An Occasional Newsletter of Food System Analysis & Beyond
304, September 2014
Wonderful New Technology
Readers of The Ram’s Horn will know that it is our practice to publish only reports from identifiable and trustworthy
sources. The following press release is something of an exception. It was passed to us by a source we cannot identify
for their safety and job security, but we think you will agree that it is typical of industry hype and promises and
appears to be authentic.
Announcing the release of Roundup Ready
Dandelion
St. Louis, Mo, 31/7/18 – The common dandelion (Taraxa-
cum officinale) may be a weed to some (the common
name in French is piss-en-lit), but it promises to become
a powerhouse for innovators in the food sector. The
young leaves are in much demand as a salad green
among high-end chefs; the golden flowers are prized to
make a delicate wine; and the roots are widely used in
food and beverage processing for their exotic almost-
coffee flavour, as in delicious organic dandelion ice
cream.
To serve the producers and users of this crop, we
are excited to announce the widespread release of
RoundUp-Ready (RR) dandelions. No longer will grow-
ers be faced with dead dandelions every time a
neighbour sprays a crop or enhances a lawn.
As is standard in our industry we
consulted widely (with 3 Italian
wine makers and one ice-
cream producer)
PISS-EN-LIT SPREADS
No.
ISSN 0827-4053
in the process of perfecting this technology. In addition,
our stakeholder consultations have not produced a
single voice of concern. Our extensive research has
uncovered no scientific papers contradicting our own
research findings; in fact, our rigorous trials demon-
strate that the seed will not travel beyond the farm. Our
trial results show that 83.45% of the RR dandelion seed
comes with shorter wing feathers than conventional
varieties; trials of blow balls in windy outdoor condi-
tions are forthcoming.
Furthermore, insects which could be vectors of
cross-pollination with conventional dandelions can be
readily controlled through regular applications of
neonicotinoids. This is what we call a sustainable,
integrated solution.
Farmers and gardeners alike will enjoy the control
and predictability this new technology offers for their
management practices. Further developments of this
technology promise higher yields for farmers and in-
creased root size, of particular interest to commercial
growers, and opening new opportunities even beyond
the food sector. Our scientists are improving a variety
that yields a milk similar to that of the rubber tree. This
newly improved and
enhanced variety
promises to liberate the
world from dependence
on east Asian latex fields
and provide a reliable source of
non-rainforest latex for world
markets. It also promises to cure
cancer.
Our commitment to growth
of the industry is demonstrated
by these innovative solutions which
. . . continued next page
THE RAM’S HORN PAGE 2
promise farmers a whole new suite of advanced techno-
logical tools to meet new and expanded market de-
mands.
Visit your local dealer for samples of our seed.
Save on planting expenses by opening the package
aggressively on a windy part of your field. For farmers
not interested in this product, we advise you to arrange
a visit from our teams of lawyers who are already
getting calls about illegal growing of our proprietary
patented seed without a contract.
In Their Own Words
“Modernization” of Canada’s crop variety
registration system
The Government of Canada has committed to a transforma-
tional shift in Canadian agricultural policy, with a renewed
emphasis on research and innovation, competitiveness and
market development. We continue to make efforts to reduce
unnecessary regulatory burden as part of our commitment to
a science-based regulatory framework that promotes re-
search and innovation and allows for an efficient, transpar-
ent and predictable interaction between government and
industry. – agr.gc.ca, 13/5/14
Now, as our grandmothers would say, wash your
mouth out with soap.
New Cornell Alliance for Science gets $5.6
million grant, reports the University
A new international effort led by Cornell will seek to add a
stronger voice for science and depolarize the charged de-
bate around agricultural biotechnology and genetically
modified organisms (GMOs).
Supported by a $5.6 million grant from the Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation, the Cornell Alliance for Science
will help inform decision-makers and consumers through an
online information portal and training programs to help
researchers and stakeholders effectively communicate the
potential impacts of agricultural technology and how such
technology works.
The project will involve developing multimedia re-
sources, including videos of farmers from around the world
documenting their struggles to deal with pests, diseases,
crop failure and the limited resources available in the face of
poverty and climate change, said Sarah Evanega, senior
associate director of International Programs in Cornell’s
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS), who will
lead the project.
