Monsanto makes highly hybridized seeds available to home gardeners

grantmichaels said:
I think as we understand more, we often regret where we've tampered w/ mother nature ... so I'm on the fence.
 
I'd like to see less people on earth, personally.
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There are examples of us bettering nature, but it's not wholesale imo. Less people on earth isn't something I'm worried about as much as I am runaway GMO crops that will adversely affect biodiversity.  It's that very biodiversity that's helping keep us safe.
 
I don't really think GMO is the actual problem, but more where it's used for. I know a company that produces corn (not Monsanto) that require less from nutrient X. What is the result? Crops still thrive in poor soil, but you need to buy Brand X fertilizer to do so. Traditional heirlooms will do crap on those fields and will be quickly overrun by weeds.

Is this a bad thing on the scientific side? No, it's great. You can alter nature to feed you in harsh times as well.

I think the issue is more in the farmers that use these crops for fast money. Yes, farmers need to make a living as well.. But things like round up are ruining soil all over the place. You can't switch to non GMO as those plants will die in that field, and those resistant weeds will eat your other crops for breakfast.

Just know that not all GMO means round up ready, you also have different traits like more sugar content, stronger fruits (to counter transport damage losses), viral resistance, fruit size, shorter grow seasons enabling more crops etc.

There are more good things than bad things being done with GMO. Plant wise a genetically modified plant doesn't differ a lot from a normal heirloom. Actually crossbreeding for the traits is also like GMO. I'm also confident on it's safety, I'm just concerned about the mega corn and grainfields contaminating our planet by monetary gain over concience.

Just my 2 cents..
 
Pfeffer said:
 Crops still thrive in poor soil, but you need to buy Brand X fertilizer to do so.
 
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you sure about that?
everything i know about plants and nutrients tells me thats extremely implausible...
 
That's the magic, you can grow on very poor quality soil but need to fert with their fertilizer. Where for heirlooms the soil would be considered unsuitable or depleted.
 
I look at GMO's like this.
I look at Round-up ready seeds is  like Feeding my sheep mercury, and then eating the sheep and wondering why I have mercury poisoning.

GMO's are IMO are for Lazy farmers and poor breeders, 99% of what Monsanto does with GMO's they could do with proper breeding but it would take longer and wouldn't risk the health of the people that eats it.    I bet Monsanto could GMO a super hot pepper that be a record 6M if they wanted to but what is the use of making a Record hot that wasn't breed but made?    
 
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Mr. Hill said:
I look at GMO's like this.
I look at Round-up ready seeds is  like Feeding my sheep mercury, and then eating the sheep and wondering why I have mercury poisoning.

GMO's are IMO are for Lazy farmers and poor breeders, 99% of what Monsanto does with GMO's they could do with proper breeding but it would take longer and wouldn't risk the health of the people that eats it.    I bet Monsanto could GMO a super hot pepper that be a record 6M if they wanted to but what is the use of making a Record hot that wasn't breed but made?
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For a second there I thought you had a sheep named Mercury.
 
O/t, I find GMO's fascinating, but I think they need to make the crops infertile. No cross-breed contamination. Farmers would have to buy a new batch of seeds every season, but I read earlier that's the case anyway. They would know what they'd get themselves into, GMO crops meaning better yields, less weeds and stuff to worry about, but you'd have to weigh the costs and the benefits, and decide wether or not GMO is the best option the way to go. I think Europe has it by the right end, with measurements taken ranging from required labeling to bufferzones between GMO and non-GMO fields. We (humans) need to be a bit more careful toying with nature, it's gone wrong before and it will go wrong again. Often times it isn't even discovered (or wanted to be seen) until it has done irreversible and lasting damage.
 
 
(edited for rhyming)
 
Only why they get less weeds is spraying Round-up on the plants, as for yields that really hasn't shown to be enough to cover the higher cost of the seeds and lower market price they get for GMO's,  I read for this years crop more Non GMO seeds have been sold for planting then the last 5 years combined people are waking up and not wanting food that's been sprayed with Poison.  
 
Mr. Hill said:
as for yields that really hasn't shown to be enough to cover the higher cost of the seeds and lower market price they get for GMO's,  I read for this years crop more Non GMO seeds have been sold for planting then the last 5 years combined people are waking up and not wanting food that's been sprayed with Poison.  
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thats insanity. why would any farmer operate at a loss? they've been growing round up ready corn and soy... and making a tidy profit for like... 2 decades... some of the patents are already expired and more will this or next year.
 
and while i doubt your numbers, yea organic agriculture has seen a general steady uptick since the late 1990's... this is due to the fear mongering and lies spread.  the organic marketplace is now f**king humongeous. so large that entire grocery store chains cater exclusively to it.... yet folks still whine about forced labeling of non issue gmo ingredients.
if you dont want to eat gmo, buy organic. its simple as that.

and GMO corn is just like any other hybrid corn... the protien expressed for the resistance and the BT protiene etc, have NOTHING to do with the plants productivity itself.
 
its all about reducing the costs of conducting business.  with this trait you can prevent loss of your crops due to pest as well as allow you to spray post and pre emergence with roundup to prevent weed competition and or prevent the need to plow like 12" deep to turn over the soil...

check this out... page three top right.
 
https://extension.usu.edu/newsletters/files/uploads/2013_Budgets/2013_Corn_Grain.pdf
 
see the cost of fertilizer and pesticides?
 
now see the cost of seed?
 
which is bigger?
 
 
now look at page 2. top of the cost breakdowns.
 
