Perpetual Innovation

Category: farming

  • Our Sister site, IPZine, just published an article about Sustainable Ag and the Monsanto Dilemma.

    Where Intellectual Property (IP) and Sustainability Meet (GMO and Monsanto)

    Monsanto is an IP Giant.
    Or was. Patented both the herbicide (RoundUP) and GMO crops designed to ignore
    it. But, Monsanto has been less than honest with us. Glyphosate, and Monsanto’s
    fate, in jeopardy. #IPZine #GMO #NonGMO #glyphosate

    RoundUp is a cocktail that contains glyphosate and several “inactive” ingredients. But, don’t take the research on glyphosate to guarantee an exact comparison with RoundUp which contains surfactant(s) among other agents to help the herbicide stick and penetrate. In addition, RoundUp seems to build up over time, especially with increased usage (because of increased week tolerance).
    Combine that with genetically modified crops, and you have a trifecta of experimentation on the world’s food supply.
    Monsanto takes both sides of the bet, making money on the RoundUp side and on the genetically modified crop side. Even though the patents on seeds and on roundup are expiring, Monsanto has been using all means at its disposal to maintain monopoly power (on the US ag markets).
    Plus, there’s RoundUp Ready 2 Yield(r), the next generation.
    Enjoy the read at IPZine and think about how comfortable you are with our US food supply?

  • No food to waste

    Chef Massimo Bottura on Why the Future of Food is in Our Trash http://www.wsj.com/articles/chef-massimo-bottura-on-why-the-future-of-food-is-in-our-trash-1449506020

    We throw away about $700 worth of food each year in the USA. That’s per person, last I saw, which was probably about 10 years ago.

    Think of the products taken from the shelf because they are past the due date.
    Capturing most of this food can go a long way toward feeding a hungry planet.

  • Sustainability becomes a business law: Organic is more productive

    Sustainability becomes a business law:

    Two things resurfaced over the last couple days. One is very local to Florida related to Sustainability is the Business Law. It looks at the focus of sustainability from the business view, or from the environmental view; which is the right view. And the answer, of course, is “Yes”.  Aiming for a win, win in the business vs. environment tug of war. The old approach of win-lose turns out to be a lose-lose in the long run.

    But a separate study by the Rodale Institute, with a 30-year long (and ongoing) study of farming showed organic farming to be a hands-down winner over the mass production methods used in the USA. Actual link to the study is here: http://rodaleinstitute.org/our-work/farming-systems-trial/

    That study knocked my socks off!
    Now I gotta go socks shopping for new organically grown socks (bamboo-based
    maybe?).
    A 30+ year field study on Organic farming vs. non-organic (now including GMOs).
    Yields up, resources down (water us and drought tolerance), soil quality, profits up…
    WoW!.
    And, of course, there is a major move in consumer preferences toward healthier foods and more local grown foods as measured by massive moves by such players as Chipotle’s (CMG) and Whole Foods (WFM)… and against the highly processed foods like McDonalds (McD).
    I’m curious what other people think of this study. I wonder how they did several things.
    Also, I
    could not find the exact publication date. The stats were a year or two behind.
    Do you all think that the field study is fully accurate?

    ‘via Blog this’

  • Becoming food independent with a short book and a small farm plot (4 x 4).

    Here’s and interesting little video — sales pitch really —  related to growing your own food. Of course you need to buy the book to really get started.

    I really don’t like the high-level hyperbole, but the underlying concepts are probably okay. Crisis Education, however, implies how dooms-day and shrill it sounds.

    I like the idea of concentrated farming, urban farming, and in-side (making your house greener) grow. Kinda makes you wander if they aren’t promoting a “grow house” concept for those locales where the green crop might be just a little illegal!:-)

    https://www.crisiseducation.com/landing/reports/4foot-farm-blueprint/video/index-grocery2.php?

    Labels: GMO, farming, urban farm, Monsanto

  • Phosphate World and Patent World. Sir John Bennet Lawes, Father of Fertilizer!

    Check out the post at our sister blog SustainZine.com: Phosphate World.

    This blog talks about the phosphate industry in Florida and the nice resort being built out of the rubble of past Phosphate mines over in the Tampa Bay area. That actually is pretty cool, but the point that phosphate fertilizer from mines is non-sustainable, and consequently is a broken business model. Peak Phosphate in the world could arrive by 2030.

    Innovation in preserving and recycling phosphate is critical. More sustainable uses of fertilizer is essential and a responsible way forward.

    But this blog looks at one of the key patents and technological breakthroughs that built the phosphate industry — and consequently, modern farming as we know it.

    Sir John Bennet Lawes is credited as the father of artificial fertilizer. He developed what is referred to as the superphospate fertilizer…. (Many politicians can make such a super fertilizer, only without the patented processes.)

    The inherited owner of the Rothamsted Manor in England, John Bennet Lawes, is credited with inventing the process for extracting useful phosphate from phosphate rock using sulfuric acid. In 1842 he obtained a patent on the process. (This must be only a UK patent since it seems hard to find in the USPTO.)

    Britannica had this to say about Sir John.
    “Lawes inherited his father’s estate, Rothamsted, in 1822. In 1842, after long experimentation with the effects of manures on potted plants and field crops on his estate, he patented a process for treating phosphate rock with sulfuric acid to produce superphosphate. That year he opened the first fertilizer factory, thus initiating the artificial fertilizer industry. The following year, the chemist J.H. (later Sir Henry) Gilbert joined him, and they began a collaboration lasting more than a half century; Lawes considered 1843 the year of the station’s foundation. Together, the pair studied the effects of different fertilizers on crops. They also researched animal nutrition, including the value of different fodders and the sources of animal fat.”

    There are several patents/applications within the last few years related to phosphate (fertilizer). Check out this one, first filed in China, related to extracting phosphate from low-grade rock using a microbial strain.

    And, of course, virtually all GMO seeds/plants are patented — Monsanto, Dupont, a university, etc. 

    Here’s a longer look at Sir John’s life history from Oxford’s DB.  The Rothamsted Research center is still active today, including GMO research.