[PrestonSturges]

It will not make the seed companies happy, but I think we will go back to mechanical weeding of row crops, except that it will be done by robots. There is no reason a robot can't recognize weeds as well as providing real time monitoring for insect pests. The robot would wander the rows and zap, chop, or uproot each weed, depending on what kind of weed it's equipped to deal with.

[rebecca_black]

Whoa... Biotech filed continues to amuse me... The article was seriously weird and I had no idea whatsoever, related to that kinda' stuff.

Regards

Rebecca Black

[Graeme]

A closer look at the GM debate

Nature magazine has dedicated their most recent issue to a discussion of genetically modified (GM) products in farming. In a series of diverse articles, they explore some of the fears and concerns that have made GM contentious, but optimistically conclude that the greatest benefits of GM still lie ahead.

Opinions in Europe have tended to run hotter than elsewhere, especially with regard to rights of companies to tamper with the agro-heritage we hold in common. Perhaps as long as Europe's traditional wines, and singular monastic brews, still command the highest prices worldwide, they may continue to be the first to cry foul and be heard. Many companies throughout the world now distribute genetically engineered products, but perhaps no name is more synonymous with GM, than that of Monsanto.
The scientific successes of Monsanto include crops resistant to both natural challenges like drought, and artificial assaults like glycophosphate herbicides (Roundup). They have also developed BT (Bacillus Thuringiensis) cotton, maize, and soybean which contain insecticidal protein. Of less clear universal benefit are products that help farmers more than consumers, like for example, rBGH (recombinant bovine growth hormone) which increases milk production. Most dubious among their products are those which alter the crop to help neither consumer or farmer, but only themselves. Their "terminator seeds," which produce plants that are sterile, have value mainly for corporate profit. At each level, not only a lack of transparency, but also visibility, in the form of clearly labelled products detracts from the universal acceptance of GM.


One Nature article entitled, Case studies: A hard look at GM crops, points to even more insidious claims that have been made against GM crops. In India, Bt cotton has been blamed for an increase in total suicide rates across across the country. The larger truth now appears to be that, at least for farmers, the suicide rate itself hasn't even changed. The path forward for GM will no doubt have a few bumps, but it appears that many new products of tremendous benefit to mankind are just on the horizon. Visibility and communication will be an essential feedback mechanism to ensure that corporate introduction of these new technologies proceeds at a pace where consumer trust has sufficient time for verification.

phys.org

[Loki]

Visibility and communication will be an essential feedback mechanism to ensure that corporate introduction of these new technologies proceeds at a pace where consumer trust has sufficient time for verification.

Ha ha, that's rich given the staunch resistance to labelling laws by Monsanto et al. Visibility and communication, consumer trust....

Let's label them and let the market decide.

I'd also like to see the end of subsidies to Big Ag, the overwhelming majority of which grow GE crops almost exclusively. When we have a crop failure on our organic farm, we suck it up and move on. No subsidies for us. But when some “family farm” in Iowa with 10,000 acres of GE corn and soybeans has a crop failure, Uncle Sucker cuts them a big fat check. We deal with variability in growing conditions by diversifying---if the giant GE monoculturists can't figure that out, fuck 'em, let 'em go bankrupt.

Funny how some folks are rabidly pro-free market, right up to the point where a truly free market populated by informed consumers cuts into their profit margins.

Oh yeah, this is also bullshit:

The scientific successes of Monsanto include crops resistant to both natural challenges like drought

I have seen no evidence that Monsanto's allegedly drought-resistant corn weathered the Midwest drought any better than any other corn variety.

[PrestonSturges]

I have seen no evidence that Monsanto's allegedly drought-resistant corn weathered the Midwest drought any better than any other corn variety.

The question seems to be whether drought resistant corn is worth the money if it does rain. And that's being treated as if it's some scandal. Likewise, the Union of Concerned Scientists make a big deal about how Bt plants don't yield more in the absence of pests. Which is like saying that the Chevy Volt gets no better gas mileage than an Escalade when it's not being driven, or maybe how fire extinguishers are quite useless against snow drifts.

[Wyoming]

I notice in the news today that Japan has stopped imports of US wheat due to Monsanto GM wheat being discovered in wheat grown in Oregon for export. The article stated that Monsanto did trials of this wheat in circa 2004 but dropped it due to resistance to direct human consumption of GM crops. Guess it got off the farm so to speak.

If further checking indicates that there is widespread cross pollination in the PNW it is going to be a big issue in wheat exports as many countries have laws against it. Plus it probably means we all have been eating the stuff already. Super.