 
HE MADE ONE APPLICATION OF HERBICIDES ( pre emergence prob.)  .... at the rate of 1 quart per acre.... he also sprayed some 2,4d at half a quart per acre....
oh my. what a poor steward for the environment. we should beat the soles of his feet with rubber hoses.
 
now look at his TOTAL cost of seed.... 1500 bucks for 220 acres worth of seed... thats 195 bushels of seed. at 50 something lbs per bushel thats around 10,000 lbs of corn seed for 1500 bucks... or 15 cents per pound.
 
please tell me more about how expensive roundup corn is.
 
wholesale commodity pricing sees corn feed priced at less than a penny per lb from what i can see... so as long at your 15 cent lb of gmo corn produces 1500 lbs of corn you are in break even territory...

patents are 20 years btw. i said 7 years earlier, twas a mistake.
 
I think from what I've read...
Compairing GMO's and Hybrids are Apples and Oranges.
 
Nothing wrong in my opinion with fast tracking Hybrids - staying in with what cross breading would take years to do.
 
GMO's sometimes,at what percent,I don't know,can be a cross of genes or whatever that could never evolved in nature.
 
Using genes from some plant to get whatever they want as a trait in something that would never happen in nature from a species that would never have crossed by itself.
 
I don't know if a LOT of the stuff I read is even close to fact.BUT I do think at least some is.
 
I read enough stuff,I take with a grain of salt that suggests that SOME GMO stuff can cross with stuff it was never going to in nature originally.
 
Maybe,I don't know for sure,some roundup ready food crops can possibly cross with something that can cross with something else to make roundup ready weeds or whatever.
MAYBE-it was on the net so I know it's true-My buddy posted it yesterday. LOL
 
My fear is the Lab gene stuff in general.
 
IF in 50 yrs. they find out they made a mistake trading genes with whatever,it can REALLY suck.
 
There are a lot of specificthings we/they messed up things in GMO type history.
Most that I read were for non food products.
Orchids or Tulips or something,can't remember right now.
 
BUT IF it happens for Wheat,Rice and Corn it WILL be a BIG problem.
IF it happens.
Lab tests are a lot different than in reality on a farm where Murphies LAW can kick in.
 
I guess Hybridizing Peppers between peppers to create a productive pepper in a couple years doesn't bother me.
 
But using another species plants genes or adding animal genes or whatever is a different thing all together in my book.
By the time they figure out they made a mistake it's too late.
 
I see the LED thing about Monsant.
Dam ,I'd love to grow a GMO, LED Pepper.
No electric bill.
Just sprout my LED Pepper seeds and I'm cool.
No electric bill. :)
Just plant thwe LED enhanced plants between my regular pepper starts. WHOO HOOO!
 
My only gripe in regards to GMO's is not the GMO's themselves, but how they are often promoted as the potential savior of humanity. Especially in regards to a changing climate, as if no traditional crops grown elsewhere in the world have drought and heat tolerance, or the ability to withstand pest/disease pressure and offer nutrition. But I understand that (thankfully) it is difficult to patent and promote existing traditional crops, which means there isn't much money to be made by investing in these crops if you are a big ag company. "Creating" your own version of a "familiar" crop which you are allowed to patent is much more lucrative! So how can you blame them ;)
 
I don't want to blame them, I want to saddle them with the burden of seed-saving as part of their due diligence for possibly causing harm down the line ...
 
Maybe they should just get taxed more heavily, LOL ...
 
grantmichaels said:
I don't want to blame them, I want to saddle them with the burden of seed-saving as part of their due diligence for possibly causing harm down the line ...
 
Maybe they should just get taxed more heavily, LOL ...
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i think you are blaming them for something that is likely not their fault.
 
these cultivars are probably, or as i understood in the story, cultivars bred and handed down from small farmers. farmers that are probably outside the US in the first place.
 
plus its the ag departments job to catalogue plant cultivars and shit like that.
 
do you know who was for a while the largest employer of painters? it was the various state and federal ag departments producing and archiving painting of of shit like apples and peaches and pears... shit that varies from cultivar to cultivar. regrettably photography killed that cool job.
http://usdawatercolors.nal.usda.gov/pom/home.xhtml
 
check these out some time...
 
idk if this collection is even partially on display somewhere... if it was id sure love to see it.
 
My sister did a lot of technical illustration on her way to her doctorate in neurobio ...

She was going to work making animated sequences for Discovery, but then her research became too interesting, I guess ... it was when it became neuro/cancer focused, if I recall ...
 
SCREW Monsanto, they won't last long. They are being pushed out of Hawaii for spraying all their experimental chemicals and not wanting anyone to test if these chemicals are safe. What this company does is so mysterious to the public......they are poisoning the environment and making money for it!!! wake up people!!! we don't need genetically modified foods to survive, we've been doing it for thousands of years. Here in Hawaii all they have to do is let scientists do a study on the chemicals that they spray and if they are "safe" to spray around schools, communities, and people then its not a problem. They refuse to let these studies happen, why? because they know how f'd up those chemicals really are.
 
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