I’ve been asked several times how I could work for a company that cares so little for life that we turn a blind eye to the plight of Indian cotton farmers due to Indian suicides. Some people have heard that farmers there are committing suicide because of the biotech seeds we sell. I’ve had long conversations trying to explain the complicated cultural phenomenon that is at fault and illustrate clearly it is not the seeds we sell. I also have personal connections in India who have made it possible for me to see things for myself, to ask people questions. This blog post on Discover Magazine does a clear job of discussing the topic of Indian farmers committing suicide and the reality is complex:

Ironically, the documentary (Bitter Seeds) that perpetuates the GMO/Indian farmer suicide myth also indirectly captures those complex factors. I was actually quite moved by the film, which showed a side of the story that indicts Indian cultural mores and predatory lending practices way more than it indicts Monsanto. This is a side of the story that the Vandana Shiva’s of the world choose to ignore. But don’t take my word for it; watch the movie for yourself.

The truth is that the real causes of farmer suicides in India cannot be pinned on Monsanto, however venal you may regard the company. To discuss those causes you have to wade into a very complex equation that includes institutional, social, and governmental factors in India.  Doing this requires a cold objective eye and cultural sensitivity. I’m fairly certain that Vandana Shiva, in her heart,  knows well why so many Indian farmers have taken their lives over the last several decades. Just as I’m sure that she knows all about India’s high rate of suicide and the reasons for it. After all, she is a student of inequality and social justice. That Shiva prefers to keep the conversation squarely and inaccurately focused on GMOs and Monsanto reveals to me that she cares more about advancing an ideological agenda than addressing the root causes of suicide in India. That she has succeeded in exploiting real tragedy and distracting conversation away from those true causes is something I find utterly offensive.

via The Real Seeds of Deception : Collide-a-Scape.

Please read the entire article. Reality is the vast majority of Indian farmers have to work their fingers to the bone, they live in tough conditions without nice things like sharp shovels much less tractors. I want to help them improve their lives, make it possible to send daughters to school, have clean water available to them (many carry water for miles to get it to their homes) and to produce enough of a crop that they can sell it fairly.

Indian cotton farmer irrigating

I was lucky enough to visit India several years ago for work and while there I took some vacation time to visit my friend Geeta’s village and several other places. Seeing what the vast majority of of the Indian public deals with on a daily basis was hard. You see women and children doing heavy labor — picking cotton would be seen as light work compared to the people hauling bricks. You see people using animal dung as a heating source, even for cooking. You see people begging on the streets in ways that make you realize Slumdog Millionaire was probably all too accurate in portraying. Below are some of my trip photos that show you what I mean.

When you live in a world where people complain because the restaurant we are at doesn’t have the exact soda we like, it’s hard to imagine the challenges Indian farmers can face. I have to make myself remember and I have to keep talking to people who can help me see the difficulties in Africa and other world areas. And it’s nearly impossible to understand that a technology that offers a way to limit exposure to insecticides is more than a way to make the job easier, it has the potential for changing your health for the better as you and your kids are no longer breathing in insecticides as you walk the field.

I can see how its easy for people to be vulnerable to stories that sound like an injustice is being done. And injustice should bring outrage. But sometimes what we read on the internet is just a story and the storyteller may have a different agenda than they admit to, like Keith found while at the Botanical Garden.

This brings me to a point I really need to make….

Before you believe the things that are said on the internet, do some research. That can be said of this article as well as the ones that make the other claims. Look at the sources you normally agree with and some of the ones you may not, look for people or groups who may be experts on a topic who aren’t out on book tours, who may just be trying to make a positive difference. There are a lot of people on the internet who use fear as a motivator in others and they manipulate facts. There are also a lot of people who would like to have the truth heard…. they just don’t

I’m okay answering questions about these things as long as people are okay thinking through various information, some of which may not be in line with other things you’ve heard. Use those critical thinking skills we used to cultivate so much as kids and question folks who make big statements about things you are unfamiliar with…. if they really want people to understand what’s happening in the world around them, they will be fine taking time to answer your questions.

Ellen at OneHundredMeals.com also wrote a blog post about an encounter she had with Vandana Shiva. I have never met or heard SHiva speak personally, but have seen video that I felt was incredibly mileading and done so for her own reasons other than honesty.

(Feel like I should remind you about the disclaimer at the bottom of this page. These are my thoughts, not thoughts I am paid to articulate. Now back to work I go.)

Related articles

• The myth of India’s ‘GM genocide’: Genetically modified cotton blamed for wave of farmer suicides

The post Breeding Bitter Seeds of Deception That Hurts Indian Cotton Farmers appeared first on Hundred Percent Cotton.

Today a friend of mine has a post on the company blog that, with the exception of growing up in Texas and the whole mom thing, feels like I could have written it. Like Molly, I have friends or people I meet when I’m out and about, show some sense of surprise when the conversation turns to where we all work. When I say I work in agriculture that’s usually surprising but it goes up a notch when I explain I work for Monsanto (reminder as the footer says, this is my personal blog).  Sometimes people want to dismiss it as “everyone needs a paycheck” and I have to explain that’s not it. I have a lot of choices. Other times people want to help me see the error of my ways. I usually explain that I choose to work here because I am a true believer in agriculture. I want to make a difference.

