General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Breaking News: Monsanto to Be Put to Trial in Hague for Crimes Against Humanity [View all]Dickster
(103 posts)I've used Roundup since it became available. I've used it on my corn and soybeans crops for many years. I no longer use it. The weeds it used to kill have developed resistance and some have become very hard to kill. I have neighbors who use 3-4 times the rate of the product that they did previously, and still cannot kill the weeds. So they then have to use other herbicides or hire manual labor to rid the fields of the weeds, which isn't cheap. So the total amount of herbicides has increased.
I've gone back to conventional seeds that use older, traditional methods of weed control. I still use chemical herbicides that work quite well. The seed cost is considerably less. A bag of Monsanto GMO seed corn runs around $350. I can buy a bag of conventional seed corn for $150. This past year there was no difference between my corn yield and that of my neighbors who used the GMO varieties. The savings are about $80 per acre. Monsanto soybean seed runs about $60 per bag. I can buy conventional soybean seed for half that. So I'm saving $30 per acre on soybean seed that yield the same. I'd rather keep that money in my pocket than hand it over to one of the most profitable companies on the face of the planet.
Monsanto and a handful of other companies have a monopoly on seed. It is very hard to find non GMO seed. There a a few companies left that breed conventional varieties, but it is probably less that 5 percent of the market.
I have several problems with Monsanto. They have cornered the seed market so that most farmers don't have much choice about who they buy seed from. If you buy the seed, you are forced to buy their herbicides. I also cannot save any of that seed to plant the following year, due to patent rights Monsanto has on the seed.
They have made it very difficult for any independent research to be done on their products, so the public has to rely on the "honesty" of Monsanto as to the safety of their products. Any time independent research questions the safety of their products, Monsanto unleashes a massive publicity campaign impugning the integrity of the independent research.
There is a revolving door within the USDA and Monsanto researchers, bureaucrats, etc. so we get no help out of the Dept of Agriculture. They have swallowed Monsanto's creed hook, line, and sinker.
A good portion of the rest of the world has said 'no thank you' to GMO products, for many of the same reasons I have given. They haven't drunk Monsanto's KoolAid like we have here in this country. I could go on, but enough for now......