A
REVOLUTION IN WORLD FOOD PRODUCTION BEGINS
185
Only affordable to larger wealthy fanners, "direct drilling" required a mammoth special machine which automatically inserts the GM soybean seed into a hole drilled several centimeters deep, and then presses dirt down on top of it. With this direct drilling machine, thousands of acres could be planted by one man. By contrast, a traditional three hectare peach or lemon grove required 70 to 80 farm laborers to cultivate. Previous crop residues were simply left in the field to rot, producing a wide variety of pests and weeds alongside the Monsanto GMO soybean sprouts. That in turn led to greater markets for Monsanto to sell its special patented glyphosate or Roundup herbicide, along with the required Roundup Ready patented soybean seeds. After several years of such planting, the weeds began to show a special tolerance to glyphosate, requiring ever stronger doses of that or other herbicides. 13 With the decision to license Monsanto genetically engineered Roundup Ready soybeans in 1996, Argentina was to undergo a revolution which its proponents hailed as a "second green revolution." In reality it was the devolution of a once-productive national family farm-based agriculture system into a neo-feudal state system dominated by a handful of powerful, wealthy Latifundista landowners. The Menem government insured that the door was opened wide to the introduction of GMO soybean seeds. Argentine farmers were in dire economic straits following years of hyperinflation. Monsanto jumped in and extended "credit" to loan-starved farmers to buy Monsanto GMO seeds and Monsanto Roundup herbicide, the only herbicide effective on its Roundup Ready soybean. Monsanto also made the initial transition to GMO soybean more alluring to farmers by offering to provide them with the necessary "direct drilling" machines and training. "Soybeans for Me, Argentina ... " The results of the GMO soybean revolution in Argentina were impressive in one respect. The nation's agriculture economy was completely transformed in less than a decade. In the 1970's, before the debt crisis, soybean was not even a factor in the national agriculture economy, with only 9,500 hectares of
