Reply #26: There was a Great Agriculture Revolution;

[greiner3]

In the 1950s. This resulted in the ability to feed many millions of people around the world. Another Agriculture Revolution is needed today to stave off massive starvation around the world. The localized starvation pockets the world has encountered in the last couple of decades has been somewhat man made-wars, genocide... However, the changing weather patterns are increasing the arid regions of the world at an ever increasing rate. This now seems to include the US's Southeast along with parts of TX and OK.

Without this Ag Revolution the ability to keep the world's civil unrest down will cease and we will see anarchy and chaos on a global scale. Countries and maybe entire regions will fall into disarray. I am not talking about the recent Arab Spring movement. I am talking about waves of hungry mobs descending upon the few local areas of food production left within their walking distance. When those areas become wiped out then these mobs will walk as far as they can with what little remaining strength they can muster. Then they will lay down and die a horrible death. Plague will necessarily follow.

This scenario is what is driving some of the world's scientists to develop better and better strains of food crops. Monsanto seems to be a leader in this field.

There is a worldwide search for a 'super food.' This is one that takes the present crop and makes it so the plant has better and better qualities. One such plant is the lowly rice grain. I have read that a mutation found will enable the new grain to grow without the presence of so much water. It also allows for the rice to grow in much cooler climes than the sub tropical warmth it presently needs. One further need is to have a new variety that is not so lacking in nutrients. There is a genetically altered rice on the market today that does have an increase of Vitamin A. However, it does not fulfill the other 2 requirements.

The push for a new Ag Revolution has to fought on several fronts. Gene manipulation is just one way this is occurring. It seems to be a stop gap measure at best and the side effects may not be worth the future risks to humanity.

I am not out to praise Monsanto but to condemn this 'evil' conglomerate for its greed. they are not only playing with lives with their lust for power and may I say it world dominance through the ultimate weapon of food.

Genetic manipulation of most foods seems to be a mixed bag. The science behind this method is a long and thought out process, at least in the hands of REPUTABLE groups. Monsanto, with its greed via the way they have handled their patent of this particular gene manipulation, has created the public's mistrust of this seemingly needed process. However, they have not created their strain with any safeguards built in. The strains on the market allow cross pollination with the 'heirloom' strains used around the world. This could result in the destruction of most of the world's food crops, the species that Monsanto has the strains gene manipulated.

Think of the Ash tree and its ultimate destruction in the US. Its only started in the upper Midwest but it will soon be destroyed in most of the US. Dutch Elm disease destroyed ALL of that species of tree in only a decade. Nothing stopped its path and no tree (recently an Elm tree was discovered in a secret location that seems to be alive without any hint of the disease. Arorists hope to graft new trees and begin to 'Johnny Appleseed' the tree across the US.) The lowly banana will soon become extinct. I am talking of only the variety that is the best selling one world wide. In the man made quest for the 'best' variety of banana, the one I am talking about, they developed this variety so that there is no seeds. It is sterile. All banana trees were started from the first trees and are essentially clones. A fungal blight was started and there seems to be no way to stop it's spreading. The search is on to find, alter and begin the massive planting to supplement the world's appetite for this fruit. Funny thing is that the banana, in it's present form, is one of the least tasty varieties in the world. The reason for this is that the present variety had the best 'traveling' and was therefore the best money maker for the oligarcy-Dole, Del Monte and the other few.

I can see that the Monsanto gene altered seeds have the ability to become a target of world wide destruction if some disease, pest or virus mutates. Not only will the Monsanto product become extinct but maybe/probably the cross pollinated native species as well. If the cross pollinated hybrids are more vigorous than the original native species then there could, in a very short time, be few crops across the world be anything but the hybrid. This bodes poorly for the world. A mono crop, one that has only one variety, not unlike the soon to be extinct banana, falls prey if there is but ONE attacker.

Now, if I had time, I would speak about humans and their narrow spectrum of genetic makeup. This is the reason plagues take out so many people so quickly. We are so alike as to be killed if there is something that attacks just one.