Environment & Energy
In reply to the discussion: 109 Nobel Laureates sign a letter slamming Greenpeace. [View all]eridani
(51,907 posts)--that gives away its seeds.
Monsanto soaking the world's soil in glyphosate for profit is an entirely different matter
https://enveurope.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s12302-016-0070-0
Since 1974 in the U.S., over 1.6 billion kilograms of glyphosate active ingredient have been applied, or 19 % of estimated global use of glyphosate (8.6 billion kilograms). Globally, glyphosate use has risen almost 15-fold since so-called Roundup Ready, genetically engineered glyphosate-tolerant crops were introduced in 1996. Two-thirds of the total volume of glyphosate applied in the U.S. from 1974 to 2014 has been sprayed in just the last 10 years. The corresponding share globally is 72 %. In 2014, farmers sprayed enough glyphosate to apply ~1.0 kg/ha (0.8 pound/acre) on every hectare of U.S.-cultivated cropland and nearly 0.53 kg/ha (0.47 pounds/acre) on all cropland worldwide.
Nitrogen fertilizer is produced in 78 countries, unlike Roundup-Ready crops. Not exactly a monopoly there.
https://www.tfi.org/industry-resources/fertilizer-economics/us-fertilizer-production