acre planted with Roundup Ready Canola seed not covered by this Agreement; and

b) to deliver to Monsanto or its designated agent, at the Grower’s expense, all seed containing the Roundup Ready gene that results from the unauthorized use of Roundup Ready Canola; or at Monsanto’s option, the Grower shall destroy all crop containing the Roundup Ready gene resulting from the unauthorized use of Roundup Ready Canola;…

But wait, it gets even better. Not only have I bound myself to this Agreement, I have also bound my heirs:

Item #6 The Terms and Conditions of this Agreement are personal to the Grower and shall be binding and have full force and effect on the heirs, personal representatives, successors, and permitted assigns of the Grower…

In other words, I have bound my sons and daughters to an agreement that they had no knowledge of, and did not consent to.

So how does one go about getting out of the iron grip of the GMO giants? Well, the sad truth is, most farmers can’t. It is a vicious cycle. If you have 1000 acres planted with GM Canola, and decide to get rid of the GMOs on your farm, you are in for a gigantic undertaking, and not one that most can accomplish because of the cost. If you don’t get your fields completely clean of the GM gene, you owe Monsanto $15,000 unless you go through every single plant on every square inch of your land and pay to get it tested by Monsanto because they have the patent on the progeny and all methods of testing.

So, you pay the $15,000. But it is not over yet, because at Monsanto’s option, the company can order you to “destroy all crop containing the Roundup Ready gene,” and to “deliver to Monsanto or its designated agent, at the Grower’s expense, all seed containing the Roundup Ready gene..” And just how do you tell the difference between a Roundup Ready seed and a normal one? And if you could somehow tell the difference, what does it take to go through the thousands upon thousands of seeds to sort them? Then there are the plants. I am told that one cannot tell the difference between a GM plant and a normal plant with the naked eye. So, only Monsanto knows how, and the company isn’t telling. That’s patented information. So the farmer is in a position to either just go along with the program and continue to plant GM seeds, or risk losing everything if he cannot come up with the funds to wipe his farm clean of GM, if that is even possible. And this goes on for three years following your purchase of the GM seeds, with Monsanto monitoring every move.

Enter horizontal gene transfer. You’ve got it folks; this is the nightmare that plagues us all, but especially the farmer wanting to get rid of GMOs.

Horizontal gene transfer (HGT), also Lateral gene transfer (LGT), is any process in which an organism incorporates genetic material from another organism without being the offspring of that organism.

According to Dr. Mae-Wan Ho, of the Institute of Science in Society,

Horizontal gene transfer is one of the most serious, if not the most serious hazard of transgenic technology. I have been drawing our regulators’ attention to it at least since 1996 [1], when there was already sufficient evidence to suggest that transgenic DNA in GM crops and products can spread by being taken up directly by viruses and bacteria as well as plant and animals cells.

Now I don’t know, even if you have undergone the strictest of cleaning methods for your 1000-acre farm, if you can even use the soil due to horizontal gene transfer. What do you do? Remove 1000 acres of topsoil? And to what depth? Then do you truck more topsoil in, hoping that it hasn’t seen any GMOs?

This is the stranglehold that Monsanto and the other giant GMO pushers have on farmers. Once the farmer gets hooked, just like a Heroin junkie, he must go to the dealer to get his fix every year, or risk losing everything. And we are just getting started.

HR 875, 814, and 759

Here come HR 875, 814, and 759. Now we are talking about the animal kingdom and the genetic modification of our cows, sheep, goats, chickens, you name it. Genetically modified salmon are already in the marketplace. But how do I make the leap from animal tracking to GM chickens? These bills don’t mention anything about GM animals.

Think about it. Monsanto purchased Seminis Seeds, the largest seed supplier in the world, after reinventing itself from a chemical company to an agribusiness. It also is responsible for flooding the world with GM seeds and plants, without regard for the human or ecological cost, much like it did with Agent Orange and DDT. Monsanto also has a draconian method of dealing with farmers who do not comply with the Agreement they sign in order to plant its GM abominations.

The regulations in these bills are much like the onerous Agreement that farmers must comply with in order to cultivate Monsanto crops, only much, much worse. And with GMO backers Taylor and Vilsack in key government positions, what could be better for the agribusiness giant? A “made for Monsanto” situation. These bills are draconian in their regulation of smaller farmers and ranchers, which is right up Monsanto’s alley, and are nothing more than the precursor for a GM takeover of the meat market.

So, when Monsanto starts patenting animal genes, and it will, do you think the company will guard these patented genes any less rigorously than the seeds? How much easier will it be for Monsanto to track its patented genes if each and every animal on each and every small farm is traced? Easier yet to purchase the largest animal producers that do not even have to get each animal tagged, just one tag for a whole group of animals.

Enter wholesale tag and bag GMO meat producers. The smaller rancher simply goes away because of the cost. Now Monsanto not only has a stranglehold on plants, but meat as well. And us? Well, we just go to the store and buy whatever frankenfood they allow us to have without knowing what genes it contains, or what effects it will have on us in the future.

Stopping the Takeover

So, am I crazy to think like I do? I don’t think so. Look at the evidence and the track record of Monsanto et. al. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out the connection, and to understand the consequences of the behind the scenes manipulations of our government corporation and the agribusiness giants. With Monsanto in control, we will all be like junkies going to the dealer for our next fix of GMO, whether it is grain, veggies, fruit, or meat - unless we simply do not comply. This is not as easy as it sounds. It requires boycotting GMOs. It also requires knowing what is GM and what is not. More time is needed in our day for research into the food we eat, and more time is needed to grow what we can.

We can stop this takeover, but it must start on a personal level. We need to get rid of the GMOs in our own lives, and by so doing, the market for such products will dry up. We also need to get the word out to as many people as possible so that they can start eliminating GMOs from their diets. It starts with one person. And yes, it is like withdrawing from drugs. Some will be able to go cold turkey, and others will need to taper off a little at a time. It doesn’t matter how you do it, just do it.

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