[careinke]

I notice in the news today that Japan has stopped imports of US wheat due to Monsanto GM wheat being discovered in wheat grown in Oregon for export. The article stated that Monsanto did trials of this wheat in circa 2004 but dropped it due to resistance to direct human consumption of GM crops. Guess it got off the farm so to speak.

If further checking indicates that there is widespread cross pollination in the PNW it is going to be a big issue in wheat exports as many countries have laws against it. Plus it probably means we all have been eating the stuff already. Super.

This is not good. Guess I need to e-mail our share cropper. He raises his own seed, next thing you know, Monstersanto will demand a royalty payment for our infected wheat.

[PrestonSturges]

Tokyo bans American wheat over the contamination of one field in the US while fallout from Fukashima continues to drift over Tokyo.

Did some marketing person come up with the GMO controversy as a sideshow to distract from the real environment destruction?

[americandream]

The real story is so much bigger than GMO's. GMO's are just a silly diversion from the horror of industrial grain production. It has poisoned the world. Made us sugar/carb addicts, created a Master Class and a world of slaves. It is the history of oppression writ on a stock certificate.

It's not industrialism per se that is at fault. It is how we use it. A good analogy is the wheel. Used in an appropriate manner, it has proven a boon...until it was appropriated in the production of millions of fossil fuel using private vehicles.

But I agree absolutely that GMO is a silly diversion from the underlying and faulty food production system.

[Loki]

Tokyo bans American wheat over the contamination of one field in the US while fallout from Fukashima continues to drift over Tokyo.

Did some marketing person come up with the GMO controversy as a sideshow to distract from the real environment destruction?

So your argument is Japan had a nuclear disaster, therefore GMOs are a non-issue. Interesting logic there. Google “non-sequitur” and get back to me about how your argument isn't fallacious.

But I agree absolutely that GMO is a silly diversion from the underlying and faulty food production system.

Hardly a “silly diversion,” it's one of the main symptoms of a sick global agricultural system. The great majority of the corn, soy, cotton, and sugar beets grown in the US are genetically engineered. When you have not only vast monocrops, but monocrops using just one variety, all grown at the razor's edge of maximum efficiency and dependent on just a few giant transnational corporations for inputs, you open yourself up to all sorts of potential problems. GMOs are the poster children for this insane agricultural system. Last I checked food was rather important to the continuation of the species, we might not want to be so blasé about it.

As for the wheat story, this was a predictable outcome. The majority of wheat grown in Oregon is exported. The countries that buy our wheat have explicitly told us they don't want GMOs. So what do we do? Experiment with GE wheat and allow it to contaminate the supply. Brilliant. I hope some lawyers get rich off this.

[Graeme]

Extensive Research Shows Monsanto's #1 Selling Herbicide Roundup Is Killing You

You are likely already aware of Monsanto’s crimes against humanity and nature, but are you aware that even major research institutions have shown time and time again that Monsanto’s best-selling herbicide Roundup has been linked to lethal conditions like Lymphoma and DNA damage?

It’s all available through the United States National Library of Medicine’s PubMed tool, which is actually a tool that allows you to crawl the world’s largest medical library for pieces of research. In this case, a voluminous amount of peer-reviewed research exists concerning the devastating effects of Roundup. Scientific studies that have linked Roundup to 44 different diseases, including Lymphoma, liver cancer, and Parkinson disease. And I’ve actually teamed up with Sayer Ji of GreenMedInfo to give you an entire PDF detailing the numerous research pieces on Roundup that documents these dangers.

In an interview with Sayer on Monsanto’s Roundup, we actually discussed not only what this information means for humankind, but how we can use it to stop Monsanto:

nationofchange

[PrestonSturges]

Extensive Research Shows Monsanto's #1 Selling Herbicide Roundup Is Killing You

Well that explains where some of the whacky citations I've seen are coming from, especially the "link" to breast cancer which is supposedly in this paper.

http://www.greenmedinfo.com/article/gen ... ast-cancer

This paper is about the natural compounds in soybeans, not Roundup.

Likewise many of the other papers linked to have nothing to do with Roundup or pesticides.

[Rune]

World changing technology enables crops to take nitrogen from the air

A major new technology has been developed by The University of Nottingham, which enables all of the world’s crops to take nitrogen from the air rather than expensive and environmentally damaging fertilisers.

Nitrogen fixation, the process by which nitrogen is converted to ammonia, is vital for plants to survive and grow. However, only a very small number of plants, most notably legumes (such as peas, beans and lentils) have the ability to fix nitrogen from the atmosphere with the help of nitrogen fixing bacteria. The vast majority of plants have to obtain nitrogen from the soil, and for most crops currently being grown across the world, this also means a reliance on synthetic nitrogen fertiliser.

