The sour seeds they sow

I have always observed the way people seem to never get better from some sicknesses. They tend to visit the doctor and the pharmacy ever so often to pick up additional medication because of side effects caused by some other prescription. Many people end up with so many negative body reactions to these medicines that after a while they just pass away.

I do not know if there is a similarity but it was brought to my attention that there is a practice of selling a certain type of seeds to farmers. These seeds produce crops which do not reproduce seeds for the planting of the following crop. This would then cause the farmers to have to buy seeds each time they want to plant.

Based on my understanding these seeds do not guarantee a productive crop because they are also affected by the conditions for which they should be resistant to. These conditions include pest and disease resistance. I could understand why these farmers were upset, they even went on to call the seeds “terminator seeds” or “suicide seeds”. Reports have also suggested that these genetically modified seeds were sold after the authorities were possibly bribed in some instances.

Science is there to improve not to destroy. I just want to make an appeal. Most of these farmers are poor and are desperately trying to make a difference. Buying expensive seeds which are mostly non functional or just partly functional is something they cannot afford, and besides that it undermines their intelligence. If food is the staff of life and agriculture is the means for producing food. I do not understand why someone or some group would do such a thing. It really puzzles me.

How much do we depend on corn?

Corn a member of the cereal family is one of the most diversely used natural resource. The little plant is so useful that the flooding of the fields’ especially in Iowa one of the largest growers would really jam the brakes on many industries including the energy sector. It would also mean that farmers would also have to work harder to pick them selves up. The lands will have to be restacked with nutrients as the flood waters are bound to wash away the essential juices from the soil.

Apart from being a major part of our diets when eaten directly, corn is an important part of many other things we use from day to day. Cornstarch is used to strengthen cloth, used to make clothing and to bind most books that are picked up in stores and libraries. Printing ink, glue, shoe polish, pills, ice-cream and cosmetics all contain some amount of corn.

Corn syrup another creation is used in a great many food products, for example baked goods and soft drinks. Chickens eats corn, eggs are laid and hey we are next in the chain we eat them all. So yes it is integral to our diet.

In recent times it has been put to use as a source of energy not only for our bodies but as a source of fuel energy. This fuel is called ethanol. It is often mixed in varying proportion with gasoline to power vehicle engines and generators. Though it might be cutting into our food basket; it seems the world has decided to sacrifice food essential to our survival, for the pleasures of increased energy use.

Certainly however, as mans’ imagination broadens more and more uses will certainly be found.