April Davila
"On March 1st I began an endeavor to survive one whole month without consuming any Monsanto products. I learned a lot about the food I eat, and blogged all about it at www.monthwithoutmonsanto.com.
One of the things I discovered is that Monsanto owns a quarter of all proprietary seeds world wide, from corn to cabbage, broccoli to beans. Most gardeners don’t even know that they are growing Monsanto plants in their own back yard because the seed packets didn’t change when the small seed companies were bought up by the Agri-giant.
Why does this matter?
When companies are allowed to create monopolies consumers are left with no other option but to buy from them. This can lead to increased prices (as some farmers are already beginning to see from Monsanto), and loss of diversity. When it comes to our food, diversity is key, and not just for reasons of taste.
Say for instance our planet warms a few degrees (you know, just for argument’s sake). In this new climate it could be that lettuce A doesn’t do so well, but lettuce B thrives. As long as we still have both varieties we can just shift to cultivating lettuce B. Without that variety we end up pouring a lot more resources into growing lettuce A (increased fertilizers, more water, etc.). Variety is good in business and in nature."