“Our goal is to depolarize the GMO debate and
engage with potential partners who may share common
values around poverty reduction and sustainable agricul-
ture, but may not be well informed about the potential
biotechnology has for solving major agricultural challenges,”
Evanega said.
The grant will allow the Cornell Alliance for Science to
host annual conferences, short courses and semester-long
CALS certificate programs in biotechnology leadership,
among other activities.
Evanega said the initial concept was informed by a
February 2014 gathering at Cornell of 34 representatives
from public sector and not-for-profit organizations in 12
countries that discussed a new vision for biotechnology
communications.
Barbara M. Zawedde, coordinator of the Uganda
Biosciences Information Center at the National Agricultural
Research Organization, said “Our effective communication
will enable African farmers and citizens to exercise their
sovereign right of informed decisions on whether to adopt
certain crops and technologies depending on their needs
and priorities.”
“Biotechnology is a potential game-changer for farm-
ers in less developed countries and an important tool in the
toolbox for addressing global challenges, such as persistent
poverty, a changing and erratic climate, and the challenge of
feeding 9 billion people by 2050,” said Kathryn J. Boor, the
Ronald P. Lynch Dean of CALS. “Improving agricultural
biotechnology communications is a challenge that must be
met if innovations developed in public sector institutions
like Cornell are ever to reach farmers in their fields.”
– news.cornell.edu/stories/2014/08/
The recent very slick attack on Vandana Shiva in
the New Yorker magazine is an example of how this
‘communications challenge’ is being met.
“What Is Agri-Food?”
The Ram’s Horn is neither “Modern, Progressive nor
Innovative” – which means we do not wish to be swept
along in the destructive capitalist program of Agricul-
ture and Agri-Food Canada.
Public opinion research conducted for Agriculture
and Agri-Food Canada found confusion around the term
‘agri-food’ in the department’s title. Some thought it had
‘negative connotations’; others found it ‘somewhat mean-
ingless’. . . Researchers also found Canadians had ‘a rather
idyllic and outdated view’ of Canadian agriculture. ‘Not
surprisingly, when participants think about the sector there

is a tendency to envisage farms, livestock, crops, green
pastures, endless wheat fields and prairie landscapes.
This type of imagery reinforces a view of the sector as
traditional rather than modern, progressive and innovative.’
– Ottawa Citizen, 14/7/14
MAKING HAY THE TRADITIONAL WAY - WITH KIDS
So we’ll stick to our quaint ways of analyzing the
global food system and its players and commenting on
its implications for all of Creation.
Consolidation In All Directions
While ‘horizontal’ consolidation carries on in
agribusiness – as everywhere else in the capitalist
world – the major players also consolidate vertically in
their chosen sectors. Even so, there always appears to
be room for another middleman to squeeze in. Input
Capital, “a non-operating farming company”, is one of
these.
“Input is an agriculture commodity streaming com-
pany with a focus on canola, the largest and most profitable
crop in Canadian agriculture. Input enters into multi-year
canola streaming contracts with canola farmers in western
Canada. Input purchases a fixed portion of the canola
produced, at a fixed price, for the duration of the term of the
contract. . . Input is focused on farmers with quality produc-
tion profiles, excellent upside yield potential, and strong
management teams. Input has multi-year canola streams
with twenty farmers located across Alberta and Saskatch-
ewan.” – inputcapital.com
Input capital seems to be happy in ‘the market’
now, but how will it fare “as the market for non-
genetically modified canola oil continues to grow”? (WP,
21/8/14) A major processor of non-GE canola said he
can sell everything he can buy and that “food companies
THE RAM’S HORN PAGE 3
are paying handsome premiums for the product,” but
there is not enough non-GE seed. The biotech industry
claims that 96% of the canola grown in Canada is GE. It
appears that Input Capital has put itself in bed with
biotech – we doubt that the non-GE players will wel-
come an intruder.
Take, for example, the Invisible Giant
Four years ago, the Financial Times of London de-
scribed Cargill:
“In many senses, Cargill is one of the hidden compa-
nies of the global economy. As the world’s agribusiness
leader, it sits at the nexus of one of the world’s biggest and
most critical industries – a force of great importance to
millions of farmers as well as to large food multinationals
from Nestlé to Coca-Cola and Kraft, though it is much less
well-known as a name.” – Financial Times 19/5/10
Cargill has recently launched a new vegetable oil
made from conventional, non-GE, soybeans. “Despite
the merits of biotechnology, consumer interest in food
and beverage products made from non-GE ingredients
is growing, creating opportunities and challenges for
food manufacturers and food service operators,” said
Cargill’s food ingredients commercial manager.