Molly does a great job capturing my thoughts as she speaks for herself. The blog post reads:

This is a question I hear again and again from new friends, surprised to hear that I work for Monsanto.  Their surprise is certainly understandable.  I don’t exactly fit the stereotype.  I’m politically progressive, I shop at my local natural food store and the local farmers’ markets, and I belong to natural parenting and attachment parenting mommy groups.  I’ve got my own little organic garden growing in pots out on my back porch.  I even cloth diaper my baby.

So why on earth would I find myself working at a place like Monsanto?  Everyone who’s ever read anything on the internet knows what they say about Big Bad Monsanto.  So why does someone like me, a liberal, political activist, lactivist, environmentalist, marginal locavore, and attachment parenting advocate work for a company like that?

Here’s what I tell my friends:

I didn’t fall into a job and Monsanto.  It wasn’t something that just happened.  I actively sought a position with the company.  I wanted to work here, because I believe the work we are doing has a positive impact on the environment and the world.

I’ll use cotton as an example.  I grew up in the Brazos River Valley in Texas, and cotton is something I know a little about.  My family used to go every year to a local cotton gin festival. We took tours of the cotton gins. I learned about pickers, strippers, modules, and bales in 4H.  And it was always fun to pick up the leftover fluff at the side of the road to play with, pick the seeds out, and comb it until it was soft enough to go into a doll bed.

(continued at You work where? | Beyond the Rows)

I am passionate about agriculture. I love working with farmers and especially enjoy knowing I’m making a positive difference. And I’ve worked for a few companies and made a conscious choice to join Monsanto. I talk to farmers almost daily — whether they use biotech or choose not to, heck, some of my friends are organic farmers, and I really think that we are all better by sharing information freely. With only two percent of America involved in agriculture, we have to look at how all of us can do better to meet the challenges ahead. And in case anyone is interested, agriculture of all sorts is always taking applications! I’d love to see more folks joining our ranks! At Monsanto, on the farm or wherever!

What are things that people are surprised to hear about you?

Related articles

• Meal Six: At Monsanto, I Learned I Am the Problem
• Why would a farmer plant GMO cotton?
• Cotton Is Life in Texas – Cotton Farmers Tell Their Story
• What our fields actually need is a heavy application of honesty

The post Idealistic about the Future of Farming & Working at Monsanto appeared first on Hundred Percent Cotton.

I started tapping this blog entry as we reached our cruising altitude on a flight home. It’s been a long weekend with a lot going on work-wise.  Good stuff for the cotton business, but there seemed to be more than a few things making me feel a bit off my pace.  I know it won’t be posted til I’m home but I want to capture these thoughts. I’ll need to reread because I’m not so great on the Blackberry for the lengths this will likely go.

Although I’m a frequent traveler, rarely does the person in the seat next to me garner such a reaction. What makes this flight home different?

The day itself has been far less than the stellar day I was hoping for. I have been rained on, delayed, and pushed around, really hungry I even had to run through Atlanta’s airport. But  a few hours ago, I decided I’d keep a positive mindset. So when I saw a very friendly face look up & smile as I reached my row on the last plane of the day, I thought the day was finally taking a turn for the positive. I was looking for improvement too soon though.

The Atlanta parking lot that caused me to run between flights.

Friendly Convo To Start

Conversation started off friendly enough, albeit sad. The woman next to me was concerned about a friend sitting in first class. The pair is traveling together, but only one got upgraded. Her friend is in the final stages of lung cancer, so of course my seatmate is deservedly concerned about her.

Our conversation turns to the normal chit-chat that I have to admit I usually avoid on flights. She’s from London originally, hence the accent I noticed she has but she was right it had mellowed since she’s lived in Memphis a long time. I’d been running all day and was just glad to be on the final leg of this trip.  I asked what she does and she says mostly volunteer work now.  She asks me and I reply that I work in the cotton business for a company that improves seeds… its Monsanto & the seeds are called Deltapine.

There was an audible gasp, and her eyes opened so much it startled me. She said “Monsanto is evil.” This is where the stress came in. I have read this before, but the fact that I was hearing it today since I’d been making a lot of effort to stay positive seemed like a test. Really. And to have the person, who I’ve pleasantly visited with for five minutes, looking right at me like I’m evil, having just said that heard I am part of Monsanto. It was certainly a test…a test of the Janice-response system.

Take a Deep Breath

Seriously, how often do you call someone evil & mean it? She was dead serious. This was no joke like when friends pull a practical joke & you jokingly say they are evil for playing along.

I paused and glanced out the window at the terminal wishing for a minute I had simply missed the flight, but I knew I had to have more of a conversation.  And while I didn’t take notes, I started typing once the conversation had drifted off …. me to my i-pod and her to a book.  I began to write quickly so I could capture what had just occurred. Hopefully that would make it more accurate.

I turned after catching my breath… “What about Monsanto, exactly, makes you think we are evil?”

“The whole monopoly… biotechnology… forcing your products on the third world… everything.  I am much more of an organic person.”

