MONSANTO POISON

[MyLadiesDaddy]

I don't think that anything in the news this week gave me as much pleasure as this story.

 

Personally I think that Monsanto is the single greatest threat to America. That is of course 

 

with the exception of the LAME STREAM MEDIA. And ask yourself, why does this fool have to '

 

wear that outfit while dealing with Monsanto products? Seriously, they want us to eat that? 

 

 

 

 

Monsanto's Stock Is Tanking. Is the Company's Own Excitement About GMOs Backfiring?

 

If only we had more pesticides. Marcin Balcerzak /Shutterstock

Pity Monsanto, the genetically modified seed and agrichemical giant. Its share price has plunged 25 percent since the spring. Market prices for corn and soybeans are in the dumps, meaning Monsanto's main customers—farmers who specialize in those crops—have less money to spend on its pricey seeds and flagship herbicide (which recently got named a "probable carcinogen" by the World Health organization,spurring lawsuits).

Monsanto's CEO hinted that the company may be too invested in high-tech seeds, and underinvested in old-fashioned pesticides.

Monsanto's long, noisy attempt to buy up rival pesticide giant Syngenta crumbled into dust last month. And Wednesday, Monsanto reported quarterly revenues and profits that sharply underperformed Wall Street expectations. For good measure, it also sharplylowered its profit projections for the year ahead.

In response to these unhappy trends, the company announced it was slashing 2,600 jobs, 12 percent of its workforce, and spending $3 billion to buy back shares. Share buybacks are a form of financial (as opposed to genetic) engineering—they magically boost a company's earnings-per-share ratio (a metric closely watched by investors) simply by removing shares from the market. And buybacks divert money from things like R&D—or keeping a company's workforce whole—and into the pockets of shareholders.

 

In a conference call with investors (transcript), Monsanto CEO Hugh Grant put a positive spin on the company's prospects. "Our germplasm performance has never been better, our trait technology has continued to leap and our market position and pipeline remains strong," he declared. But later, he hit upon a theme that became obvious when Monsanto was stalking Syngenta: that Monsanto's leadership feels the company is too invested in high-tech seeds, and underinvested in old-fashioned pesticides. (The market for Syngenta owns the globe's leading position.)

In the call, Jeff Zekauskas, an analyst with JP MorganChase, asked Grant whether Monsanto was still interested in boosting its pesticide portfolio by buying a competitor. Grant's answer was essentially yes: "We still believe in the opportunity of integrated solutions," i.e., selling more pesticides along with seeds. He added:

We've got a 400 million acre seed technology footprint. We've seen time and time again that we can increase revenue and improve grower service by bringing chemistry up on that footprint.

Translation: Our patented seeds and traits are sown on 400 million acres worldwide (about four times the size of California), and if we could sell more pesticides (chemistry) to the people who farm those acres, we could make more money. Later, he noted:

We continue to see duplication in R&D in the sector. We continue to see the low effectiveness of R&D with some of our competitors and we continue to think that consolidation in this space is inevitable.

Translation: Research-and-development investments in the ag-biotech/agrichemical sector aren't paying off—not enough blockbuster new products—so the few companies remaining in the field (there are six) are going to start swallowing each other up. 

Massive layoffs, share buybacks, dreams of buying up the pesticide portfolios of competitors—these aren't characteristics of a company confident in the long-term profitability of its core technology: the genetic modification of crops.

_______________________________________________________________________________

 

Another one that may suggest the fall of GMO's. Or at least the fall of Monsanto, hey one 

 

can always dream. 

 

 

China’s Shut-Out of American Corn Won’t End Anytime Soon

 

 

A farmer piles up corn in front of her house in Changzhi, China.   Reuters

Disruptions in U.S. corn sales to China are likely to continue as farmers this spring plant seeds containing genetics the Asian nation has yet to approve, according to a U.S. grain-industry group.

Difficulties controlling grain as it’s shipped around the U.S. and the potential for pollen to drift on the wind make it “unavoidable” that a new genetically modified corn variety will find its way to China, the National Grain and Feed Association said in a report prepared for members and reviewed by the WSJ.

China’s tougher stance on imports of biotech corn have roiled U.S. agribusiness, largely halting trade with the fast-growing corn market, The Wall Street Journal reported earlier Friday, citing a separate study by the grain-and-feed group showing that exports are down 85% this year from a year earlier. That study also revealed China has rejected 1.45 million metric tons of U.S. corn since mid-November on the grounds they contained an unapproved variety developed by Swiss seed maker Syngenta AG.

