Somebody Ask Alison If She Thinks Urban Kids Deserve Food

This is a waste of time. Let's just round up all the urban poors and give them to the guntards for target practice.

Be a whole lot faster and cheaper than slowly starving them to death.

Josh Marshall:

I'm not sure why this isn't a bigger deal. I hadn't heard about it other than in this brief passage tucked away in a Politico article about the House GOP agriculture bill. But it takes a small program intended provide meals to children in the school lunch program during the summer months and says it can now only be used to benefit kids in "rural areas".

In other words, "urban" kids are now out of luck. 

Here's the passage in question ..

And in a surprising twist, the bill language specifies that only rural areas are to benefit in the future from funding requested by the administration this year to continue a modest summer demonstration program to help children from low-income households — both urban and rural — during those months when school meals are not available.

Since 2010, the program has operated from an initial appropriation of $85 million, and the goal has been to test alternative approaches to distribute aid when schools are not in session. The White House asked for an additional $30 million to continue the effort, but the House bill provides $27 million for what’s described as an entirely new pilot program focused on rural areas only.

Democrats were surprised to see urban children were excluded. And the GOP had some trouble explaining the history itself. But a spokeswoman confirmed that the intent of the bill is a pilot project in “rural areas” only.

There seems to be a degree of understatement going on here, particularly in the final paragraph. What gives?

This isn't repugs getting in touch with and exposing their inner racists anymore.  This is attempted genocide.

Liberal Democrats need to get that through our thick skulls and fight fire with fire before it becomes national policy.

Here it is in chart form.

Be Thankful for AgriCULTURE and Reject AgriBUSINESS

Jim Hightower at Nation of Change:

An arrogant, brusque, narrow-minded and dogmatic agricultural economist, Butz had risen to prominence in the small — but politically powerful — world of agriculture by devoting himself to the corporate takeover of the global food economy. He was dean of agriculture at Purdue University, but also a paid board member of Ralston Purina and other agribusiness giants. In these roles, he openly promoted the preeminence of middleman food manufacturers over family farmers, whom he disdained.

"Agriculture is no longer a way of life," he infamously barked at them. "It's a business." He callously instructed farmers to "get big or get out" — and he then proceeded to shove tens of thousands of them out by promoting an export-based, conglomerated, industrialized, globalized, and heavily subsidized corporate-run food economy. "Adapt," he warned farmers, "or die." The ruination of farms and rural communities, Butz added, "releases people to do something useful in our society."
The whirling horror of Butz, however, spun off a blessing, which is that innovative, freethinking, populist-minded and rebellious small farmers and food artisans practically threw up at the resulting Twinkieization of America's food.

They were sickened that nature's own rich contribution to human culture was being turned into just another plasticized product of corporate profiteers. "The central problem with modern industrial agriculture ... (is) not just that it produces unhealthy food, mishandles waste, and overuses antibiotics in ways that harm us all. More fundamentally, it has no soul," said Nicholas Kristof, a New York Times columnist and former farm boy from Yamhill, Ore. Rather than accept that, they threw themselves into creating and sustaining a viable, democratic alternative. The "good food" rebellion has since sprouted, spread and blossomed from coast to coast.

This transformative grass-roots movement rebuts old Earl's insistence that agriculture is nothing but a business. It most certainly is a business, but it's a good business — literally producing goodness — because it's "a way of life" for enterprising, very hardworking people who practice the art and science of cooperating with Mother Nature, rather than always trying to overwhelm her. These farmers don't want to be massive or make a killing; they want to farm and make delicious, healthy food products that help enrich the whole community.

This spirit was summed up in one simple word by a sustainable farmer in Ohio, who was asked what he'd be if he wasn't a farmer. He replied: "Disappointed." To farmers like these, food embodies our full "culture" — a word that is, after all, sculpted right into "agriculture" and is essential to its organic meaning.

Although agriculture has forestalled the total takeover of our food by crass agribusiness, the corporate powers and their political hirelings continue to press for the elimination of the food rebels and ultimately to impose the Butzian vision of complete corporatization. This is one of the most important populist struggles occurring in our society. It's literally a fight for control of our dinner, and it certainly deserves a major focus as you sit down to your Thanksgiving dinner this year.

To find small-scale farmers, artisans, farmers markets and other resources in your area for everything from organic tomatoes to pastured turkey, visit LocalHarvest.org.

R.I.P Real Food. Murdered by Monsanto and the U.S. Ag Dept., November 2012

Every person who plants an heirloom seed, cultivates organic vegetables, seeks to provide healthy nutritious food for her family and others is an immediate existential threat to giant Robo-Ag corporations.

Because the existence of even a single non-GMO food plant proves that there is an alternative to the FrankenFood proliferating worldwide. So Big Ag went crying to the federal government - a wholly-owned subsidiary of Monsanto and its ilk - and demanded protection from those horrible farmers.
 

Aviva Shen at Think Progress:

Every year for the past 13 years, biotechnology giant Monsanto Company has sued about 11 farmers per year for patent infringement of their genetically modified corn and soybean seeds. Many of these farmers have had to pay a settlement to the corporation even when their fields were accidentally contaminated with GM seeds from a neighboring farm. Monsanto simply outspends the defendants, dedicating $10 million a year and 75 staffers for the sole purpose of investigating and prosecuting farmers. Farmers who have sued Monsanto back have been soundly defeated. 

Monsanto is likely to continue this winning streak with an assist from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which released a final report Monday absolving the biotech industry of contamination of non-GM seeds with their products from other fields. The USDA report concludes that organic and other non-GM farmers should simply buy insurance to protect against GMO contamination.

Essentially, Monsanto can sue these farmers all they want for patent infringement, but they are immune to challenges from organic farmers whose products are contaminated by GMOs. As one dissenting committee member commented:

Any farmer/seed grower contaminated will not want to disclose the contamination because they are illegally in possession of a patented material and could be subject to legal action for theft of intellectual property. The committee refused to ever recognize this fact.

The report is just the latest example of the USDA’s cozy relationship with the biotech industry. In fact, the agency has never denied a single application for GM crop approval. Monsanto’s power extends beyond the USDA — also on Monday, the Department of Justice dropped their antitrust investigation into Monsanto’s near monopoly on the nation’s seeds. The stalled Farm Bill in Congress also contains a so-called “Monsanto rider” that would entirely deregulate GM crops and allow Monsanto to basically approve its own product.

There is a slim chance Monsanto’s fortunes could change with a Supreme Court case on this term’s docket. In an unprecedented move, the high court agreed to take on an Indiana farmer’s appeal after he was ordered to pay Monsanto $80,000 for patent infringement. Though the current Supreme Court is quite openly sympathetic to corporate interests, their decision to hear the case at all bodes well for farmers grappling with the agricultural giant all over the country.

 Fuck Monsanto. Grow your own food.  A single planter on a sunny balcony will supply fresh tomatoes all summer long. Order heirloom seeds here. Learn how to grow organically here.

Kentucky Encouraging Kids to Garden

I'll be damned. The how-to booklet for the kids on this program actually does not toe the Monsanto line. It doesn't promote organic principles and techniques either, but I'll take a small victory where I can get it.

From the AP:

The Kentucky Department of Agriculture usually deals with bigger farmers but has joined with the Governor's Office of Agricultural Policy to work with some younger potential growers. First lady Jane Beshear and Agriculture Commissioner James Comer have launched a program to show young people how they can plant their own gardens and grow food, even on a patio.

Comer says "A Kid's Guide to Gardening" also teaches the importance of learning the source of food.

Students from Kerrick Elementary School in Louisville attended the announcement, picking up their copies of the guides and receiving hands-on experience in harvesting and planting.

More information about the initiative, called "Ready, Set, Grow," is available along with the guide here.

Is Being Stupid and Venal a Federal Crime?

We're about to find out.

From the Courier

The FBI is investigating Richie Farmer’s stint as agriculture commissioner, his successor says.
“The attorney general’s office has notified me that the FBI is investigating the previous administration,” Agriculture Commissioner James Comer said Friday. “ ... They said that the FBI would be contacting some of our employees” who remain from Farmer’s eight years as commissioner.


SNIP


He said his office was notified late last week by Attorney General Jack Conway’s staff.


Comer said his staff was not told what aspects of Farmer’s 2004-11 tenure are under investigation.

SNIP

 Farmer’s tenure as agriculture commissioner was blasted in an April 30 audit by state Auditor Adam Edelen. The audit criticized Farmer’s administration on a wide range of financial and management issues, including possible misuse of state and federal funds.

Don't ever forget that this is the man Kentucky repugs nominated for Lt. Governor just last year, and that Jamie butter-wouldn't-melt-in-his-mouth Comer supported him.

"Toxic Culture of Entitlement"

The first thing you need to know is that former Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture Ritchie Farmer is mentally deficient. That's not an insult. That's a fact.

The second thing is that his obvious retardation did not stop Kentuckians from voting him into one of the most powerful statewide offices. Twice. All they cared about was his being a hometown boy who played on a championship UK basketball team.

The third thing is that literally nothing will come of the audit report that reveals widespread corruption and illegality on Reetchie's part. He will not go to jail, he will not pay any fines beyond returning all the stuff he stole, Kentucky will not turn the Commissioner of Agriculture into an appointed position the way it is in civilized states, and record-breaking corruption in the Agriculture Department will continue - albeit more circumspectly.

Joe Sonka at Leo's Fat Lip:

This morning, Kentucky State Auditor Adam Edelen released the findings of his special examination into Richie Farmer’s handling of the Department of Agriculture during his term, which he says shows “a toxic culture of entitlement and self-dealing at Kentucky taxpayers’ expense.”

Edelen will be referring the report to the Kentucky Attorney General, Executive Branch Ethics Commission, IRS, Kentucky Department of Revenue, Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Personnel Board.

“The law makes no distinction between icons and the rest of us, and neither do I,” Edelen said. “The report paints a clear picture of an administration that had no qualms about treating taxpayer resources as its own. The former commissioner had state employees on state time take him hunting and shopping, mow his yard, build a basketballw makes no distinction between icons and the rest of us, and neither do I,” Edelen said. “The report paints a clear picture of an administration that had no qualms about treating taxpayer resources as its own. The former commissioner had state employees on state time take him hunting and shopping, mow his yard, build a basketball court in his backyard, and even chauffer his dog. He showered himself with gifts and office equipment and rewarded friends with jobs. These are just some of the documented abuses that should outrage every Kentuckian."

The highlights:

SNIP

Richie signed the timesheets of his girlfriend/mistress because his chief of staff refused to do so/couldn’t substantiate any work she did

A former executive director and former director told staff to delay action against a grain dealer because it was during an election year and could cause a negative political outcome for the former commissioner.

A $1.65 million fuel-testing lab that was projected to test 20,000 samples a year has not met its goal and lost the state more than $744,000 in fiscal year 2011.

Roughly half the department’s employees had permanently assigned take-home vehicles. Many of the employees were not justified in having state vehicles.

There’s lots more detailed in the report. 41 findings and 126 recommendations. Many issues surrounding the reporting of taxable benefits to the IRS and Kentucky Department of Revenue. So you’ll likely want to read it all.

And it wasn't just money. There were casualties. Barefoot and Progressive before the audit report cam out:

It seems like Richie Farmer’s time as Ag. Commissioner, with its lavish parties and missing rifles, is going to continue providing fodder for Herald-Leader investigative journalists well into the next decade. Here’s the hilarity in today’s paper:

A distant relative of former Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer worked in the Department of Agriculture for nearly five years as an amusement ride inspector despite never receiving certification to do the work.

George “Doug” Begley worked from July 1, 2007, to March 12 inspecting amusement park rides in Eastern Kentucky, according to documents obtained by the Lexington Herald-Leader under the state’s Open Records Act.

Documents in Begley’s personnel file show he voluntarily accepted a demotion to the department’s fuel-testing division in March after Agriculture Commissioner James Comer, who took office in January, discovered that Begley never received his certification.

There’s something comical about the pettiness of cousin George Doug not getting a certification that would have probably been easy for him to get and that the state would have paid for. Richie Farmer’s corruption was mostly just laughs. Well, until somebody lost a foot.

A Louisville teen’s feet were severed after she was hurt on a ride at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom in 2007. The park closed in 2009.

Begley, who worked out of Breathitt County and inspected rides in that area, could not be reached for comment.

B&P also rejects the compliments being showered on Ritchie's successor for requesting the audit and acting expeditiously to implement recommended changes.

I get the strong sense that Jamie Comer is, if not encouraging these stories, at least rooting for them because they show a lack of continuity between the two Republicans. Next to Richie Farmer, he looks like a high-minded reformer. But make no mistake, Jamie Comer is a right-wing son of a bitch who voted against felon re-enfranchisement, against providing HPV vaccinations to girls, and against equal pay for equal work for women when he was a state rep. Expect him to run for something fancier in 2014 or 2015 on his record of cleaning up Richie Farmer’s mess and expect a lot of Democrats to talk about how he’s a good man.

Yes, of course Ritchie's a republican.

Deadline Friday to Tell the USDA: No Agent Orange Crops

By email from Eric Schlosser and Gary Hirschberg:

We only have until FRIDAY to contact the USDA about this new type of corn genetically engineered to withstand 2,4-D herbicide, which some studies have shown may be linked to several forms of cancer. Over 50,000 of you have contacted the USDA, but if we want them to listen, we need to inundate them with even more comments.

We should be able to decide for ourselves what to feed our families. But if the USDA approves this new corn, we won't be able to make that choice since genetically engineered foods aren't labeled.

Contact the USDA today!

SNIP

Although we might not all agree on the science concerning the long-term effects of eating genetically engineered foods, we can all agree that everyone should be able to decide for themselves whether to eat them. And that's why we should proceed with caution when approving new unlabeled GMO crops like 2,4-D corn.

Along with the new GM salmon, one of the most disturbing new species under review is a type of corn genetically engineered to withstand 2,4-D -- an herbicide that some studies have shown may be linked to major health problems including reproductive abnormalities, birth defects, and several forms of cancer.

Approval of Dow Chemical's genetically engineered corn would trigger an increase in 2,4-D use and our exposure to this herbicide. Yet the USDA has not analyzed the resulting impacts on public health, the environment, or neighboring farmers. Do you want to take the risk?

Urge the USDA to reject the genetically engineered 2,4-D resistant corn until these impacts are addressed:
http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/50202/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=7574

The herbicide 2,4-D is a persistent chemical with a habit of moving around in the environment. It presents a risk to our drinking water, food, pets, and backyard gardens. A growing number of farmers are concerned about the potential impact on their crops from the herbicide drifting onto their fields.

We know you care about the food you eat -- that's why you asked the FDA to label genetically engineered ingredients. Before the USDA makes a decision on 2,4-D resistant corn, they want to hear from people like us. But they're only accepting comments from the public for a short period of time!

Help flood the USDA comment box before it's too late:
http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/50202/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=7574

How About Letting Drug Dealers and Sex Offenders Regulated Themselves?

If you liked the self-regulation that let Wall Street and big banks bring the global economy to the brink of collapse, you'll love the self-regulation that lets Monsanto destroy the global food supply.

Mike Ludwig at Truthout:

For years, biotech agriculture opponents have accused regulators of working too closely with big biotech firms when deregulating genetically engineered (GE) crops. Now, their worst fears could be coming true: under a new two-year pilot program at the USDA, regulators are training the world's biggest biotech firms, including Monsanto, BASF and Syngenta, to conduct environmental reviews of their own transgenic seed products as part of the government's deregulation process.

This would eliminate a critical level of oversight for the production of GE crops. Regulators are also testing new cost-sharing agreements that allow biotech firms to help pay private contractors to prepare mandatory environmental statements on GE plants the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is considering deregulating.

SNIP

Genetically engineered and modified crops continue to cause controversy across the globe, but in America they are a fact of life. The Obama and Bush administrations have actively promoted biotech agriculture both at home and abroad. Countries like China, Argentina and Brazil have also embraced biotech agriculture. Regulators in European countries - including crucial trade partners like France and Spain - have been much more cautious and, in some cases, even hostile toward the industry. GE crops are banned in Hungary and Peru, and earlier this year officials in Hungary destroyed 1,000 acres of corn containing Monsanto transgenes. The US, however, continues to allow big biotech companies to cultivate considerable power and influence and, as the letters uncovered by FOIA reveal, top regulators are ready to meet their demands.

"The USDA regards its own regulatory system as a rubber stamp," Freese said after reading the letters. "At least at the upper levels, there's always been this presumption that [GE crops] must be approved."

Read the whole thing.

If genetically-modified organisms were self-contained, existing next to natural organisms without affecting them, the only issue would be ensuring that proper labeling informs consumers about the food they are buying.

But the fact is that GMO plants and animals eliminate their natural counterparts, infecting and taking them over, so that soon there will be no alternatives to GMO food. And then it will be too late to regulate it.

Farmer loses ag commish race to farmer

The big story out of Kentucky's election tonight is that Kentucky voters apparently are not as stupid as we were sure they were. Or maybe they are more susceptible to blanketing commercials pitching a single, simple idea.

Yes, repug nominee James Comer, who claims to be an actual working farmer, has snatched a clean sweep away from the dems by beating Democratic nominee and Department of Agriculture employee marketing executive - but not actual working farmer - Bob Farmer. It wasn't even close - Comer got 62 percent of the vote to Farmer's 38 percent.

Comer ran non-stop ads on the theme of "there's only one real farmer in this race," but most of us doubted such a subtle message could overcome the Democrat's built-in advantage of a name that not only described the job but also is the exact same name of the incumbent commissioner: losing Lt. Gov. repug nominee Ritchie Farmer.

It didn't help that Democratic nominee Bob Farmer is a former stand-up comic who repeated worn-out jokes about Eastern Kentuckians, which is shooting fish in a barrel. Warning to aspiring politicians: if you must publicly insult people whose vote you might want some day, try to make sure no one is videotaping you doing so.

Big winner is Allison Lundergan Grimes, Kentucky's Secretary of State-elect who ran on a platform of protecting the franchise against repug nominee Bill Johnson's despicable attempts to prevent minorities, students, the elderly, the disabled, the poor, the homeless and veterans from voting.

Grimes had the largest vote percentage of the night - 64 percent to 36 percent for Johnson. Even Beshear got just 57 percent.

I am not a fan of Grimes and will be watching her carefully, but if all she accomplishes for the next four years is ensuring that everyone votes, she will be the most successful Democratic office-holder in Kentucky since Paul Patton left the Governor's Mansion in 2003.

Comer, by the way, is a state legislator, so there will be a special election to fill his seat. Don't get excited though; Democrats have a comfortable majority in the House and don't need Comer's seat.

Losing gubernatorial repug nominee David Williams unfortunately does not also lose the state senate seat from which he terrorizes the Commonwealth; he's not up for re-election until 2014.

But there's a silver lining: incumbent Commissioner of Agriculture Ritchie Farmer lost his bet on being Williams' lite guv and is now out of Kentucky politics for good. Though with any luck, not out of the news: his extremely messy divorce goes to court later this month.

Kentucky Blogging Treasure Joe Sonka is twittering election night here.

Corporations Are Stealing the Very Food From Our Mouths

For 10,000 years, human beings have been in control of growing our own food. War or drought or floods may destroy our crops for a season or three, but we have always been able to start again with seeds saved from previous crops.

If worst comes to worst, as long as you have open-pollinated seeds and the tiniest plot of land, you can always feed yourself.

Until now.

Corporations, not satisfied with control the lives of everyone in the country through owning and operating the republican party, state legislatures and capitols, the U.S. Congress, the Supreme Court and the presidency, are moving close to their ultimate goal of controlling the very means of life itself: seeds of food crops.

Elliott at Firedoglake:

I’ll state straight away, I hate/loathe/despise/abhor Monsanto. They are evil, not metaphorically evil, but actually evil. And as for our politicians who should have protected us from Monsanto; well, there’s a special circle of Hell reserved just for them.

I came across this video in the twitterverse and wanted to share it because it gives you a good idea of what is involved in actually using GM seed and the (hoocoodanode!?) consequences. Farmer to Farmer.

I ask you: What do we do to extricate ourselves from this politico-corporate nightmare?



From the website:

Michael Hart, a conventional livestock family farmer, has been farming in Cornwall for nearly thirty years and has actively campaigned on behalf of family farmers for over fifteen years, traveling extensively in Europe, India, Canada and the USA.

In this short documentary he investigates the reality of farming genetically modified crops in the USA ten years after their introduction. He travels across the US interviewing farmers and other specialists about their experiences of growing GM.

During the making of the film he heard problems of the ever increasing costs of seeds and chemicals to weeds becoming resistant to herbicides.
US farmers told him that a single pass (one herbicide application) is a fallacy and concurred that three or more passes are the norm for GM crops.

As weeds have become more resistant to glyphosate there has been a sharp increase in the use of herbicide tank mixes (most of them patented and owned by the biotech companies). Astonishingly some farmers were now having to resort to hand labor to remove weeds.

Farmers have seen the costs spiral, for example, the price of seed has gone from $40 to over $100 per acre over the last few years.

Farmers referred to co-existence (the ability to grow GM crops next to non-GM and organic crops) as “unsolvable” and say that it does not work.

In summary:
1. A huge “weed” problem.
2. The myth of co-existence.
3. Farmers trapped into the genetically modified biotech system.
4. Huge price increases for seeds and sprays- well beyond the price increases farmers have received for their crops.

In short, the film shows US farmers urging great caution to be exercised by UK and European farmers in adopting this technology.

Farmer to Farmer: The Truth About GM Crops. from Pete Speller.

Don’t look to the federal government to save us:

Down with Tyranny:

Historically, George W. Bush had 3 of the most brazen shills of AgriBusiness as consecutive Secretaries of Agriculture: Ann Veneman, Mike Johanns and Ed Schafer. Each was charged with doing everything Big Ag Business wanted that would keep the money flowing GOP-wise. [Since 1990 Agribusiness has "donated" $350,366,008 in federal elections, almost twice as much to Republicans as to Democrats.] Obama's Agriculture Secretary, conservative former DLC chair and former Iowa governor, Tom Vilsack, seems to be driven by almost identical instincts. If you were concerned about the radiation reported in Tokyo's drinking water, you might also be concerned about the dangers of genetically engineered crops inexorably taking over American agriculture-- and the role of the USDA in this tragedy. Organic farmers and consumers have fought back but, except for a little window dressing here and there, Vilsack rules his fiefdom the same way Veneman, Johanns and Schafer did. Biotech triumphant in the march towards turning the human race into mutants for the sake of short term corporate profits-- kind of like the nuclear energy industry.

Vilsack has been making promises-- with fingers crossed behind his back-- to protect the interests of farmers and consumers who aren't interested in being part of a species-wide genetic experiment and prefer eating real food, "promising something revolutionary: finding a way for organic farms to coexist alongside the modified plants."

But in recent weeks, the administration has announced a trio of decisions that have clouded the future of organics and boosted the position of genetically engineered (GE) crops. Vilsack approved genetically modified alfalfa and a modified corn to be made into ethanol, and he gave limited approval to GE sugar beets.

The announcements were applauded by GE industry executives, who describe their genetically modified organisms as the farming of the future. But organics supporters were furious, saying their hopes that the Obama administration would protect their interests were dashed.

“It was boom, boom boom,” said Walter Robb, co-chief executive of Whole Foods Markets, a major player in organics. “These were deeply disappointing. They were such one-sided decisions.”

To a growing cadre of consumers who pay attention to how their food is produced, the agriculture wars are nothing short of operatic, pitting technology against tradition in a struggle underscored by politics and profits.

No, it is not “technology against tradition.” It is corporate ownership of the means to produce food versus the ability of human beings to feed ourselves.

No place on the planet is safe:

From truthout:

... biosafety activists in South Africa are calling a program funded by the Gates Foundation a "Trojan horse" to open the door for private agribusiness and genetically engineered (GE) seeds, including a drought-resistant corn that Monsanto hopes to have approved in the United States and abroad.

The Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) program was launched in 2008 with a $47 million grant from mega-rich philanthropists Warrant Buffet and Bill Gates. The program is supposed to help farmers in several African countries increase their yields with drought- and heat-tolerant corn varieties, but a report released last month by the African Centre for Biosafety claims WEMA is threatening Africa's food sovereignty and opening new markets for agribusiness giants like Monsanto.

The Gates Foundation claims that biotechnology, GE crops and Western agricultural methods are needed to feed the world's growing population and programs like WEMA will help end poverty and hunger in the developing world. Critics say the foundation is using its billions to shape the global food agenda and the motivations behind WEMA were recently called into question when activists discovered the Gates foundation had spent $27.6 million on 500,000 shares of Monsanto stock between April and June 2010.

But farmers are fighting back:

Susie Madrak at Crooks and Liars:

You know, it's nice that Bill Clinton was all teary-eyed about the effect his and everyone else's American policies had on poor battered Haiti, but the fact is, the country is still http://www.truth-out.org/haitians-challenge-monsantos-influence/1309446649 colonized by corporations and I don't see him doing a damned thing to stop it:

Hinche, Haiti - Last week, thousands of farmers and supporters of Haitian peasant agriculture marched for hours under the hot Caribbean sun to call for more government support for locally grown seeds and agriculture.

The demonstration was organized by the Peasant Movement of Papay and other farmer associations, human rights and women’s groups, and the Haitian Platform for Alternative Development (PAPDA), the Haitian online agency AlterPresse reported from the march. The official theme of the peaceful demonstration was “Land Grabbing is Endangering Agricultural Sovereignty.”
Singing slogans like “Long Live Haitian Agriculture!” and “Long live local seeds!” the crowd – wearing straw hats and red T-shirts – wound its way on foot, donkeys, and bikes through this dusty provincial capital. The demonstration ended at a square named for farmer Charlemagne Péralte, who lead the “Caco” peasant revolt against the U.S. army occupation from 1916 until 1919, when U.S. Marines assassinated him.

One year ago, thousands of farmers covered the same march route to protest the import of a “gift” of seeds from Monsanto. The farmers burned some of the seeds, calling them a “death plan” for peasant agriculture.

Last spring, in violation of Haitian law, the Minister of Agriculture gave the agribusiness giant Monsanto permission to “donate” 505 tons of seeds to Haiti. The first shipment of 60 tons, reportedly of maize and vegetable seeds, arrived in May 2010. Some of the seeds were coated with a chemical (Thiram)[1] so toxic that the EPA forbids its sale to home gardeners in the U.S.. Monsanto announced its $4 million gift was “to support the reconstruction effort” in Haiti.

Tom Laskawy at Grist:

Genetically modified seed giant Monsanto is notorious for suing farmers [PDF] in defense of its patent claims. But now, a group of dozens of organic farmers and food activists have, with the help of the not-for-profit law center The Public Patent Foundation, sued Monsanto in a case that could forever alter the way genetically modified crops are grown in this country. But before you can understand why, it's worth reviewing an important, but underreported aspect of the fight over GMOs.

One of the many downsides to genetically engineered food is the fact that modified genes are patented by the companies that isolate them. This is not typically part of the story that gets much attention when you read about all those great (but nonexistent) magic seeds that will grow faster, better, cheaper, etc. and seem to forever remain "just around the corner."

SNIP

In my recent Common Ground cover story on GMOs, I referred to the fact that the federal government "insists the food revolution will be genetically modified." Well, what biotech companies want more than anything is for the food revolution to be patented. Why is that? Because, unlike pharmaceuticals, patented genes will never go "generic" after some number of years. Monsanto and its biotech buddies can keep milking that transgenetic cow for decade after decade.

GMO crops have another interesting quality -- you can "use" a patented gene without even knowing it. When you download and share music and movies on peer-to-peer networks or plagiarize blog posts or books, let's face it -- you know what you're doing. But if you're a farmer, GMO seeds can literally blow in to your fields on the breeze or just the pollen from GMO crops can blow in (or buzz in via bees) and contaminate your organic or "conventional" fields. And if that happens, Monsanto or Syngenta or Bayer CropLife maintain the right to sue you as if you had illegally bought their seed and knowingly planted it.

In an appropriately Orwellian twist, the companies even call such accidental contamination by their products "patent infringement." And, in the face of a government more than willing to allow companies to "defend" their "intellectual property" in this way, organic farmers and others have now stepped up and said, in short, "Hell no!":

The case, Organic Seed Growers & Trade Association, et al. v. Monsanto, was filed in federal district court in Manhattan and assigned to Judge Naomi Buchwald. Plaintiffs in the suit represent a broad array of family farmers, small businesses and organizations from within the organic agriculture community who are increasingly threatened by genetically modified seed contamination despite using their best efforts to avoid it. The plaintiff organizations have over 270,000 members, including thousands of certified organic family farmers.

"This case asks whether Monsanto has the right to sue organic farmers for patent infringement if Monsanto's transgenic seed should land on their property," said Dan Ravicher, PUBPAT's Executive Director and Lecturer of Law at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York. "It seems quite perverse that an organic farmer contaminated by transgenic seed could be accused of patent infringement, but Monsanto has made such accusations before and is notorious for having sued hundreds of farmers for patent infringement, so we had to act to protect the interests of our clients."

If the suit is successful, not only will it limit Monsanto's ability to sue farmers, the company will have far greater responsibility for how and where its biotech seeds are planted. The regulatory free ride will be over. While that won’t eliminate GMO crops, it will at least give organic farmers a hope of avoiding contamination.

What I find intriguing about this suit is that it comes on the heels of a set of rulings against biotech companies and in favor of organic farmers.
As I have speculated before, courts have decided that the interests of organic and other non-GMO farmers are now significant enough to require protection. While the USDA and the White House seem happy to do Monsanto's bidding (as they did in recent decisions to allow Roundup Ready beets and alfalfa), the federal courts -- and even the Supreme Court -- do not seem so quick to dismiss the economic harm that might come to unfettered use of GMO seeds. This one, my friends, bears watching.

Monsanto has gone even further: making it impossible for farmers to propagate their own crops.

In June 2007,[35] Monsanto acquired Delta & Pine Land Company, a company that had patented a seed technology nicknamed Terminators. This technology, which was never known to have been used commercially, produces plants that have sterile seeds so they do not flower or grow fruit after the initial planting. This prevents the spread of those seeds into the wild, however it also requires customers to repurchase seed for every planting in which they use Terminator seed varieties. In recent years, widespread opposition from environmental organizations and farmer associations has grown, mainly out of the concerns that hypothetical seeds using this technology could increase farmers' dependency on seed suppliers.

Despite the fact that in 1999, Monsanto pledged not to commercialize Terminator technology,[36] Delta Vice President, Harry Collins, declared at the time in a press interview in the Agra/Industrial Biotechnology Legal Letter, ‘We’ve continued right on with work on the Technology Protection System (TPS or Terminator). We never really slowed down. We’re on target, moving ahead to commercialize it. We never really backed off.’

Details here.

Liberals support sustainable agriculture that produces safe, healthy food, provides a secure living for farmers and preserves healthy, fertile soil and plants

Greenies in Denial: Monsanto Won and We're All Gonna Die - Really

This is the most hilariously tragic thing I've read in years:

It should be no surprise that Monsanto's PR machine is working hard to spin the truth in this morning's decision in the first-ever Supreme Court case on genetically engineered crops (Monsanto v. Geertson Seed Farms). Despite what the biotech seed giant is claiming, today's ruling isn't close to the victory they were hoping for.

The ones who are frantically spinning, unfortunately, are the sustainable agriculture advocates whose failure to stop Monsanto has lethally endangered the ability of human beings to feed ourselves.

Here's Grist's take on the ruling:

The sustainable agriculture world is abuzz today with news of the Supreme Court's ruling regarding an earlier lawsuit, brought by alfalfa farmers, that sought to stop any planting of Monsanto's genetically engineered Roundup Ready alfalfa seed. While the press coverage heralds the ruling as a decisive victory for Monsanto, a close reading shows that, in fact, it's a fairly significant win for opponents of biotech crops.

And why do they think such a thing?

Despite the news reports claiming victory for Monsanto, the Supreme Court did not overturn the central tenet of the case: that the USDA prematurely approved Roundup Ready alfalfa. The District Court, in effect, made it once again illegal to plant Roundup Ready alfalfa -- and the Supreme Court endorsed that ruling. While the Justices did declare that the USDA, if it wants to, has the right to give the seed a preliminary approval (i.e. for limited, restricted planting), the Supreme Court decision does not by itself give Roundup Ready alfalfa the green light.

And it's important to note that the USDA has not yet formally announced any intention to re-authorize the restricted plantings, which would come in the form of a rule for "partial deregulation" of Roundup Ready alfalfa. In fact, the agency and Monsanto hed preciously submitted such a plan to the District Court in hopes that it would be incorporated into the final ruling, and instead, they received an injunction.

To some, that move appeared to be an attempt at an end run around the official rulemaking process. It's not clear if the USDA will move forward with anything other than the "final" environmental review.

[Update:] The USDA office that oversees biotech crops, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), just released a brief statement via email in response to the Supreme Court's ruling. In it, the agency leaves the door open to some sort of preliminary approval for the alfalfa seed, without indicating its intention one way or the other: "APHIS is carefully reviewing the Supreme Court ruling before making decisions about its next regulatory actions related to the deregulation of Roundup Ready alfalfa." It also announced its intention to complete the full environmental impact statement "in time for the spring planting of alfalfa crops in 2011." That start date presumes they get through the process without any more lawsuits or injunctions -- not a safe bet, at all.

In other words, NOT a loss for Monsanto, a HUGE WIN for Monsanto, and a HUGE LOSS for sustainable agriculture.

"The USDA will protect us." ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? The USDA's devoted fellating of its "regulated" industry (agriculture) makes the Minerals Management Service's massaging of the oil industry seem like waterboarding.

Wanna destroy an entire food crop across a continent? Make it "Roundup Ready."

Just as the heavy use of antibiotics contributed to the rise of drug-resistant supergerms, American farmers’ near-ubiquitous use of the weedkiller Roundup has led to the rapid growth of tenacious new superweeds.

To fight them, Mr. Anderson and farmers throughout the East, Midwest and South are being forced to spray fields with more toxic herbicides, pull weeds by hand and return to more labor-intensive methods like regular plowing.

“We’re back to where we were 20 years ago,” said Mr. Anderson, who will plow about one-third of his 3,000 acres of soybean fields this spring, more than he has in years. “We’re trying to find out what works.”

Farm experts say that such efforts could lead to higher food prices, lower crop yields, rising farm costs and more pollution of land and water.

Think you're safe because you buy organic or even grow your own non-Monsanto seeds? Do you know the source of every seed being planted within two miles of where your "safe" food is grown? Because chances are somebody is planting Roundup-ready corn - and soon alfalfa and then everything else - close enough to contaminate your organic crops.

Make no mistake: this decision is a fucking catastrophe.

Which should have been obvious from the fact that the Criminal Conservative Cabal that passes for a Supreme Court majority made it possible.

And all of you Obama-bots who railed at us liberals to shut up about Sonia Sotomayor's deference to corporate power? Yeah, she voted with the majority.

The sole dissenter was John Paul Stevens. Who is about to be replaced by non-liberal Elena Kagan.

There will never be a Supreme Court ruling against corporate power again in our lifetimes.

We. Are. So. Completely. Fucked.

UPDATE: Blue Girl reminds me that Monsanto uses the contagion of their Frankenfood seeds to steal other people's land. See here and here.

I Pay Taxes So You Can Afford to Farm

Have you seen the latest smart-ass bumper sticker?

"I Farm, You Eat"

Leave aside the outrageous arrogance of the claim, the condescension toward everyone who does not farm, the fallacy that what most Kentucky farmers grow ends up in Kroger's produce department.

Consider instead how deformed and dysfunctional American agriculture has become in the century since the sentiment on that bumper sticker was literally true.

I come from a long line of small farmers, most of whom toiled long before the advent of federal subsidies and perverse incentives forcing farmers to fall hopelessly in debt and poison their own land to compete.

Corporate agri-business and their congressional and DoA lackeys have done a superb job of fucking over family farmers six ways from Sunday.

Those family farmers need legal, regulatory, scientific and marketing help to survive.*

But the best way to get that help is to make a compelling case for rational, economically and environmentally sound farming.

Snide, contemptuous insults don't help.

*And no, ag-giant apologist Tom Vilsack, DoA Secretary-nominee, ain't gonna do it.

Cross-posted at BlueGrassRoots.