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by mitochondrion 3163 days ago
>we're increasing biodiversity

Are you sure? Farmers used to have their own subtly different strains of crops at the individual, village, town, and country levels in a kind of expanding concentric ring pattern. Now, at least for cash crops, it's just a few varieties all "manufactured" by one central power.
1 comments
pygy_ 3163 days ago
It is artificial biodiversity. Without the current legal framework (where seeds/genes can be patented), farmers could hybridize GMO with their own crops to add interesting traits to their own strains.

The current uniformity predates GMOs, it stems from F1 hybrids that are effectively clones, and the legislation that makes it practically illegal to sell or plant non-patented seeds.

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mitochondrion 3160 days ago
>The current uniformity predates GMOs, it stems from F1 hybrids that are effectively clones, and the legislation that makes it practically illegal to sell or plant non-patented seeds.

Granted.

But in the grand scheme of things, this is as equally an astonishingly new situation as is mechanized agriculture. A hundred years ago, most people lived and worked on farms; now it's like 1% or something like that.

I know that Monsanto's shareholders need to make rivers of dosh, boatloads of cash, money hand over fist, but I don't understand how in practice they've managed to get a vice-grip on everybody's family jewels.

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