Over the past year, one of the most crucial ideas I have learned in relation to this class is to never trust the first opinion you hear. Regardless if what the person is saying makes logical sense isn't an excuse to not explore the alternative stand point on the subject. Specifically in regards to the subject of food, after reading The Omnivore's Dilemma and watching Food Inc. I decided to continue to explore the company Monsanto and their relationship with the government and with the farmers. After understanding one view of the anti-corporation I thought in order to fully understand the subject I needed to see the full picture.
Before I began researching the pro-corporation I took a step back to make sure I completely knew all the facts of the other idea. I came to discover that, "The United States Government has been financing research on a genetic engineering technology which, when commercialized, will give its owners the power to control the food seed of entire nations or regions. The Government has been working quietly on this technology since 1983. Now, the little-known company that has been working in this genetic research with the Government’s US Department of Agriculture-- Delta & Pine Land-- is about to become part of the world’s largest supplier of patented genetically-modified seeds (GMO), Monsanto Corporation of St. Louis, Missouri." (http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=3082) Essentially the government wants the food out on the market as soon as possible. The quicker the production the higher the price. If they have the ability to speed up the growth they can create more quantities of the product.
As they said in Food Inc. former president Bill Clinton and his wife Hilary Clinton who now is our secretary of state, had a relationship with big food corporations dating back to the 1970's. Ten years later in the late 1980's friends of the Clinton's helped out George W. Bush's oil company. Is this to say that the food corporations predicted our presidential future? That behind our votes were actually supporters of G.M.O... even today Obama is endorsing Monsanto. If these significant leaders are for these causes that are hurting our health how can we trust anything they say? Is discussion of these crucial subjects over shadowed for reasons unknown to the public?
After collecting more specific information pertaining to one set of ideas I decided to see what Monsanto had to say. I explored their website and came to conclude that all of the messages that were being exposed by those not afraid to speak up were completely opposite the corporations stand point. First off the website seemed to appear pretty and shiny with images of "real" farmers doing "real" farming. It gave someone as myself a conception that what they were doing wasn't wrong at all. On their, Who We Are section they had a condensed version of their morals.
If there were one word to explain what Monsanto is about, it would have to be farmers.
Billions of people depend upon what farmers do. And so will billions more. In the next few decades, farmers will have to grow as much food as they have in the past 10,000 years – combined.
It is our purpose to work alongside farmers to do exactly that.
To produce more food.
To produce more with less, conserving resources like soil and water.
And to improve lives.
We do this by selling seeds, traits developed through biotechnology, and crop protection chemicals.
It seemed as though the information given in Food Inc. about the Monsanto spies was not touched upon in their campaign to encourage people to join the band wagon. It also did not mention the farmers being sued for trying to conserve seeds that were unused for next years growing. They didn't mention how they were shutting down seed cleaners. In Food Inc. they said how there used to be three in each town and now there were six in the whole country, and that was in 2008. The information being shared to the public about Monsanto doesn't seem like there is anything wrong with it, so the public doesn't question their true existence.
By investigating this underlying lie it essential proves that companies such as Monsanto are linked to political figures and are not in it to help the farmers but need the farmers to function. No where on their website do they mention the Clinton's or the Bush's, if they did mention the connection I wonder if people might begin to question it. Directly from farmers we know that they are not treated equally but in reality Monsanto owns them. People in this country don't think about two sides, they think about one, and if that one side is legitimate they don't find it necessary to find another side because they probably assume it doesn't exist.
Citations:
1. "Monsanto Buys ‘Terminator’ Seeds Company." GlobalResearch.ca - Centre for Research on Globalization. Web. 31 Oct. 2010. .
2. "Monsanto ~ Monsanto at a Glance." Monsanto ~ Home. Web. 31 Oct. 2010. .
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