Who was it who said "lowest prices are only the beginning" ?........

Surprise, surprise! Be prepared. This is only the start as full contamination means 5 fold price hikes within 4 years as what happened in Argentina, and continuous price increases within short amounts of time that go well beyond inflation. GM is not the bees knees to growers. It is a nightmare and will make farmers broke. Wake up Australian farmers before it is too late.

When will farmers realise that Monsanto is about profits not people? And when will our governments stop allowing large corporations to fund our agricultural bodies? GM is not an answer to better yields, the use of less weedicides or bigger profits for farmers. It is the exact opposite and the future costs by allowing GM will far outweigh any funding our governments are receiving now.

The selective spin that Bob Phelps and friends continually puts on these things staggers me. The reality is that just like at your suburban supermarket or local organic market, if the price is too high, the product will stay on the shelf.

This is not surprising, as with most industries once you corner supply in the market you then proceed to milk it. Normal economics would suggest that once the seed type is established and more people begin to use the product, your overheads are reduced and costs go down; however with people like Monsanto & Co. the opposite applies.

Bob Phelps has used a fact to tell a lie – very clever, very misleading, and very manipulative! Yes, Bollgard is twice the price of Ingard but Bollgard has two genes for insect protection, Ingard had only one. Ingard reduced sprays by about 50% and Bollgard by 92%. Twice the genes, twice the reduction in sprays; possibly twice the value???

With the multinationals coming into the Australian market and taking control of what we eat, of course food prices are going to increase. If you combine this with the already documented health risks of eating GE food then it is the Australian consumers who will be sprayed into a corner. Why can't we have the right to choose what we can eat? And why can't we have diversity not only in the way our food is grown but also in what is available on our supermarket shelves?

David Tribe claims GM farmers can take or leave GM seeds but that’s not the US experience. An AP inquiry reported at: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/ 12/15/monsanto-has-stranglehold-on-seed-industry-says-ap/ found Monsanto, the world’s largest seed company, may have cornered the seed supply with unfair practices now being investigated by the US Department of Justice and the states of Iowa and Texas. Other concerns are steep seed price hikes and conventional seed withheld from growers. Really and truly (from Monsanto?) says two GM genes are better than one so doubling the licence fee is ok. But resistant insects result from over-exposure to Bt toxins made in GM plants, and weeds acquire Roundup herbicide resistance from repeated use. See Killer Pig Weed Threatens Crops at: http://abcnews.go.com/WN/pig-weed-threatens-agriculture-industry-overtaking-fields-crops/Story?id=8766404&page=1 Is the solution to these problems three genes in each seed at three times the price? That is the trend and it’s no surprise. Monsanto CEO, Hugh Grant, aims for the company’s profit to double in the next two or three years, from $3 billion now. Shoppers and farmers will pay, and pay, for GM!

Monsanto prices our products according to the value received by growers. And new generations of Monsanto products deliver increased value. This value is shown in reduced tillage, and excellent weed and pest control that have led to higher yielding and more profitable crops for growers. Since the introduction of Bt cotton in Australia in 1996, growers have reduced their sprays by 85% - benefiting the environment, the community and the grower by lowering farm inputs. That’s why Australian cotton growers continue to grow cotton with Monsanto traits – despite having the option to grow conventional cotton. In canola, similar improvements have already been seen in just two seasons of commercialisation. Roundup Ready canola growers have found better weed control, less sprays and an increase in yields by up to 20% over their conventional and TT systems. Monsanto invests $2.2 million dollars a day on the development of new traits so growers can sow and reap the benefits of the latest innovations. Australian growers are businessmen and know the value of what they plant.

Its obvious that Mr. Phelps hasnt a clue what he is talking about. Again, if farmers see high prices for their seed, and they dont see value in them, there are many choices out there for them to purchase. Agree with David posted above. Look at it this way...you can buy a Mercedes, and it will cost more, because it provides more value to some people. Others decide not to buy a Mercedes, so they buy something else.