Seeding Fear

Seeding Fear

Seeding Fear is a short (only 10 minutes) documentary showing the sort of thing Monsanto is doing in the United States. The documentary was made by Shakey Pictures (Neil Young’s film company) and Kings Point Productions. The documentary is told by Michael White whose father (Wayne White, now deceased) was vigorously sued by Monsanto when he was in his eighties. Later Michael was also sued for “cleaning” some of Monsanto’s patented genetically-modified (GMO) seed. Michael did not back down from the giant corporation and won the case.

Michael runs a small seed cleaning business (where saved seeds are cleaned so they can be stored and used the next year) and he cleaned some seed for a friend without knowing it was GMO seed from Monsanto.

Today over 90% of the soy, corn and cotton seeds in the United States are GMO seeds coming from Monsanto.

Often, the need for GMO crops is portrayed as necessary because our farming has to become more efficient. All I can say is that this feels like a whole lot of propaganda and lies. It seems much more likely that GMO crops are all about owning the farming industry, stopping farmers from saving their own seeds and making large profits. End of story.

Amazingly, if Monsanto’s GMO seeds blow onto a farmers fields, the farmer can’t sue Monsanto, but Monsanto can sue the farmer for patent infringement. That’s just wrong. It’s fairly clear that Monsanto is powerful enough to have worked the law into its favour.

The amazing thing is that seeds are a fundamental part of nature and farmers have had the benefit of nature’s seeds since time began. Now, a large corporation is taking over nature’s job and succeeding. This doesn’t feel right and it’s most likely not going to end well. It’s certainly not the right direction for us to be taking.

What can we do? Wherever possible, all the people that can could save seeds and grow our own crops in our gardens and fields. In a way similar to the gun lobby in the U.S. insisting that guns must remain part of the average persons rights so that they could protect themselves from corrupt governments, the average person can save seeds as our right and protect ourselves from greedy corporations which have lost their way.

Seeding Fear – Related Links

• Monsanto have written a letter about this documentary and Michael White on their website, you can read it by following this link;
  • http://www.monsanto.com/newsviews/pages/michael-white.aspx
  • The terminology they use in this letter makes me cringe – “everyone else is paying for seeds that they are saving illegally” – “it is extremely important to the entire agricultural community that we be able to continue to reinvest in new and better seed technology” – are two such examples.
  • Nature provides seeds for the use of everyone. There’s no discrimination here – they are for the benefit of everyone Do we really think we can do better than nature and improve nature’s seeds?
• Fresh – The Movie
• Rapeseed invasion and monocultures
• One Man, One Cow, One Planet
• Vandana Shiva Interview – Problem with GM Seeds