China’s rejections of U.S. corn shipments have raised alarm bells among major grain trading companies, who fear being shut out of the critical export market. It also has put Syngenta on the defensive, just as the company this year began selling a new corn variety in the U.S. that also lacks China’s approval.

The Asian country began denying U.S. grain last autumn after turning up a Syngenta variety called Viptera, which the company launched in 2011, and which was submitted in 2010 to Chinese regulators for approval.

Analysts have speculated that China is using the genetically modified corn as a way to get out of deals to buy U.S. grain. Chinese officials have said the rejections are based on the presence of the unapproved corn.

Getty Images

This year Syngenta began selling Duracade, a new form of corn engineered for stronger pest resistance. Syngenta sought China’s approval for the corn last year but doesn’t expect a ruling before next March.

Syngenta has estimated the Duracade seeds will be planted on 250,000 to 300,000 acres this year, representing about 0.3% of total projected U.S. corn acreage. The company also set up a deal with Gavilon LLC, a Nebraska grain company that agreed to buy the corn from farmers after several rival grain merchants placed restrictions on purchases or refused to take it.

The grain and feed association, which represents major U.S. grain companies like Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM), Bunge Ltd. (BG) and Cargill Inc., still sees problems. The group earlier this year called on Syngenta to stop selling the varieties that have yet to secure approval in China. The group said in one of its reports reviewed by the WSJ that grain companies have lost $427 million since China began rejecting U.S. corn cargoes in mid-November. Now a debate is brewing in the U.S. agricultural industry over who should bear responsibility for the losses.

Syngenta has rejected calls to stop selling seeds to U.S. farmers that haven’t been approved by China. The company declines to say if the seed companies should bear financial responsibility for rejected shipments.

In the report on Syngenta’s Duracade, Max Fisher, director of economics for the grain-and-feed group, predicts the presence of the corn will continue to weigh on U.S. corn exports to China, and will pressure the price of corn and related commodities. That would also impact farmers as they sell their grain, he wrote in the report.

Representatives of grain traders, seed companies and farmers are discussing how the U.S. agricultural industry can better align practices so as to avoid future trade disruptions over unapproved plant genetics.

Liability for losses arising from the sale of seeds that haven’t yet earned approval in major export markets is among the topics being discussed, officials say. The North American Export Grain Association, which represents big grain companies, has called on seed makers to “commit to fully bear the risks and liabilities associated with any commercialization or launch” of new biotech seeds.

Cathleen Enright, head of food and agriculture for the Biotechnology Industry Organization, which represents seed companies, said: “Our supply-chain conversations are really moving beyond the notion of an automatic single point of responsibility with regard to trade disruptions.”

 

[MillieChatham]

I could not agree with you more!!! Thanks for posting.i wish more people would realize that the chemical companies and the food industry do not care what they do to us. Perhaps the tipping point is here....let us pray..

[easterlily]

I am glad their stock is tanking. The only way to get big companies to change is hit them in the pocket book.  The reports on organic farming and sustainability are mixed, but some of those articles were supported by big agribusiness.  Recent articles are working to debunk the belief that organic farming isn't sustainable.  Go green, go organic.

 

https://www.organic-center.org/news/response-to-organic-farming-is-not-sustainable/

[chess]

...the true GMO...Give Me Organic!!.....

[easterlily]

Real GMO = Godly Modified Organism. 

Edited October 13, 2015 by easterlily

[MyLadiesDaddy]

Real GMO = Godly Modified Organism. 

Isn't it just amazing how mankind has become so arrogant now as to think that 

 

we can do almost anything better than God. 

[SnowGlobe7]

sad

[SocalDinar]

Thanks LGD.

I remember when the population of the world hit 4 billion people . That was huge . It Should easily double that in ten years.

Eventually mankind will not be able to sustain itself. Too many people. And just like in the movie Idiocracy certain cultures think a life of mediocracy is ok. That's if they actually think about it at all. My sister has 5 kids .That's a 250% increase in 1 generation. That's insane and unresponsible.

We hear people say save the planet. LMAO. The planet will be just fine for a few more billion years. It's mankind that will be screwed. And the root of the problem IMO is ourselves and overpopulation

Edited October 16, 2015 by SocalDinar

[chess]

RIGHT!....and, yes, the Earth itself has about 5 billion years to go.

 

.......................should be a RV at least by then..............................