| GM crops are controlled by patent law rather than the less controlling, less restrictive and less profitable plant breeder rights. For example, farmers can replant their own seeds under plant breeder rights but this right is restricted under patent law and farmers must buy new seed every year.
Monsanto's "Roundup Ready" gene can be added to all non-GM canola varieties and there is incentive for plant breeders to attract corporate investment by doing so - this will create an effective monopoly of the seed market, particularly when farmers must buy new seed every year.
Chemical resistant canola will encourage the additional use of specific chemicals, for example, Monsanto's Roundup. As Monsanto is the only company that has applied for a license for post emergent application of glyphosate, cheaper generic brands of glyphosate can not be used on GM crops. In the case of Roundup Ready canola this will also encourage use of glyphosate tank mixes to control unwanted volunteers - Monsanto are positioning to improve their patent rights on tankmixes and their expired glyphosate patent.
GM crops can be manipulated to require additional chemicals to activate desired traits (such as frost tolerance) thereby providing more profit to chemical companies and more expense to farmers.
Because of the potential to make more money from farmers, GM crops attract corporate investment opportunities thereby increasing the income to the scientific research community. America is putting considerable pressure on Australia to "level the playing field" as they are meeting considerable market resistance.
GM crop management plans enable corporate companies to dictate management plans to farmers. For example, farmers must be quality assured and provide a traceability system for seed and chemical use.
Australia is the largest non-GM producer of GM canola and there is incentive to remove our GM-free status to remove market competition for GM growing countries.
This adds up to profits for corporate companies and researchers at the expense of farmers. Australian farmers can not afford GM crops when we are competing against subsidised countries. See "No economic benefit for farmers" here
Julie Newman
Network of Concerned Farmers www.non-gm-farmers.com
Of interest:
Extract from article (here)
- Monsanto Co., according to this story, controls 100 percent of the market for certain specialized soybean and corn seeds that help farmers fight weeds, along with more than 80 percent of the market for a corn that resists destructive insects, and in all, Monsanto corn and beans strains are planted annually on more than 70 million acres of U.S. farmland.
- But, a lawsuit filed last month by Basel, Switzerland-based Syngenta, the world's biggest agrichemicals company and bitter Monsanto rival, alleges that since the 1990s, Monsanto has "maintained and increased its monopoly power in multiple markets through a series of coercive tactics and exclusive dealing arrangements designed to keep out all competition."
The petition, filed in U.S. District Court in Delaware, says Monsanto has set up unfair "bundling" deals that induce seed companies to make sure sales across all product lines are at least 70 percent Monsanto brands.
It alleges Monsanto has built up control over a majority of the foundation corn seed market in the United States and then structured deals with seed companies that sharply limit the ability of competitors to access enough foundation seed to bring new biotech traits to market.
Monsanto monopoly extends to canola seed companies |
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- Monsanto today announced it has acquired the North American canola seed assets of Advanta B.V. - a company recently purchased by Fox Paine Capital Fund II International, L.P.
"As an innovative crop technology company, we have made a commitment to bring the benefits of biotechnology to crops such as canola," said Kathy Klepfer, general manager for Monsanto Canada. "This is an exciting acquisition for Monsanto Canada as it allows us to bring together two very successful canola seed companies. Combining the outstanding germplasm from these two leading canola development programs will provide a solid platform for future improvements and allow us to accelerate the development of new commercial seed varieties for growers. The combination of DEKALB(R) and ADVANTA(R) will create a new canola seed business second to none in the market." |
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Iraq report reveals US imposition to prevent farmers saving their own seeds |
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- A new report [1] by GRAIN and Focus on the Global South has found that new legislation in Iraq has been carefully put in place by the US that prevents farmers from saving their seeds and effectively hands over the seed market to transnational corporations. This is a disastrous turn of events for Iraqi farmers, biodiversity and the country's food security. While political sovereignty remains an illusion, food sovereignty for the Iraqi people has been made near impossible by these new regulations.
"The US has been imposing patents on life around the world through trade deals. In this case, they invaded the country first, then imposed their patents. This is both immoral and unacceptable", said Shalini Bhutani, one of the report's authors. |
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