General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I'm just going to leave this here quietly, then run like hell.... [View all]KittyWampus
(55,894 posts)has benefitted anyone on the planet could have been done with less stress/damage to the environment and society using organic methods.
Using the 4-crop rotation and organic fertilizer is better for the crops, water supply, soil and humans.
GMO's rely on a 2-crop system, pesticide and chemical fertilizer.
"In fact, as a recent study by agronomists from the Department of Agriculture, Iowa State University and the University of Minnesota shows, theres nothing obsolete about four-crop rotation. It produces the same yields, it sharply reduces the toxicity of freshwater runoff, and it eliminates many of the problems associated with genetically modified crops, including the emergence of glyphosate-resistant weeds. Its also simply better for the soil. A four-crop rotation using conventional crop varieties, along with much lower applications of fertilizer and herbicides and some animal manure, works every bit as well as the prevailing monotony of corn and soybeans."
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/04/opinion/sunday/crop-rotation-and-the-future-of-farming.html?_r=0
Then there's India where farmer's committed suicide because of getting trapped in Monsato's fucked up web
"The film follows a plucky 18-year-old girl named Manjusha, whose father was one of the quarter-million farmers who have committed suicide in India in the last 16 years. As Grist and others have reported, the motivations for these suicides follow a familiar pattern: Farmers become trapped in a cycle of debt trying to make a living growing Monsantos genetically engineered Bt cotton. They always live close to the edge, but one seasons ruined crop can dash hopes of ever paying back their loans, much less enabling their families to get ahead. Manjushas father, like many other suicide victims, killed himself by drinking the pesticide he spreads on his crops."
http://grist.org/industrial-agriculture/bitter-seeds-documentary-reveals-tragic-toll-of-gmos-in-india/