Is Monsanto Worth a Look? Depends on Which Monsanto You're Talking About.

” roughly four times the amount of productivity will be required of the available global farmland.”

Not going to happen; it’s far more likely that catastrophes, natural, biological and manmade will reduce the population to the less than 4 billion that our current state of technology can support.

40% of the world’s population relies on water flowing off the Himalayas, climate change will drastically reduce that supply. Will nuclear armed China, India and Pakistan set aside their historical differences to cope or will they use the military option?

The Ogallala Aquifer under the American midwest which supplies 25% of American corn and cattle production, is dropping a meter year. Combined with the agricultural zone shifting north, in a decade or so, the USA will be feeding only itself.

Unless Monsanto can produce a corn/cacti cross that defies the Conservation of Mass Law by producing carbohydrates without water, defense industries are the long term bet of choice.

” roughly four times the amount of productivity will be required of the available global farmland.”

Not going to happen; it’s far more likely that catastrophes, natural, biological and manmade will reduce the population to the less than 4 billion that our current state of technology can support.

40% of the world’s population relies on water flowing off the Himalayas, climate change will drastically reduce that supply. Will nuclear armed China, India and Pakistan set aside their historical differences to cope or will they use the military option?

The Ogallala Aquifer under the American midwest which supplies 25% of American corn and cattle production, is dropping a meter year. Combined with the agricultural zone shifting north, in a decade or so, the USA will be feeding only itself.

Unless Monsanto can produce a corn/cacti cross that defies the Conservation of Mass Law by producing carbohydrates without water, defense industries are the long term bet of choice.

They are hardly different companies. The same Monsanto that pushes Round-up Ready patents, lobbies, scatters, and sues aggressively. Their GMO technology has been controversial from day one–it’s essentially banned in Europe, though welcome here, at least in the livestock food chain–and their corporate practices have been herbicidal at best.

Their innovations, in the long run, will do about as much to feed the planet as Enron did to provide it with energy. Where Enron was all about creative accounting, however, Monsanto practices creative law. Their record in the courts and in politics has set new standards for strong-arming, presumably because they know their version of the GMO fight is (and, from all available research, should be) a lost cause that they wish to sell as if it cured cancer and hunger both.

There is no long view possible for the Monsanto brand of agribusiness, until it grows up and enters the 21st-century business culture. Having shown no willingness to do so thus far, it’s bound to wither and die like a weed drinking its own poison.

They are hardly different companies. The same Monsanto that pushes Round-up Ready patents, lobbies, scatters, and sues aggressively. Their GMO technology has been controversial from day one–it’s essentially banned in Europe, though welcome here, at least in the livestock food chain–and their corporate practices have been herbicidal at best.

Their innovations, in the long run, will do about as much to feed the planet as Enron did to provide it with energy. Where Enron was all about creative accounting, however, Monsanto practices creative law. Their record in the courts and in politics has set new standards for strong-arming, presumably because they know their version of the GMO fight is (and, from all available research, should be) a lost cause that they wish to sell as if it cured cancer and hunger both.

There is no long view possible for the Monsanto brand of agribusiness, until it grows up and enters the 21st-century business culture. Having shown no willingness to do so thus far, it’s bound to wither and die like a weed drinking its own poison.