{"id":3727,"date":"2022-09-26T19:21:53","date_gmt":"2022-09-26T19:21:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fitadelphia.com\/?p=3727"},"modified":"2022-09-26T19:21:53","modified_gmt":"2022-09-26T19:21:53","slug":"bill-gates-magic-seeds-wont-solve-world-hunger-but-will-create-ecological-disaster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fitadelphia.com\/index.php\/2022\/09\/26\/bill-gates-magic-seeds-wont-solve-world-hunger-but-will-create-ecological-disaster\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill Gates\u2019 \u2018Magic Seeds\u2019 Won\u2019t Solve World Hunger But Will \u2018Create Ecological Disaster\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Bill Gates\u2019 \u2018Magic Seeds\u2019 Won\u2019t Solve World Hunger But Will \u2018Create Ecological Disaster\u2019<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Bill Gates is rebranding genetically engineered seeds as \u201cmagic seeds\u201d and says they\u2019re the answer to world hunger, but according to Vandana Shiva, Ph.D., a \u201cfailed, clumsy crude manipulation of living systems does not create \u2018magical seeds.\u2019 It creates an ecological disaster.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suzanne Burdick, Ph.D.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"bill<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Miss a day, miss a lot.<\/strong> Subscribe to The Defender’s Top News of the Day<\/a>. It’s free.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bill Gates said he believes the global community must invest in engineered crops using what he calls his \u201cmagic seeds<\/a>\u201d to solve world hunger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Food aid alone cannot address the problem, Gates said<\/a> in an essay accompanying the  Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation<\/a>\u2019s (BMGF) Goalkeepers 2022 Report<\/a>, released earlier this month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is needed, he said, are \u201cmagic\u201d seeds that have been genetically engineered to be resistant to hot and dry climates or to grow three weeks faster than natural seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTemperature keeps going up,\u201d Gates said. \u201cThere is no way, without innovation, to come even close to feeding Africa<\/a>. I mean, it just doesn\u2019t work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Andr\u00e9 Leu<\/a>, organic farming expert, former president of IFOAM Organics International<\/a> and author of \u201cGrowing Life<\/a>: Regenerating Farming and Ranching,\u201d criticized Gates for calling his genetically modified seeds \u201cmagical.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is patently false and an example of spin doctoring by public relations companies to rebrand products that are widely regarded as Frankenfoods<\/a>,\u201d Leu told The Defender<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Vandana Shiva, Ph.D., environmental activist, author and founder of Navdanya International<\/a>, \u201c[Natural] seeds as the source of life are magical. They hold their implicate order within them, and unfold to relocate the unique patterns and structures of life in its diversity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In contrast, Shiva said, \u201cGenetically engineered seeds have been made to own life through patents<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shiva told The Defender:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[Genetically engineered seeds] are a failed technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHerbicide-resistant crops were supposed to control weeds. They have created superweeds. Bt toxin crops<\/a> were supposed to control pests. They have created super pests, increased the need for pesticides<\/a>, increased farmers\u2019 debt<\/a> and driven farmers to suicide in India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA failed, clumsy, crude manipulation of living systems does not create \u2018magical seeds.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt creates an ecological disaster of monocultures of GMOs [genetically modified organisms] displacing the rich diversity of crops that we need for the health of people and the health of the planet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Gates, he\u2019s concerned about the planet \u2014 at least how it may be impacted by climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The BMGF on Sept. 6 released an \u201cAgriculture Adaptation Atlas<\/a>\u201d that uses predictive modeling to estimate how climate change may affect growing conditions for crops in African countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The BMGF is also promoting the use of artificial intelligence (AI) that processes the genome sequences of crops along with this environmental data to conjure up a data-based vision of what farms should look like in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFrom this computer model<\/a>, researchers can identify the optimal plant variety for a particular place,\u201d Cambria Finegold, director of digital development for CABI<\/a>, an intergovernmental organization that is developing models for the BMGF, earlier this month told The Associated Press (AP). \u201cOr they can do the reverse: pinpoint the optimal place to grow a specific crop.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finegold added:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just, \u2018how do we get through this crisis and get back to normal?\u2019 It\u2019s, \u2018what does the future normal look like?