*Quote from AlterNet article: USDA Hides Another Biotech Disaster
Pesticide- and herbicide-resistant genetically engineered rice grown as test crops by Bayer Crop Science between 1998 and 2001 appear in U.S. commercial long-grain rice in 2006.
We’re not just exporting our jobs, we’re exporting our exports.
Here’s one more way agri-business and agri-tech squeezes out family farms: 1) grow genetically-engineered “test crops” 2) allow contamination with surrounding non-GE crops 3) report the contamination.
International markets will do the rest. Asian and European countries won’t allow imports of genetically engineered agricultural products. As soon as the contamination is publicized, food these countries fear may be contaminated will be banned for import and prices drop across the board.
This insight came from a comment posted to the AlterNet article excerpted here:
“After years of drought and other problems, the rice growers of AR (Arkansas) were set to have a bumper crop year, a chance to recoup their losses and get ahead. Instead, all the work they did to produce the huge harvest is now completely undermined by the precipitous drop in prices resulting from the GM contamination.”
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