[golem14]

My guess: it's shaping up similarly to the solar/wind <--> coal fight.

At some point, there's not enough money you can lobby with compared to the real world needs and competing lobbies (here: food/nmonsanto etc) and the balance shifts. Also, in non-US countries people might take a more pragmatic approach, giving new tech a leg up.

E.g., China, India might not care so much about the US fertilizer lobby.

[bkmartin]

The only way to really fight something like this is to make GMO's and the people who produce these plant varieties into some sort of boogeyman, no? We see this happen all over the world, not just in the US. The current level of misinformation about the safety of GMOs is already very overblown in the world. Don't get me wrong, GMOs are being weaponized for monetary purposes in, what I believe, are very unethical ways. But those arguments are not what you see most when arguments against them are made.

I just don't see any other angle to attack nitrogen fixing corn other than to make some sort of GMO boogeyman out of it. It is really amazing the amount of misinformation that is populating the world for the purpose of protecting cash cows.

sidenote Thanks for the downvotes :) apparently my sarcasm hit a nerve.

[golem14]

That's an interesting point. I think there is some truth to that in the US and Europe.

I have a hard time believing that this will become a huge problem in China and India particularly. The gov there isn't interested in giving these storylines a leg up, and people have other problems, such as Melamine-contaminated baby formula (or having food shortages)