King Corn - Follow the journey of corn!

King Corn  Informative movie - eye opening. A little "slow" in the beginning - but my favorite scene was when they set about making high fructose corn syrup on their own when no factory would permit them to visit - "for their safety."  I found this film on my NetFix Straming... an afternoon home with sick kids was very educational. Reminded me of my summer in Rochelle IL as an intern for a large Agribusiness company.

Corn, corn everywhere but now a bite to eat. Worth the watch!

Another Legal Blow - Court Sides with Monsanto GMO Sugar Beets in San Fransisco

 Another loss for organic farming, as 9th Circuit sides with Monsanto.

 "Plaintiffs have not demonstrated that the permitted ... plants present a possibility, much less a likelihood, of genetic contamination or other irreparable harm," Judge Sidney Thomas wrote for the panel. "The undisputed evidence indicates that the [beets] pose a negligible risk."

 Read article for the Courthouse News Service,  Sugar Beets Get Reprieve From Destruction   and from the Metropolitan News-Enterprise, Ninth Circuit Grants Reprieve to Genetically Engineered Beet Seedlings.

Thomas concluded on Friday that the plaintiffs had not demonstrated a likelihood of irreparable harm since the “undisputed evidence indicates that the stecklings pose a negligible risk of genetic contamination, as the juvenile plants are biologically incapable of flowering or cross-pollinating” before the permits for their planting expire. He further noted the permits contain express conditions prohibiting flowering or pollination.

Although the plaintiffs proffered evidence of contamination risks in sugar beets and other crops in later stages of the plant’s life-cycle, Thomas emphasized that they did not provide any examples of contamination by pollination under the restricted conditions imposed by the permits.

 The assumption here is that the permits will be followed. What happens, however, if they are not followed and the plants are allowed to flower? I'd be interested to see the research w/respect to cross-contamination through the entire plant lifecycle.