American Monoculture Coming to a Subcontinent Near You
Progressive news aggregator Common Dreams points to this poorly written article (perhaps poorly translated) about the privatization of seeds in India. Farmers on the subcontinent already buy public-sector seeds from the government, but a new initiative would allow private companies to sell high-yield seed varieties directly to farmers.
Most farmers view this as a good thing, but critics argue that short-term gains lead to long-term problems. They worry about a loss of biodiversity, and they worry that as farmers overplant popular seeds, market prices will go down for their crops. They also worry about seeds that yield more but give less in terms of quality.
In short, they worry about India becoming America, with its fields of monocultures and its legions of subsidized and near-bankrupt farmers, itself a model similar to the Soviet Union’s before that country’s agricultural implosion in the 1980s.
