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  • From: Scott Vlaun <scott@moosepondarts.com>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] The next World food crisis?
  • Date: Tue, 1 May 2012 14:20:42 -0400

We had a discussion last week in our local Public Interest Forum regarding Food Sovereignty. The need to voice the myriad problems associated with the industrial/corporate food model was palpable, but our moderator was persistent in keeping us on track to try and outline solutions to avert a pending crisis.

Ken Morse, an intrepid campaigner for local food security, summed it up fairly simply. "Grow food everywhere." He posited that it's the only way that we can disempower the corporations from controlling the food system, and allow the poor, especially in the global south, to regain access to their land.

Seed sovereignty also was a lively topic in light of the rampant patenting of life taking place, and so was basic reskilling.

So in answer to Toby's question I'd have to start with a slight revision of his mantra:

"Grow Food Everywhere, Save Seed, Cooperate."


Back at it,
Scott



Scott Vlaun Moose Pond Arts+Ecology Design Solutions for a Sustainable Future
35 Moose Pond Rd, Otisfield, Maine 04270 • 207-539-9042

On May 1, 2012, at 1:43 PM, Toby Hemenway wrote:

A gentle redirect: I can relate to the satisfaction of delivering rage-filled rants, but, this being a permaculture list, I'd love to see some element of permacultural thinking in the responses to Dieter's question.

It's a given that we abhor Monsanto and their stooges, and the horror stories are familiar to all of us, so what does a permaculturist do?

Toby
http://patternliteracy.com


On May 1, 2012, at 8:09 AM, Eisenhauer wrote:

Here in the American Gulag the USDA is currently rubber stamping approvals
for GMOs without any public comment while stating they will increase testing
for contamination by GMOs in organic agriculture. This is no less than a
back door attack on organic sustainable agriculture. It is their way of
destroying sustainable agriculture by promoting the contamination of our
biosphere with patented junk genes. While these over leveraged monsters
push for the end of food freedom our population is experiencing skyrocketing
increases in cancer, autoimmune diseases and a societal degeneration into an
animalistic inhuman culture pushing war, death and depravity as answers to
any particular issue/problem. A culture of profit first and people last
with reverence for fascism is driving this policy of corporate supremacy.

Steven



-----Original Message-----
From: permaculture-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:permaculture-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of John D'hondt
Sent: Monday, April 30, 2012 7:52 PM
To: permaculture
Subject: Re: [permaculture] The next World food crisis?


I have never seen gmo plants as anything else than sick. When humans have
extra DNA as in Down syndrome that does the individuals not much good. More
is not better!
Why would it be different in plants? Of course these are usually annual
crops thus short lived and it is for humans not easy to see the health
problems they have.
Tens of thousands of farmers in India have already comitted suicide because
their low producing gmo plants bancrupted them. Only in places where rich
farmers can afford fertilizers and irrigation water have gmo plants some
chance.

What I also think is that extreme expensive commodities make for better
profits for big companies. When food or oil are cheap there is less to be
made for the big companies. Only with rising prices do they get record
profits.
And I could take this thought one step further; I have heard farmers
complain that there is only gmo seed still to be bought these days. Guess
which company has the best stocks of non gmo seeds? Right, Monsanto. They
will make sure to win whatever happens.
john

According to news reports, the price for soya has risen nearly to the
record levels it reached during the first global food crisis in 2007-8.
Droughts in Argentine, Brazil and Uruguay are cited as the reason for
the price increase. I think it is safe to assume that most soya crops
grown in Argentine, Brazil and Uruguay are GMO crops.

Even though these GMO crops may not have been engineered for drought
resistance, it nevertheless seems to indicate that industrial farming
using GMOs is less capable of coping with drought than sustainable
farming methods increasing humus levels and soil water retention.

What do you think?

Dieter

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