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But critics pointed out this reliance on AI and genetically modified seeds would exacerbate environmental issues because the modified seeds require heavy use of fossil-fuel fertilizers<\/a>, which must be transported across great distances, and pesticides that threaten biodiversity.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa<\/a> and AGRA Watch<\/a>, a group that \u201cworks with partner organizations<\/a> in Africa and the US to support sustainable, agroecological, socially responsible, and indigenous alternatives,\u201d the BMGF\u2019s industrial agricultural<\/a> programs in Africa, including its Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), cause biodiversity loss, hurt small-scale farmers and cause environmental harm \u2014 all while failing to solve hunger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rachel Bezner Kerr<\/a>, a professor of global development at Cornell University, told the AP there are existing alternatives \u2014 such as locally managed seed banks, composting systems that promote healthy soil and non-chemical pesticide interventions \u2014 that can build more resilient farming systems and reduce the need for food aid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kerr, a lead author of the food chapter of the latest report from the United Nation\u2019s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change<\/a>, said that although the panel doesn\u2019t make recommendations, \u201coverall, the kind of focus on a few technologies and reliance on fossil fuel-based inputs isn\u2019t in line with ecosystem-based adaptation\u201d or a biodiverse future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, BMGF CEO Mark Suzman contended fertilizer is necessary<\/a>. \u201cYou simply cannot meet overall productivity gains without it,\u201d he said on a call with reporters, according to the AP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gates also dismissed alternative ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf there\u2019s some non-innovation solution, you know, like singing \u2018Kumbaya,\u2019 I\u2019ll put money behind it,\u201d Gates told the AP in an interview. \u201cBut if you don\u2019t have those seeds, the numbers just don\u2019t work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gates said, \u201cWhen researchers in Kenya compared plots of this new [genetically modified] maize, which they called \u2018DroughtTEGO\u00ae,\u2019 with the old one, they saw the DroughtTEGO farms were producing an average of 66% more grain<\/a> per acre.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shiva said genetically engineered crops and seeds aren\u2019t the answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo end world hunger we must stop treating food as a commodity and seeds as corporate \u2018intellectual property,\u2019\u201d she told The Defender.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo solve world hunger every farm must become biodiverse and ecological. Biodiversity intensification produces more nutrition per acre, with no dependence on external inputs of seeds and toxic agrochemicals as our report \u2018Health Per Acre<\/a>\u2019 shows.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe can feed the people while regenerating the biodiversity of the planet,\u201d Shiva said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leu agreed. \u201cThe scaling up of regenerative organic agriculture<\/a> based on the science of agroecology would easily solve the global food insecurity crisis. It is low-cost, proven, and effective, and scaling it up globally would be less than the cost of developing one GMO crop.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Claiming GMOs have no place in solving world hunger, Leu said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDespite more than 40 years of hype that GMO seeds were going to dramatically increase yields, solve pest and disease problems, reduce pesticide use, drought-proof crops, allow them to be grown in saline soils, and numerous other extravagant claims, this has not been achieved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe research by independent scientists \u2014 not by the scientists employed by the biotech companies who have an obvious conflict of interest \u2014 clearly shows that there have been no yield increases over conventional breeding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe only two things GMO crops have succeeded in doing are dramatically increasing the use of toxic pesticides such as glyphosate<\/a> (Roundup) in our food, bodies, and environment and the profits of the large agribusiness pesticide companies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leu emphasized the effectiveness of teaching organic farming methods to small-scale farmers to address hunger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe majority of food-insecure people are smallholder family farmers and others who depend on them in rural communities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have proven many times<\/a> that teaching good organic farming practices can increase their yields by over 100% so they can feed their families and local communities. They also get an income to pay for healthcare, education and many other things that are important for a good quality of life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who really suffers and who profits from \u2018philanthrocapitalism based on biopiracy\u2019?