Planned (Monsanto) merger angers black farmers

[nosmokes]

original-clarionledger
February 23, 2007

Planned merger angers black farmers
By Julie Goodman
[e-mail]





A national black farmers group says a proposed merger between Monsanto Co. and Delta and Pine Land will create a monolopy and force black farmers out of the business. The association represents 80,000 members, predominantly small planters.



Black farmers in Mississippi and around the country are bracing for a major seed company merger they say threatens to create a monopoly that will price them out of the farming business.

St. Louis-based Monsanto Co. is forging ahead with a plan to purchase Mississippi's Scott-based cottonseed company Delta and Pine Land, and a national black farmers group says its opposition to the deal has gotten lost in the mix.

"If this merger goes through, it's going to have a drastic effect on black farmers and small farmers around the country," said John Boyd Jr., president of the National Black Farmers Association.

"If this merger goes through, there is literally no competition for cottonseed, soybean seed and corn seed, genetically engineered."

The association represents 80,000 members around the country, primarily small producers, and has its biggest membership in Mississippi.

Delta and Pine Land operates the largest and longest-running private cottonseed breeding program in the world while Monsanto, one of the world's largest agricultural products companies, makes Roundup, the world's best-selling herbicide.

The deal, still awaiting U.S. Department of Justice approval, would mean a monopoly on the market, and seed prices would shoot up, Boyd said.

"It would be just like going to one supermarket and that supermarket sets the price for everything and we don't have any option but to go to that one supermarket."
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complete article here

[marmar]

1. Monsanto is right up there with Halliburton on my list of most-despised corporations...

:argh:

[shance]

3. Yes, this is one more horrible assault on good people just trying to get by.

And predatory corporations like Halliburton and Monsanto continue to destroy and extinguish what is good in the world.

[Mojorabbit]

5. I put them at number one on the list

because if not stopped I fear they will have contaminated all heirloom seed that still exists.

[jody]

2. Sad but small farms can no longer complete except in niche markets/products. n/t

[shance]

4. Have you ever asked yourself "why" Jody?

And how you might feel if your way of life was being intentionally destroyed by those who already have too much money and too much power?

[jody]

6. I own a small farm and my family has farmed for centuries. I know what it's like to see my way of

life threatened.

Economic forces are driving small farmers out of business just like economic forces drove small automobile manufacturers out of business, etc.

Do you want to subsidize small businesses that would otherwise be forced to close because of Walmart et al?