20100302 agchat soil not dirt opinion

Corporate agriculture. Land profiteers. Factory farms. CAFO. Uncaring. Pundits of “big agriculture” espouse the downfall of our food system while pointing to greedy corporations. After all, they’re looking to only get rich from subsidies, have no pride in the craft of agriculture, abuse animals in horrific conditions and pour chemicals on the land in an effort to make more money. Right?

As if a highly bureaucratic regulatory system was not already in place, 9/11 fueled renewed acceleration to eliminate freedom from the countryside. Every time a letter arrives in the mail from a federal or state agriculture department my heart jumps like I just got sent to the principal’s office.

NOTE: This should be compulsory reading for anyone who believes the hype about GM crops being some sort of panacea for farming problems. It is from a US farmers' newsletter put out each week by a crop consulting firm in Louisiana. This issue is of particular interest because it contains a detailed report (extracted below) about a meeting between Monsanto and about 40 farmers, consultants and others.