Monsanto Plans to Boost Food Supply

The problem of being able to supply the worlds food is going to be a difficult one to solve. We are going to have to explore different farming and technological techniques to achive ans answer.

catherineflowermonkey has contributed a photo to this story.

Yet Another photo taken in my mothers garden, couldnt passup the opportunity though, it looked too much like an alien !

talli_1985 has contributed a photo to this story.

My first sprouting seeds of the season. They are actually an heirloom variety of Salad Musclun given to me by a friend. I so enjoy exchanging seeds. Hybrid seeds that don't reproduce don't really help small farmers and people gardening to produce some of their own food because of the cost of buying seeds every year instead of collecting seeds from last year's harvest.

kristinroach has contributed a photo to this story.

The only problem is that GMOs are extremely unhealthy and Monsanto is know for using unethical means to make money. Money is all they are really about, the concerns of their customers is further on down the line.

Simply enjoying walking in Kent i took this image and i like the colours and layers.

jgg35 has contributed a photo to this story.

Thanks for using my work - I'm flattered.

GTO.400 has contributed a photo to this story.

This is an interesting story, and raises some pertinent points. The genetic altering of crops has potentially disastrous consequences, yet with more and more farmers growing fuel based crops, we need to find a way to maximise the food production. I personally do not trust the likes of Monsanto, they've never been ethical, and are using the global food shortage as an excuse to promote themselves. What's really needed is government intervention so that people are not starving and the poor are not paying all of their money on basic supplies. The money markets should not be in control of this, and at present they are... this is inherently wrong.

Great story, something does need to be done about the worlds future food supply but genetic modification worries me, as I wonder what long term effects it will produce.

Floresta de Monsanto, Lisbon, Posrtugal
Park bench

Philip Schade has contributed a photo to this story.

Seeds in Indiana

Almost_August has contributed a photo to this story.

Victory Garden. Brookfield, CT.

The Zeeb has contributed a photo to this story.

Since I live in town and my husband isn't sold on me gardening, I was reading online about making gardens out of childrens swimming pools and decided to try it out. HEre are my first sprouts coming up. I can't tell you how excited I was to have them come up!

gamerbabe360 has contributed a photo to this story.

Cloves growing in a pot at my doorstep.

katytron has contributed a photo to this story.

Arugula seeds.

mercyskye has contributed a photo to this story.

Rich barley fields near Hanover Pennsylvania. Last year during this time a soy bean crop was growing in these fields.

stigghels has contributed a photo to this story.

 I don't trust Monsanto one iota, I don't consider this good news at all. First of all, the notion that we should trust our food supply to a multinational corporation is nothing short of folly. Maybe my faith in humanity isn't strong, because I can see messing with nature on such a large scale to be counter intuitive given our track record. They also maintain rights to sell their seeds and put mechanisms in place so that farmers must buy new seeds every season, thus ending thousands of years of farmers saving seeds from year to year. They have made the 3rd world even poorer. Monsanto and its ilk are a plague on this planet and I hope they get legislated out of existence. Here is a source and another, and another

A better option would be to convert our farmland from conventional farming methods to organic, and to do it as soon as possible. The Rodale Institute has done decades of research on organic farming methods and their studies are surprising. For instance, organic farmland acts as a carbon "sink", extracting CO2 from the air and putting it back in the ground. If all farmland in the US was converted to organic, it would be the same as taking 200million+ cars off the road. Also, organic farming increases microbe diversity and population in the soil which aids in plant growth, while also restoring the ecological balance in the area. A system of locally grown organic produce would immensely help with food shortages and global warming at the same time!

This field has just been planted

grandpaspix has contributed a photo to this story.

Hey, mine is the photo of the homeless man reaching for some fruit salad.  Thanks for including it!

Monsanto *has* phenomenally eased world hunger!  Farming techniques in general have increased yields manyfold over the last few decades, and GMO is a small but important contribution.

Yeah, the long-term risks are scary, and Monsanto makes a lot of money, often unethically.  But let's drop the sarcasm, please.  The times are too serious for superficial scares.  Instead, let's consider the situation objectively.  It may be that Monsanto's plans are among the most practical for feeding the next generation.  I don't have a better plan, do you?

If you like this topic, take a look at "Lords of the Harvest" ... can't recall the author, really a pretty fair job at describing the 'climate' inside monsanto since 85 or so. At least IMHO. Resist succumbing to propaganda on either 'side'!

thank you..

Renz_rockme23 has contributed a photo to this story.

The increased food costs in the UK have made me think ahead. This year I started lanting my own vegetables and fruit. I think £1.11 for a single lettuce in a uk supermarket is ludicrous when i can buy a pack of 50 lettuce seeds for a £1.00. 

In addition, there is no way I will be eating food that has been GM'd regardless of studies stating that its safe.

Grow your own then you know whats going into you and your families mouths.

Field of young corn in Czech Republic

Pepetka has contributed a photo to this story.

The vegetable garden in my grandma`s backyard
My grandma is 80 years old and she tends to her garden all by herself. She is living in a small town in Bulgaria called Chiprovtsi. It is a tradition all of the native people to grow vegatables for their needs.

Diana Sr. has contributed a photo to this story.

These are my potato plants in a plastic bag in my garden. This is my first attempt at growing my own vegetables and I can't wait to taste the results!

rekindled has contributed a photo to this story.

After a mild, wet winter and early spring, this corn is approaching maturity after April sunshine followed by more rain. The county of Suffolk is an important agricultural region, producing a substantial volume of the entire UK annual output. Whilst the quality of the crop has yet to be determined, this photo suggests that growing conditions have contributed to a strong yield - let's see what the harvest brings...

Corn fields in Shotley, Suffolk, UK - May 2008

Pierson365 has contributed a photo to this story.

The Blues
This picture is from a story i made about the Blues in the Mississipi Delta. I travelled from New Orleans to Chicago via the Highway 61, the blues highway.
cyril

cyril.bitton has contributed a photo to this story.

A Corn Field in South Wales. © Mike Deere.

mikedeere has contributed a photo to this story.

This is my daughter running in her Uncle's cotton field near Mercedes, Texas.

legdog has contributed a photo to this story.