The attack represented the first of the season according to police who anticipate more of actions throughout the year as activists protest globalization policies that impact local food and farming interests.
The attacks came only a few days after the passing of a new law governing the growth of GM organisms in France, which promises a jail sentence of up to three years and a fine of 150,000 euros when an experimental GM field is destroyed.
Although France banned the sole GM crop grown in the European Union, a variety of corn developed by Monsanto, and the cultivation of GM seeds for scientific purposes is still legal, provided companies respect rules aimed at limiting dissemination of pollen to conventional fields.
Generally the population of Europe has been opposed to GM crops, however corporate pressure on governments have been relentless to allow GM crops to have free rein on the countryside as they do in Canada and the United States.
There are no wholly GM foods in Europe but European leaders - particularly those who attended the G8 summit in Japan earlier this month - have made a commitment to re-examine the possibilities that science, but more importantly GM, might provide.
Arguments are being made that GM crops and more efficient methods of crop management will help solve the global food shortage and provide additional opportunities for bio-fuel such as ethanol production.
"At the moment it's quite clear, we're going to need more food - possibly 50% more - than we currently produce to feed a global population of 9bn by 2025," said GM expert Professor Ian Crute, director of the Rothamsted Research Centre.
But Pete Riley, from Friends of the Earth, recently told Sky News, "The winners here will clearly be the bio-technology corporations of Europe and America.
"They have invested billions in research and their shareholders, whom they primarily serve, are looking for a return - GM crops were not produced for the benefit of small farmers and consumers. They were produced for the benefit of corporations."
Tempers are running high in Europe, but in North America there isn’t the same awareness about the issue. Here in the Okanagan local governments are beginning to ponder the question of food security as food activists begin to organize locally.
In Vernon, Coun. Juliette Cunningham went public saying there is a lack of support for agriculture among the federal and provincial governments.
“It’s fundamentally flawed especially when you look at food security and gas costs,” said Cunningham of the relationship between the price of fuel and the cost of food.
Cunningham’s concerns are echoed by Joe Sardinha, president of the B.C. Fruit Growers Association (BCFGA), who said “B.C. is lagging behind all other provinces when it comes to agriculture.”
Preserving farm land and promoting food security are now part of the City of Vernon’s proposed 2008 official community plan document; however it’s hard to say what approach the city will now take to priorize local food security. The BCFGA is investigating whether the Okanagan should be designated as an area of low pesticide prevalence for marketing purposes, however there’s not much mention of creating a GM Free Zone, which would be a pretty tall order considering the huge number of genetically modified foods in our grocery stores.
One wonders which way political winds will blow regarding the issue of food security as the public becomes concerned with feeding the planet while at the same time creating bio-fuel. A new confidential report leaked to the Gaurdian Newspaper in the UK describes the scenario where biofuels have forced global food prices up by 75% - far more than previously estimated. The report from the World Bank remains unpublished officially, but represents a damning assessment based on the most detailed analysis of the crisis so far, carried out by an internationally-respected economist at the global financial body.
The figure emphatically contradicts the US government's claims that plant-derived fuels contribute less than 3% to food-price rises. It will add to pressure on all governments to rethink recent moves to adopt plant-derived fuels in an effort to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and dependence on imported oil.
The question that has surfaced is why the report remains hidden?
"Political leaders seem intent on suppressing and ignoring the strong evidence that biofuels are a major factor in recent food price rises," said Robert Bailey, policy adviser at Oxfam. He told The Guardian, "It is imperative that we have the full picture. While politicians concentrate on keeping industry lobbies happy, people in poor countries cannot afford enough to eat."
Since April, all petrol and diesel in Britain has had to include 2.5% from biofuels. The EU has been considering raising that target to 10% by 2020, but is faced with mounting evidence that that will only push food prices higher.
"Without the increase in biofuels, global wheat and maize stocks would not have declined appreciably and price increases due to other factors would have been moderate," says the report. The basket of food prices examined in the study rose by 140% between 2002 and this February. The report estimates that higher energy and fertilizer prices accounted for an increase of only 15%, while biofuels have been responsible for a 75% jump over that period.
It argues that production of biofuels has distorted food markets in three main ways. First, it has diverted grain away from food towards fuel, with over a third of US corn now used to produce ethanol and about half of vegetable oils in the EU going towards the production of biodiesel. Second, farmers have been encouraged to set land aside for biofuel production. Third, it has sparked financial speculation in grains, driving prices up higher.
It’s a complicated issue, on one side we do need to ensure that everyone on the planet is fed, on the other side, there’s an opportunity for another cash crop for farmers that may be linked to local and greener energy. So the challenge becomes one linked to productivity. But within this challenge is the single largest issue, the question of how corporations are manipulating food and farming policy in order to secure profits.
Monsanto the producer of the herbicide known as "Roundup" is also the leading manufacturer of genetically engineered seeds, and holds a 70-100% market share on various crops. On the NYSE the company has managed to appreciate 137% in 2007, and recently tripled first-quarter earnings.
Cargill's net earnings soared by 86 per cent from $553million to $1.030billion over the first three months of this year. And Archer Daniels Midland, one of the world's largest agricultural processors of soy, corn and wheat, increased its net earnings by 42 per cent in that same period from $363million to $517million. The operating profit of its grains merchandising and handling operations jumped 16-fold from $21m to $341m.
Similarly, the Mosaic Company, one of the world's largest fertilizer companies, saw its income for the three months ending at the end of February rose more than 12-fold, from $42.2million to $520.8million, on the back of a shortage of fertilizer. The prices of some kinds of fertilizer have more than tripled over the past year as demand has outstripped supply.
So what we know is that there are significant profits to be made as the world goes hungry and as we seek new energy supplies. Food security has clearly become the domain of multinational agribusiness with legions of lawyers and lobbyists representing their interests to government.
It should be no surprise that local efforts to establish food security policies might fall on deaf ears, at least by some.
What we don’t know anything about is the long-term impacts of increased agriculture productivity using genetically modified crops, chemicals and fertilizers that are stilled ruled by the law of unintended consequences.
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Don Elzer writes and comments about the future, current affairs, lifestyle and the natural world. He is a director of the Watershed Intelligence Network publishers of The Monster Guide, which can be found at www.themonsterguide.com
He can also be reached by email at: treks@uniserve.com