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The BMGF and the Gates-led AGRA say they aim to transform agriculture in Africa<\/a> by increasing incomes and food security for millions of smallholder farmers<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On July 13, Gates pledged to donate $20 billion to the BMGF so it can increase its annual spending to \u201cmitigate some of the suffering people are facing<\/a> right now.\u201d The donation brought the foundation\u2019s endowment<\/a> up to $70 billion, CNBC reported in July.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The BMGF has spent $1.5 billion on grants<\/a> focused on agriculture in Africa, according to Candid<\/a>, a nonprofit that researches philanthropic giving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But an independent evaluation<\/a> of AGRA\u2019s efforts, released in late February by the consulting firm Mathematica, found \u201cmixed\u201d outcomes on inclusive financial, output markets and farmer outcomes, The Defender reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Joeva Rock<\/a>, Ph.D., assistant professor of development studies at the University of Cambridge who wrote a not-yet-released book<\/a> about food sovereignty in Ghana, activists in Africa questioned whether the funds could have been better spent elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Ghana, field trials for four varieties of genetically modified seeds began in 2013, Rock told the AP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat would happen if those went into increasing funds to the national research centers in Ghana, to building roads, to building storage, to building silos or helping to build markets?\u201d Rock said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Food insecurity is not caused by low yields, Leu told The Defender. \u201cIt is caused by unfair and inefficient food distribution systems.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leu said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIndustrial farming systems are not designed to feed the poor. The COVID-19<\/a>  pandemic lockdowns and war in Ukraine are examples of why it is the wrong model.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGrowing food thousands of miles away from where it is needed instead of growing it locally is the problem. People are dependent on supply chains that can easily be disrupted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAlso, food-insecure people are the poorest on the planet. Even if the food gets to their country, they can\u2019t afford to buy it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOn the other hand, we now have an obesity epidemic in the more affluent countries and regions due to an oversupply of calories empty of nutrition from industrial agriculture.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2006, the BMGF joined<\/a> with the Rockefeller Foundation<\/a> to spur a \u201cgreen revolution\u201d in Africa by creating AGRA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOver the long term, the partnership, called Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), intends to improve agricultural development in Africa by addressing both farming and relevant economic issues, including soil fertility and irrigation, farmer management practices, and farmer access to markets and financing,\u201d the groups said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At its inception, AGRA declared Africa deficient in what it referred to as \u201cimproved inputs,\u201d such as fertilizer and \u201cadvanced\u201d seeds, and has worked to implement policies that would make African farmers use manufactured fertilizers, pesticides and engineered seeds \u2014 which are all patented products that generate profits for their owners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AGRA Watch \u2014 founded to respond to and challenge AGRA\u2019s policies \u2014 calls BMGF\u2019s efforts \u201cphilanthrocapitalism based on biopiracy<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the BMGF and AGRA claim to be \u201cpro-poor\u201d and \u201cpro-environment,\u201d their alignment with transnational corporations such as Monsanto<\/a>, and foreign policy groups such as the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), makes their motives suspect, according to AGRA Watch:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[BMGF] takes advantage of food and global climate crises to promote high-tech, market-based, industrial agriculture and generate profits for corporations even while degrading the environment and disempowering farmers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A three-part video series \u201cRich Appetites<\/a>: How Big Philanthropy Is Shaping the Future of Food in Africa\u201d explains why exporting the U.S. agribusiness model to Africa is a \u201cgrave mistake\u201d and exposes how \u201cBig Philanthropy\u201d \u2014 namely the BMGF \u2014 is destroying farming and food in Africa<\/a> by seizing control from local interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As of Sept. 20, Forbes estimated Gates\u2019 net worth to be around $104.4 billion<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bill Gates\u2019 \u2018Magic Seeds\u2019 Won\u2019t Solve World Hunger But Will \u2018Create Ecological Disaster\u2019 Bill Gates is rebranding genetically engineered seeds as \u201cmagic seeds\u201d and says they\u2019re the answer to world hunger, but according to Vandana Shiva, Ph.D., a \u201cfailed, clumsy crude manipulation of living systems does not create \u2018magical seeds.\u2019 It creates an ecological disaster.\u201d<\/p>\n

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