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Originally Posted by screener
The oldest forms of agriculture stuggling to mount a comeback in time to help save the world from bad food habits and worse agricultural habits may need some protection from the marketing and lobbying power of the big agribusiness corps. In a similar way to NGO and governmental assistance in the protection of heritage seed resources.
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That is an opinion screener and not one that I believe can be backed by evidence. 1) I don't think organic agriculture will save people from bad food habits, you will just have processed organic food instead - actually I can already find this. 2) I don't believe organic agricultural habits are as a whole better than others - some might be, but excessive tillage is certainly not one of them. 3) Organic agriculture seems to be growing quite nicely according to most of the advertising by the industry despite the presence of big agribusiness. Actually, most agribusiness is not that interested in organics until it becomes large enough for them to make a profit out of, in which case I expect them to move right into the sector.
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Originally Posted by screener
So consumers would gain some certainty by becoming none the wiser.... I believe it could happen. I just don't think it's a good thing.
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That is not what I said. I said that consumers are none the wiser now. Some rules would provide them with some certainty. For example, how much GM material is allowed in US (or Canadian) organic product now before it can't be sold as organic?
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Originally Posted by screener
Which makes sense to me, why should they be penalized when it is the GM production that is the problem?
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Indeed, but if they are not going to create a rule, how can they expect anyone to abide by it?
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Originally Posted by screener
I suspect that there is another reason why GM growers aren't concerned about their impact on other farmers. I think it is easy to not look beyond the eternal hope of more cash returns as promised by Monsanto et al. Shortsightedness.
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I doubt it. More likely it is easier to ignore a small rump industry that represents no more than 2% of production and which only wants to shout at you and tell you how bad you are instead of engaging in meaningful discussion.