{"id":174920,"date":"2020-12-14T12:00:55","date_gmt":"2020-12-14T12:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=174920"},"modified":"2020-12-12T07:59:15","modified_gmt":"2020-12-12T07:59:15","slug":"buy-it-or-else-inside-monsanto-and-basfs-strategy-to-force-farmers-to-buy-gmo-seeds-and-pesticides","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2020\/12\/buy-it-or-else-inside-monsanto-and-basfs-strategy-to-force-farmers-to-buy-gmo-seeds-and-pesticides\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Buy It or Else\u2019: Inside Monsanto and BASF\u2019s Strategy to Force Farmers to Buy GMO Seeds and Pesticides"},"content":{"rendered":"

Internal company records show the companies knew their weedkiller, sprayed on GMO soybeans, would drift onto neighboring fields, devastate non-GMO organic crops, and that crop damage would be extensive. They sold it anyway.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Illinois farmer Will Glazik has lost bushels of organic soybeans, and fears losing his organic certification, because when nearby farmers spray dicamba, the pesticide drifts onto his fields.
Image credit: Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting.<\/p><\/div>\n

4 Dec 2020 – <\/em>Get poisoned or get on board.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the choice soybean farmers such as Will Glazik face. The past few summers, farmers near Glazik\u2019s central Illinois farm have sprayed so much of the weedkiller dicamba that it has polluted the air for hours and sometimes days.<\/p>\n

As Glazik puts it, there are two types of soybeans: Monsanto\u2019s, which are genetically engineered to withstand dicamba, and everyone else\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Glazik\u2019s soybeans have been the damaged ones. His soybean leaves will curl up, then the plants will become smaller and weaker. He\u2019s lost as much as 40 bushels an acre in some fields, a huge loss when organic soybeans are $20 a bushel. He has to hold his breath every year to see if the damage will cause him to lose his organic certification.<\/p>\n

His neighbors who spray dicamba are frustrated with him, he said. There\u2019s an easy solution to avoid damage, they tell him, \u201cBuy Monsanto\u2019s seeds.\u201d<\/p>\n

This reality is what Monsanto was counting on when it launched dicamba-tolerant crops, an investigation by the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting found.<\/p>\n

Monsanto\u2019s new system was supposed to be the future of farming, providing farmers with a suite of seeds and chemicals that could combat more and more weeds that were becoming harder to kill.<\/p>\n

Instead, the system\u2019s rollout has led to millions of acres of crop damage across the Midwest and South; widespread tree death<\/a> in many rural communities, state parks and nature preserves; and an unprecedented level of strife<\/a> in the farming world.<\/p>\n

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An oak tree exhibits symptoms of damage from dicamba documented by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.
\nImage credit: Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Executives from Monsanto and BASF, a German chemical company that worked with Monsanto to launch the system, knew their dicamba weedkillers would cause large-scale damage to fields across the U.S. but decided to push them on unsuspecting farmers anyway, in a bid to corner the soybean and cotton markets.<\/p>\n

Monsanto and BASF have denied for years that dicamba is responsible for damage, blaming farmers for making illegal applications, weather events and disease. The companies insist that when applied according to the label, dicamba stays on target and is an effective tool for farmers.<\/p>\n

Monsanto, BASF and dicamba: An interactive timeline<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Over the past year, the Midwest Center reviewed thousands of pages of government and internal company documents released through lawsuits, sat in the courtroom for weeks of deliberation, interviewed farmers affected by dicamba and weed scientists dealing with the issue up close. This story provides the most comprehensive picture of what Monsanto and BASF knew about dicamba\u2019s propensity to harm farmers\u2019 livelihoods and the environment before releasing the weedkiller.<\/p>\n

The investigation found:<\/p>\n