#bt corn

BOMBSHELL: Genetic modification proven ineffective — pests have become immune to the poison of modified crops in less than five years, but we still have to eat it

(General News) Last year, farmers around the world planted genetically modified crops like soybeans, corn and cotton across 240 million acres of land that create proteins from the Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) bacterium. Capable of killing pests like beetles and caterpillars, their effects on the environment and human health have long been the subject of much debate.

Those in favor of GMO crops –…

March On DC To Lower Food Prices & Prevent Toxic Chemicals Causing Cancer!

Trump promised to fight the corporatocracy that has taken over America and reduce the cost of healthcare; Let’s see him do it! Do it and achieve 2 goals, lower the cost of food to Americans and protect their health!  Both goals can be partially achieved by one simple action. Ending agricultural tax incentives that literally kill millions of Americans yearly while making our nation dependent upon…

Every class on Monday starts out with a morning meeting where every students sits around in a circle and basically introduces themselves or each other. Today they said each other’s names out loud to the tune of the Adam’s Family. After that, they shared what they did over the weekend, and then played a game (heads or tails). Then they continued with math and then worked on “The Best Part of Me”…

The modern time embraces the use of Science and Technology in a number of fields. In Agriculture, there is Biotechnology that has been beneficial among farmers. Biotechnology Industry Organization  has referred Biotechnology as something that “harnesses cellular and biomolecular processes to develop technologies and products. It is a technology, based on Biology. Modern biotechnology provides breakthrough products and technologies to combat debilitating and rare diseases, reduce environmental footprint,  feed the hungry, use less and cleaner energy, and have safer, cleaner and more efficient industrial manufacturing processes.”

Though, I have learned about Biotechnology during my Biology classes back in high school and college, I have not dig much on understanding what it is really all about and how could it be a good use to farming, and to Agri industry. So, last October 22, 2015, I participated in a Biotech products briefing at SEDA Centrio. Monsanto Philippines shared about Crop Biotechnology use, its processes and introduced us to their Bt Corn as the first Biotech crop in the Philippines.

Monsanto International is a leading provider of agricultural technology which has a market share here in the Philippines and in other 65 countries. Monsanto commits to provide sustainable agriculture through developing the technologies that enable farmers to produce more crops while conserving more of the natural resources.

Crop Biotechnology is an extension of traditional plant breeding. Meaning, there is a transfer of selected genes of organism to achieve a desired gene. Genetic Engineering takes place. Specific genes are transferred from the same or related or unrelated species resulting in the gene fragment modification and recombination to produce new traits in an organism.

Few of the benefits of Crop Biotechnology to crops are its ability to fight diseases and insects. Plus, crops grow healthier, resulting to an increase in production. In a presented documentation, Bt products can produce 11-12 tons, much higher compared to 9-10 tons of conventional farming. The use of Biotech among Filipino farmers, especially small farmers, has helped them produce more crops in a harvest, making food and income more accessible.

The Monsanto group also brought us to a farm tour on one of their partner-farms that mainly produces corn, located at Barangay San Miguel, Manolo Fortich in Bukidnon.

In our visit, the farm owner Mr. Benjamin Baloma educated us on their corn farming operations and the role of agricultural biotechnology in their livelihood.

He manage four farms in Manolo Fortich and Sumilao, Bukidnon and has been a partner of Monsanto for over five years already.

According to Mr. Baloma, Biotechnology products and conventional ones are much different comes to yield and tolerance to diseases, heavy rains, draught and several others. In his 15-hectare farm, he could already have 8 bags in four months which he cannot achieve before.

It takes 120 days to harvest corn from its planting period. Sweet corns are ones harvested early. Mr. John Fajardo, Monsanto’s Technology Development Executive, also informed us that farmers store the corn cereals for drying.  After harvesting, corn usually undergoes further post-ripening. The cereal then becomes damp because of the elevated water content, described as “sweating.” In this state, the cereal is highly susceptible to mold and must not as yet be shipped. At relatively low water content, usually 13-14%, proper storage allows the sweat moisture to be absorbed by the air without the risk of mold growth.

PHOTO OP. CDO Bloggers Inc. together with Monsanto Philippines.

I learned so much from this tour. Gracias!

Brazilian farmers demand biotech companies refund their money for GMO crops that don’t work

By RT.com

Brazilian farmers are asking Monsanto and other producers of pest-resistant corn seeds to reimburse them for money spent on additional pesticides when the bugs killed the crops instead of dying themselves.

Reuters/Ueslei Marcelino

The so-called BT corn seeds are genetically modified to produce an insecticide that will kill the corn leafworm (also known as the southern grassworm). After…

Generative Art, Rootworm Evolution

A ‘sheep’ created by Electric Sheep. Image: Überraschungsbilder/Wikipedia

What do we call evolution that plays with the toys we provide, jumps the obstacles we set, which meets us on the field of our own choosing, and then bests us?

In the case of the shared technology created by Scott Draves for creating ever-changing, computer-human collaborations of software art known as Electric Sheep, we call…