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Comment on Competition Needed Among “Climate Ready” Crops [Guest Post] by Taylor
via Comments for Tropophilia by Taylor on May 13, 2008
So put aside the government issue for a moment, and ask yourself this:
what’s better for developing economies:
1) large multinational corporations (headquartered elsewhere and paying little or no local taxes, because of their political power) growing genetically modified crops that grow faster, survive transport, and sell for cheaper than other crops. these corporations have no incentive to pay a living wage, treat workers like anything other than cogs in a machine, or create a sustainable economy
2) local farmers who are given access to the same high-quality seeds (in a fair way, without being forever beholden to a powerful corporation), who give back (both figuratively and literally) to their local economy, employ local labor (under, presumably, better conditions), and provide for their families.
This isn’t an argument about “oh wouldn’t it be nice if small farms still flourished.” It’s an issue of justice and enabling people in the developing world (who aren’t corrupt politicians bought and paid for by large foreign companies) to seize hold of their own destiny. If we give local farmers those same chances (within reason, we’re operating under basic market assumptions here), they’ll grow more than crops.
On the government point: We give billions and trillions of dollars in foreign aid each year. Much of that aid is used to purchase things for developing nations like medicines that are manufactured under patents. Purchasing seeds would work the same way.
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