round up ready sweet corn in

[NorTracNY]

This is a joke right?

What does bug resistance have to do with Round Up ready sweet corn? :laughing:

Sadly, no joke! Do some reading on the lawsuits Monsantos has brought upon seed cleaners and farmers that have never bought their seeds, but the farmer's neighbors did. If a HUGE company threatened you with a lawsuit, but you believed you did nothing wrong, how long could you afford to defend yourself? 3 months, 6, 1 year?

Monsanto ~ Saved Seed and Farmer Lawsuits
Monsanto - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Monsanto vs. U.S. Farmers Report | The Center for Food Safety

http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/pubs/CFSMOnsantovsFarmerReport1.13.05.pdf

 

[bp fick]

I am reasonably well read on the Monsanto "issue". I'll just say this, rather than entering into the whole debate, which is huge and rarely is it ever discussed in a meaningful, calm way in public forums. So, I don't enter those threads, period.

What is clear to this simple, vegetable farmer is this. The seed is simply too expensive to be profitable. Bottom line. Vegetable gardening is far different than row cropping on a large scale.

 

[NorTracNY]

bp_fick,
Well put. There is a big difference between a small farm and a big farming corporation. I'm always cautious about the subject too. I try to state broad general facts and let the other people investigate if they choose. The links I provided are just the first few hits from a google search. I actually like that monsanto's own page showed up.

 

[charlz]

This is a joke right?

What does bug resistance have to do with Round Up ready sweet corn? :laughing:

From one of the articles:

"The sweet corn seeds are engineered to kill insects living above and below ground and to tolerate applications of the company痴 Roundup herbicide, Consuelo Madere, Monsanto vice president for vegetables, told reporters at company headquarters in St. Louis today. They will be introduced to growers serving the U.S. fresh corn market starting in the autumn, she said."

 

[bp fick]

Sweet corn is tight on the margins anyhow. It is one of our lower returns on ground assigned to its production. If this new seed follows other gmo seed costs, it would not be attractive to me, on a cost basis alone, to say nothing of the other issues. Obviously, an organic operation, such as our's, has no interest anyhow, but there are other factors, whether one is organic or not and cost versus return is just about everyone's common concern, it would seem to me.

A 200 acre sweet corn field in production for Green Giant is one thing. Perhaps the high seed cost can be balanced against trips over the field, etc. For an acre or two of sweet corn? It's likely very different.

 

[Luremaker]

Sweet corn is tight on the margins anyhow. It is one of our lower returns on ground assigned to its production. If this new seed follows other gmo seed costs, it would not be attractive to me, on a cost basis alone, to say nothing of the other issues. Obviously, an organic operation, such as our's, has no interest anyhow, but there are other factors, whether one is organic or not and cost versus return is just about everyone's common concern, it would seem to me.

A 200 acre sweet corn field in production for Green Giant is one thing. Perhaps the high seed cost can be balanced against trips over the field, etc. For an acre or two of sweet corn? It's likely very different.

I believe its being sold "only" to growers planting over 20 acres of sweet corn.

 

[Duffster]

Sadly, no joke! Do some reading on the lawsuits Monsantos has brought upon seed cleaners and farmers that have never bought their seeds, but the farmer's neighbors did. If a HUGE company threatened you with a lawsuit, but you believed you did nothing wrong, how long could you afford to defend yourself? 3 months, 6, 1 year?

Monsanto ~ Saved Seed and Farmer Lawsuits
Monsanto - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Monsanto vs. U.S. Farmers Report | The Center for Food Safety

http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/pubs/CFSMOnsantovsFarmerReport1.13.05.pdf

Point out one case the they sued someone that was innocent.

~150 Lawsuit in ~15-20 years with 250,000 customers a year. Sure don't sound that heavy handed to me.

Again I ask you:

What does bug resistance have to do with Round Up ready sweet corn?

You don't have to take advantage of the traits being stacked. Manage the bugs the same way you always have if you want.

 

[NorTracNY]

Point out one case the they sued someone that was innocent.

~150 Lawsuit in ~15-20 years with 250,000 customers a year. Sure don't sound that heavy handed to me.

Again I ask you:



You don't have to take advantage of the traits being stacked. Manage the bugs the same way you always have if you want.

It was very well pointed out that these discussions on Monsantos get out of hand way to fast. You're welcome to do your own research on the cases. Many of them though are not able to be examined due to "settlements", but there is plent on the net. As for your second question, I quickly found this article.
Monsanto Corn Under Attack by Superbug - WSJ.com

There are also many on the weeds becoming resistant to Roundup. As a farmer, I am concerned about what goes on my soil. You need to research on your own for this subject. Sorry.

 

[Duffster]

It was very well pointed out that these discussions on Monsantos get out of hand way to fast. You're welcome to do your own research on the cases. Many of them though are not able to be examined due to "settlements", but there is plent on the net. As for your second question, I quickly found this article.
Monsanto Corn Under Attack by Superbug - WSJ.com

There are also many on the weeds becoming resistant to Roundup. As a farmer, I am concerned about what goes on my soil. You need to research on your own for this subject. Sorry.

So control your weeds and bugs conventionally. Problem solved. Where is the issue?

 

[Duffster]

Do you think it was unjust for Monsanto to sue this fella?

Monsanto ~ Percy Schmeiser