Professor Edward Cocking, Director of The University of Nottingham’s Centre for Crop Nitrogen Fixation, has developed a unique method of putting nitrogen-fixing bacteria into the cells of plant roots. His major breakthrough came when he found a specific strain of nitrogen-fixing bacteria in sugar-cane which he discovered could intracellularly colonise all major crop plants. This ground-breaking development potentially provides every cell in the plant with the ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen. The implications for agriculture are enormous as this new technology can provide much of the plant’s nitrogen needs.

Well, there goes another peak oiler argument...

Video at the link.

[dsula]

World changing technology enables crops to take nitrogen from the air

A major new technology has been developed by The University of Nottingham, which enables all of the world’s crops to take nitrogen from the air rather than expensive and environmentally damaging fertilisers.

Nitrogen fixation, the process by which nitrogen is converted to ammonia, is vital for plants to survive and grow. However, only a very small number of plants, most notably legumes (such as peas, beans and lentils) have the ability to fix nitrogen from the atmosphere with the help of nitrogen fixing bacteria. The vast majority of plants have to obtain nitrogen from the soil, and for most crops currently being grown across the world, this also means a reliance on synthetic nitrogen fertiliser.

Professor Edward Cocking, Director of The University of Nottingham’s Centre for Crop Nitrogen Fixation, has developed a unique method of putting nitrogen-fixing bacteria into the cells of plant roots. His major breakthrough came when he found a specific strain of nitrogen-fixing bacteria in sugar-cane which he discovered could intracellularly colonise all major crop plants. This ground-breaking development potentially provides every cell in the plant with the ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen. The implications for agriculture are enormous as this new technology can provide much of the plant’s nitrogen needs.

Well, there goes another peak oiler argument...

Video at the link.

Get out! There's truly no limit to growth, is there? I sure hope OF2 can cramp a few more people into his Seattle neighborhood, because I don't want them in mine.

[Pops]

This is a big deal but not surprising, evolution vs revolution.
Lots of plants support bacteria that fix N, soy is routinely rotated with other crops for that reason.
P, water, arable land and of course global transportation that allows super efficient monocropping in the most favorable climes for particular cropps are really the limiting factors for ag.

GMOs are clearly the path toward unlimited human population growth though, that's really the goal isn't it carl? Survive to upload enmass to the Great Server in the Sky?

lol

.

[Rune]

This is a big deal but not surprising, evolution vs revolution.
Lots of plants support bacteria that fix N, soy is routinely rotated with other crops for that reason.
P, water, arable land and of course global transportation that allows super efficient monocropping in the most favorable climes for particular cropps are really the limiting factors for ag.

GMOs are clearly the path toward unlimited human population growth though, that's really the goal isn't it carl? Survive to upload enmass to the Great Server in the Sky?

Planet earth's life has been evolving for billions of years and it continues to evolve. No one knows where the human population growth trend will
end or slow, shrink or collapse or anything. Because whatever happens will be the result of evolving trends which no one can know in advance with any degree of certainty at all.

There is no reason to believe in a collapse as if it were a fact that hasn't happened yet. Just as there is no reason to believe that human beings are dependent upon petroleum for nitrogen fixation of plants.

Things change, Pops. Science and Technology too, much as you would hope and wish they would stand still - because THAT is the only way your faulty mental model of the world works.

[PrestonSturges]

As soon as it became possible to genetically modify crops (in the lab), the first goal was to increase the rate of nitrogen fixation by legumes or make other plants fix nitrogen too. All lot of labs were working on this in the late 1980s.

Also, these nitrogen fixing bacteria (agrobacteria) inject their DNA into the plant cells, and they were the basis of recombinant plant DNA technology. They are also the most familiar example of natural gene transfer between species, but anti-GMO activists are oblivious to this basic level of knowledge.

Anyway, scientists discovered that nitrogen fixation had already been optimized by a half billion years of evolution and they weren't going to make any quick improvements to the plant enzymes themselves.

This story seems to be about the discovery of a new bacterial strain, not a new GMO technology, although there is bound to be additional tinkering.

[PrestonSturges]

And we are going to have to wait for an actual publication because this is a press release and this Cocking fellow seems to be about 80, which pretty much guarantees he didn't do any actual work on this project.

[Efsome]

Plants don't need huge amounts of nitrogen in the first place. We poison the soil&water and create deadzones. Excess amounts of nitrogen and other overrated (P.K.) nutrients make plants grow fast and produce more alright but it also make them sick (like bodybuilders drugs). "Pests" attack sick plants mostly, and we try to kill them with more poison (pesticides). Mulching (leaving crops' straws, residues), biochar, rock dust, and humanure is enough to grow heirloom healthy plants, even if the yields maybe slightly lower. Most rational thing is leaving next generations good and unpolluted soils and fix broken nutrient cycles.