I explain that I’ve worked in agriculture for almost 20 years, and a little more than two of those years have been at Monsanto.  I’m very comfortable with what we do here. In fact, I have a deep confidence that we are helping improve the world.  I also have a brother who farms organically & I don’t think we have to pick a single way to produce food, but that a combined approach may be best.  I grin and say that I know if my brother and I can talk diplomatically, we can as well.  She laughs and agrees.

“Okay, I’d like to understand a bit more. I don’t see how we can be accused of being a monopoly when my chief competition is DuPont, Bayer, etc. We do ag & ag only. And we do it really well.”

She acknowledges we have major competitors.  Biotech food really bothers her.  She brought up not wanting fish genes in her tomatoes (our company site has a post on this mistaken rumor).  On biotech…I ask if she is familiar with the different kinds of biotech.  I ask if she knows about insect-protected plants, because that was what first exposed me to biotech.  She doesn’t so I want to explain how I see it.

My Experience in Cotton

To me, Bollgard has made the third world a better, healthier place. Early in my career, I had the chance to talk to some researchers at Rutgers and Auburn who were studying life expectancy and medical issues in rural China.  Health in these areas, even life expectancy was better.  Similar research seemed to indicate women farmers and their children in Africa were faring better as well.  And I had heard first- and second-hand accounts all those years ago to corroborate the research

I say I’m probably more of a Peace Corps-type person than she could imagine. My earliest work with biotech was alongside a friend who had worked on water systems in Kenya. The friend worked for us in Africa, and I remember how she would tell stories of farmers who used biotech and advanced seed being able to build a second room on their house or send a daughter to school with the increased revenue.  The farmers and my friend attributed this to the difference of increases in income due to biotech. For me, this is a major part of the power of biotech.

As I share my story, she can see my passion for agriculture. That passion has the power of science, but also a deep-seated belief in doing what’s right.

This connects to something I’ve seen first-hand… having had too many chances to see what science can do to heal. How medicine can make a difference, and that I think people forget how interconnected the life sciences are.  My example is a boy that was in my sister’s class one year who had very painful issues with sickle cell.  I sincerely would take anything from me, a fish, a tomato or whatever to help that boy if I could. To me, biotech offers that hope to both the boy struggling with disease and the world struggling to produce food with dwindling resources.

What about the third world?

We talk about how the people in the third world have the right to make decisions for themselves. I believe people deserve the opportunity to produce food for themselves so starvation isn’t such a plague. When I share this belief with people, it is frequently met with a similar concept…my seatmate brought up birth control .   I’ve gotten strangely used to hearing people bring up population control it seems as the option to growing more food.  But I don’t see it as either or.

My friend Percy from South Africa has been on a personal mission for more than a decade trying to get better information out in that country.  It’s not just about unwanted pregnancy, but about stopping the spread of HIV, which has a horrible effect in many African countries.  I agree with Percy’s concept–that educating people about practices and providing them access to different technologies can make a difference Biotech certainly has followed similar paths in other places, make it so children aren’t required to farm, let them go to school, let them improve their lives, and people see a different future for themselves.  Of course my concept around access and education includes a comprehensive approach–birth control, education, agriculture, etc.

I was glad to see that this woman, who seemed so friendly, appeared interested in having the conversation rather than shutting her mind down to it.  And I was a bit proud of myself for being able to hang in there.  No doubt directly calling someone evil can be a bit of a hindrance to constructive conversation.  After several minutes of ag discussion, we turned to other topics.

Moving on to Other Things

We talked about the care her friend was getting for her cancer (same specialist my grandmother used and one of the best). They were returning from a wedding in Pittsburgh, and there was a series of things happening there too…flights were complicated. Both of their husbands had to take alternate routes.

She was surprised to hear we live within a few miles of each other in Memphis, shop at the same bookstore and we love the same appetizer at a local restaurant.  She was still surprised about my brother farming organically, and that I shop at the Fresh Market and Trader Joe’s at times.  I was surprised the mention of Trader Joe’s brought up the idea of a petition to support its arrival in Memphis.  I’d seen one online requesting a Trader Joe’s but was surprised when she said  she didn’t sign because she worries Memphis couldn’t support both a Trader Joe’s and a Whole Foods.  We both got a knowing laugh when I asked if that meant she supported Whole Foods having a monopoly.

Seriously though, the conversation started with what could have been an absolute ender for me if I had “bowed up.”  (Note: guess this is a southern phrase, but it means to get mad and strike back.)  But I took it as a chance to simply have a discussion.  Not to shutdown due to the insult I felt, whether it was intended or not.  As we prepared for the arrival in Memphis, she said she may see me at the bookstore.  And I replied, maybe you’ll keep looking for information on what we talked about – maybe even talk to a few farmers.  She said she had a friend who farmed cotton.  He’s told her he couldn’t imagine farming without our technology, which was reassuring to me.  I left reminding her how drought technology could be critical in a world with diminishing resources.

It was really good to get home.

The post Speechless or Ready to Rant? I Chose The Middle Ground appeared first on Hundred Percent Cotton.