– ST, 29/6/14

 C 

The consolidation continues with Cargill’s recent
purchase of the chocolate business of ADM (Archer
Daniels Midland) for $440 million. The sale includes 3
North American chocolate factories and 3 in Europe,
bringing Cargill’s totals to 24 chocolate and cacao facili-
ties and 3,300 employees. Swiss-based Barry Callebaut
remains the world’s largest chocolate company by far.
– GM,33/9/14
Cargill has invested $100 million dollars in its
Starches and Sweeteners facility in Efremov, Russia,
200 miles south of Moscow, to nearly double its wheat
processing capacity. The plant will process 500,000
tonnes of wheat a year. This production line forms part
of Cargill’s multi-functional production site in Efremov.
The technology and equipment of the new line will allow
Cargill to have zero waste. The food ingredients pro-
duced at this plant are used in different food and feed

THE RAM’S HORN PAGE 4
industries. A wide range of starch-based glucose, mal-
tose and glucose-fructose syrups are delivered to Rus-
sian companies producing soft drinks, beer, confection-
ery, while starch is shipped to paper and corrugated
cardboard industries, and also to the mixed fodder
plants. – World Grain, 6/19/14
Cargill owns and operates five palm plantations –
two in Indonesia and three in Papua New Guinea – as
well as 12 palm oil refineries across the world which
buy, refine, process, and market palm oil products from
its own and other plantations.
From R&D to M&A
While vertical and horizontal consolidation appear to be
the dominant trend in the food industry, we cannot let
the beneficiaries – the owners (personal and institu-
tional share holders and senior executives) – convince
us that those are the only options for successful busi-
ness – success as measured by growth, which is strictly
a matter of numbers: “If my company buys yours, I add
your numbers to mine and – Wow! look at how I have
grown!” This game is referred to in the business world
as “mergers and acquisitions”, “M&A” for short, and in
the drug industry it seems to have taken over from R&D
(Research and Development).
“Once upon a time the way to be a big pharmaceu-
tical company was to discover and develop new drugs.
But now, the business is becoming less about R&D and
more about M&A. It may cause excitement in financial
markets, but it’s not a sign of health.” – G&M, 23/4/14
An example is drug company Valeant, which spent
$13 billion last year on acquisitions, while for 2012 and
2013 it spent a mere $236 million on research and
development – less than 3% of its revenue. Wm. Ackman,
a significant gamer, has been the major partner with
Valeant.
“In the last year or so, hedge fund billionaire
William Ackman has tried to destroy a company that
sells diet shakes, played a prominent role in nearly
driving a 112-year-old retailer into the ground, helped
launch a hostile takeover of a pharmaceutical company
[Allergan] in a way that the Securities & Exchange
Commission is reportedly examining for potential vio-
lation of insider trading law, accused George Soros’
family office of insider trading, and fought and made up
with Carl Icahn.” (Icahn is another star take-over ‘hedge
fund’ player.) – Forbes, 14/8/14
Of course M&As are not limited to the food and
drug sector. Canada-based Manulife Financial Corp.
has just bought, for $4 billion, British-based Standard
Life's Canadian operations. And in case you wondered
what exactly insurers do, the G&M's Report on Busi-
ness says that the deal “builds both insurers’ wealth
businesses”. – GM, 4/9/14
Another M&A
Tim Hortons – affectionately known as Timmie’s – is a
Canadian icon, along with its iconic “double-double”
and doughnut Timbits. Burger King is US-based, and
orders of magnitude bigger, so their recently announced
merger is in fact more like a takeover.
The merger will create the world’s largest fast-
food chain with 18,000 restaurants worldwide and sales
of $22 billion. The combined company will be
headquartered in Oakville, Ont. (for tax reasons), but it
will be majority owned by Brazilian private-equity firm
3G Capital Inc., which currently owns about 70% of
Burger King. By moving to a lower-tax jurisdiction,
Burger King “would save money on foreign earnings
and cash stowed abroad and, in some cases, lower their
overall corporate tax rate too.” – source: GM, 25/8/14
Jorge Paulo Lehmann is Brazil’s richest man (per-
sonal net worth valued at $22-billion) and the leader of
a team of 4 that runs 3G Capital. 3G first made the news
when it purchased Anheuser-Busch. Together with
other breweries it already owned, 3G became the world’s
largest brewer. Next, it became the majority owner of
Burger King and a year ago it bought H.J.Heinz in a
transaction valued at $28 billion. 3G is best known in
Brazilian business circles for “its relentless focus on
cost-cutting”. – source: 3G-capital.com
Limits to Growth
When we were farming and I was the Sheep Producers
rep to the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture, I was
struck by the dress code of most of the other farmers at
the meetings: almost all of them wore neckties, though
not actual business suits. Less noticeable was some of
the common language, which frequently included the
word ‘profit’. More than once I found myself comment-
ing on the frequency of the word ‘profit’ in discussions
of farm business. I pointed out that profit was the
surplus remaining after all the bills had been paid,
including wages (at least nominal) for the family, in-
cluding children, and the mortgage. Then I would add,
‘so probably none of us are making a profit, though we
might well say that we are making a living.’ – B.K.
One of our ‘indentured labourers’ (driving the
tractor in the photo on p. 3) at the time was our daughter
Rebecca, who, with her husband Brian, is now a propri-
 THE RAM’S HORN PAGE 5

etor of a very ‘successful’ business, Crannóg Ales, on
their certified organic farm in Sorrento, B.C. They have
produced an attractive card for their customers and
others with the heading, “Growth Cap, essential to
sustainability”.
Many businesses, including breweries, are encour-
aged to grow. Growth has become the only marker
we have for success – if you are not growing, you’re
failing.
Is it ok to stop growing? Yes. In fact, it means that
we only take our share of the resources.
In a finite world, there has to be a concept for
enough. This is practicing sustainability.
We at Crannóg Ales have a growth cap: we will not
continue to expand beyond the footprint of the
farm. Our well holds only so much water. We have
enough work, we have enough income, we have enough
time to educate and inspire. Thanks! And to top it
off, it’s still economically viable.
Rebecca and Brian will be presenting a workshop
on their enterprise and the principles on which it has
been built at the Food Secure Canada Assembly in
Halifax, NS, November 13-16th.
– information: www.foodsecurecanada.org;
more on the brewery at www.crannogales.com
A Quiet Land-grab
Ukraine is the world’s third-largest exporter of cotton
and the fifth-largest exporter of wheat. Agriculture
accounts for about 10% of gross domestic product (GDP),
with vast fields of fertile soil yielding bumper harvests
of grain and cereals each year.
brokered between China and Ukraine prior to the politi-
cal crisis granted Beijing control over some three mil-
lion hectares of prime farmland in the east, an area that
totals 5% of Ukraine’s arable land.
Ukraine is also one of the 10 pilot countries in the
World Bank’s new Benchmarking the Business of Agri-
culture (BBA) project. The Bank says the BBA will
largely serve as a tool for improving agricultural out-
put: “For small-scale farmers to be more productive and
far more competitive, they need access to land, finance,
improved seed, fertiliser, water, electricity, transport
and markets. . . The list of needed reforms is quite long,
and could start with building a more transparent land
market. A first step in this direction could be the lifting
of the moratorium on land sales.”
“These reforms sound good on paper,” says the
Oakland Institute, “ but when you look more closely you
see they are actually designed to benefit large multina-
tional corporations over workers and small-scale farm-
ers,” and could strengthen existing initiatives such as
Monsanto’s Ukraine-based ‘Grain-basket of the Future’
project (which offers $25,000 loans to rural farmers)
and Cargill’s $200-million stake in UkrLandFarming,
the eighth largest land cultivator in the world.
“It is necessary to see this in context of the U.S.–
Russia struggle over Ukraine,” author Joel Kovel told
IPS. “Geostrategic politics and neoliberal economics fit
together within the overall plan . . . in which global
finance capital under American control and neocon-
servative leadership imposes austerity, seeks dominion
over the easternmost portion of Europe, and continues
the policy of encircling Russia.” – IPS, 30/7/14

According to a 2013 U.S. forecast, