It's getting to be spring in my little corner of the universe, and I will be gardening this year. I picked up a copy of Food not Lawns, How to Turn Your Yard into a Garden and your Neighborhood into a Community, by H.C. Flores a couple years ago, and I recommend this valuable resource for any gardener. Flores explores sustainability in our gardens and in our communities. Today I visited her publisher's website and learned even more about the evils of the mega-giant corporation Monsanto.
Turn back the floating row cover for the rest of the story...
I know Monsanto is evil, I've heard of the dangerous practices of hybridizing and patenting seed supplies, and purchasing the competition to the point that they are effectively the only seed source worldwide. Scaredhuman wrote a great diary with pertinent links.
Now in India, the harvest is coming in.
Farmers in 3rd world countries are being sold these patented seeds. The crops were planted by illiterate farmers, for whom, even if they could read, the information on the packaging would be worthless, it was in English only. That information would have told them that these crops would need irrigation, and shouldn't be used in rain-fed farm lands. The crops would also need pesticides and fertilizers, again from Monsanto. These crops failed, leaving the farmers further in debt, to surprise, the company store: Monsanto. Since these seeds are patented, the farmers are forbidden from saving seed from one year to the next, selecting the healthiest traits for the next season. New seeds must be purchased. The in-debted farmer's land is then seized by Monsanto, which compounds the debts. Now hopeless in their situation, the farmers are committing suicide.
By drinking Monsanto pesticides.