Farmageddon: Now Is The Time.

"Do I know what I am eating?" This may be one of the critical questions you ask yourself after you have read Brewster Kneen's Farmageddon. It could be a question you want to ask at the supermarket next time you do your grocery shopping. What exactly is it and where did it come from are no longer idle questions.

The products that Monsanto and other biotech companies, are producing or are planning to produce, are not a continuation of the ancient tradition of plant breeding, despite their claims to the contrary. (Farmageddon, Chapter 5) Plant Breeding as it has been traditionally practised, not the biotech version, may well be the answer to developing crops that can prevent world hunger which is the claim that Monsanto makes to justify its venture into genetic modification of our food supply.

Kneen uses an important crictical tool in assessing the motives of Monsanto, Cargill and the other companies who seek to create new products for our dining pleasure. He simply asks what is the problem they are trying to solve with the solution they have put forward, i.e. genetic engineering. This opens the door to asking why they insist on controlling the distribution of seeds through the patent process. The ge seed becomes intellectual property and the grower is forbidden to save any, under penalty of law, and must buy new seeds each year from the manufacturer. This seems more likle a concern with profit and the bottom line than a concern over food shortages. When saving seeds becomes a criminal act then something has gone dreadfully wrong.

Farmaggedon is an important book, if you need coaxing to grow your own food and/or to get invovled in action against the control of the food supply system read it.

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