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Pesticide and GMO Companies Spend Big in Hawai'i. Hawai'i has become "ground zero" in the controversy over genetically modified (GMO) crops and pesticides.

Pesticide and GMO Companies Spend Big in Hawai'i

With the seed crop industry (including conventional as well as GMO crops) reaping $146.3 million a year in sales resulting from its activities in Hawai'i, the out-of-state pesticide and GMO firms Syngenta, Monsanto, DuPont Pioneer, Dow Chemical, BASF, and Bayer CropScience have brought substantial sums of corporate cash into the state's relatively small political arena. Chemical Conglomerates Retaliate Against Local Democratic Control These "Big 6" pesticide and GMO firms are active on the islands in a big way, making use of the three to four annual growing seasons to develop new GMO seeds more quickly.

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Farmers Abandoning GMO Seeds And The Reason Will Surprise You. Aaron Bloom.

Farmers Abandoning GMO Seeds And The Reason Will Surprise You

Image source: Modern Farmer A growing number of farmers are abandoning genetically modified seeds, but it’s not because they are ideologically opposed to the industry. Simply put, they say non-GMO crops are more productive and profitable. Modern Farmer magazine discovered that there is a movement among farmers abandoning genetically modified organisms (GMO) because of simple economics. Cepeda: We are losing the war for ‘real food’ CHICAGO — What is "real food"?

Cepeda: We are losing the war for ‘real food’

My oldest son’s official definition is: anything that doesn’t taste good but is good for you. As he witnessed the latest dinner table tug-of-war between me and his picky-eater younger brother, he jumped to his sibling’s defense while honoring my role as health promoter: "It’s not your fault we don’t like real food, Mom. What’s all this about a GMO-eating bug? If you’ve been on Twitter or Facebook this last week, you might have seen the headline: Worm beats GMOs!

What’s all this about a GMO-eating bug?

Shockingly, this was just one incremental development in a long-unfolding story. Here’s what you should know to understand what’s going on here. GMO Bt what? OK, background: The bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis makes this compound that kills a small group of insects and seems to be harmless to everything else. Farmers have been using the stuff for the past century, and organic farmers have long relied on it. Wait, didn’t I hear about this before? Yes, we’ve known since 2009 that corn rootworms had evolved a resistance to plants genetically engineered to produce Bt. There's no choice: we must grow GM crops now. Feeding the swelling numbers of people on our planet is one of the most serious challenges facing our leaders today.

There's no choice: we must grow GM crops now

By 2050, it is likely Earth's population will have reached 9 billion. Finding food for such numbers will not be easy. Science will not solve the problem on its own, of course, but clearly it has a key role to play. Without new technologies, future generations will starve. GMO / OGM Genetically Modified Organism Organismes génétiquem. GMO Labeling Update: State Efforts Pick Up Momentum, Big Ag Doubles Down.

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GMO pearls. GMO plants, GMO people, and cancer. There is an extraordinary parallel between what biotech corporations are doing with food plants, and what cancer researchers are trying to do with humans.

GMO plants, GMO people, and cancer

The comparison is not only instructive, it reveals what the future holds. The war against cancer has painted a picture of hope: genetic solutions, genetic modifications. This, despite the fact that there are no successful genetic treatments for any form of human cancer. The focus on genes is a diversion from obvious causes of cancer in the environment: industrial chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, food additives, and even pharmaceuticals. This futile gene-fix has a parallel in food crops: modify the genes of plants so they can grow despite drenching them with toxic pesticides.

Vermont passes bill to require warning labels for genetically modified foods. Vermont lawmakers have passed the country's first state bill to require the labeling of genetically modified foods, underscoring a division between powerful lobbyists for the US food industry and an American public that overwhelmingly says it approves of the idea.

Vermont passes bill to require warning labels for genetically modified foods

The Vermont House approved the measure Wednesday evening, about a week after the state Senate, and Governor Peter Shumlin said he plans to sign it. The requirements would take effect July 1, 2016, giving food producers time to comply. Will Vertical Farming Kill Monsanto Company and Help Whole Foods Market? (MON, WFM) Food production in the United States is currently dominated by two methods: organic farming and traditional farming that incorporates the benefits of engineered seeds.

Will Vertical Farming Kill Monsanto Company and Help Whole Foods Market? (MON, WFM)

If early successes are any indication of the future, then it may soon be time to make room for a third: vertical farming. There are numerous benefits to vertical farms, which are springing up from Singapore to Pennsylvania, ranging from the elimination of pests to significant reductions in the amount of water used to irrigate crops. However, the disruptive shift in the way the world produces food will also reshape the battle between organic champions such as Whole Foods Market (NASDAQ: WFM ) and engineered seed producers such as Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON ) . A futuristic vertical farm concept developed by Eric Ellingsen and Dickson Despommier. Source: VerticalFarm.com. Consider that the conditions of enclosed vertical farms could be precisely controlled. Enter vertical farming.

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