The Effect On Corporate Agriculture Of Controversies About Biotechnology

“The farm has moved from being the centerpiece of agriculture to become but one part of an integrated multilevel industrial process including production, storage, processing, distribution, marketing, and retaining” (Knox and Marston 342). Agriculture has become more than planting and harvesting. It is now a food assembly line where each scale, from the private farm, to the commercial business, to the global market, is part of the food chain. “The industrialization of agriculture has not occurred simultaneously though out the globe. For example, the use of fertilizers and high-yielding seeds occurred much earlier in core agriculture than in the periphery, where many places still farm without them. Beginning in the 1960’s, core countries began exporting to the periphery a technological package of fertilizers and high-yielding seeds as well as machines and institutions in attempt to boost global agricultural production. This development is known as the green revolution” (Knox and Marston 343).

ADM, which exports much of their product, has become anxious about their ability to meet overseas market demands and regulations (Tait, N). In 1999, ADM said they would not handle genetically modified corn which had not been approved by the European Union. “The main thing to understand is if we have a customer willing to pay for non-genetically altered grains, there will be more premiums," said Karla Miller, spokeswoman for the company. Even though ADM "remains supportive of the science and safety of both biotech development and plant breeding methods to improve crops," its business is "driven by the consumer's desire to have choices." "The customers are from Europe and Japan," Miller said (Hsu, K). Another issue for ADM to address is why an already health conscious consumer of ADM supplements, such as the very successful selling Novasoy and Nutrisoy protein as well as soy enriched pasta (ADMhealth), would not be concerned about GMO ingredients in their supplement products. And since much of ADM’s business is moving in the supplement direction it is no wonder why they would want segregation of GMO crops.

Biotechnology offers both benefits and concerns. The power of genetic modification raises the possibility of health, environmental, and economic problems. One of these problems is the concern of unanticipated allergic responses to new substances in foods. Also many worry about the spread of pest resistance or herbicide tolerance to wild plants, inadvertent harm to benign wildlife, and increasing control of agriculture by biotechnology corporations.

This green revolution lead to a rise in Transnational corporations and capitalist agriculture in the periphery. These new hybrid seeds introduced into the periphery required a huge amount of inputs such as fertilizers, herbicides, irrigation, and machinery. Many small holders of land did not have the capital (money) to buy the inputs that are needed to take advantage of the ne

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