In 1996, global seed companies like Monsanto and Syngenta promised that genetically modified (GM) crops would be our salvation. GM crops would solve world hunger, rescue the small farmer from bankruptcy, and reduce our reliance on environmentally damaging and expensive agrochemicals. Over ten years have passed since these [...]

I would encourage anybody interested in the implications of gene patenting and genetically modified organisms to listen to the broadcast recording of a talk given by farmer and citizen activist Percy Schmeiser. In it, Schmeiser details his multi-year legal battle with corporate giant Monsanto over contamination of his canola [...]

Some parts of the world are more vulnerable to a worldwide natural disturbance like global warming. Areas subject to drought and desertification are on the top of that list. In a place like Africa, where poverty, HIV, and internecine warfare have proven to be the perfect mix for prolonged [...]

Monoculture is often attacked from an ecological perspective: it causes the buildup of pests and diseases, it depletes the soil, it requires intensive chemical inputs. Granted, these realities have serious social consequences, but monoculture has a [...]

Over the past century, we have seen massive loss of agricultural biodiversity, in terms of both species and varieties. The statistics on biodiversity loss in varietal strains are staggering. According to the book Fatal Harvest, from 1903 to 1983, we have lost 80.6 percent of tomato varieties, 92.8 [...]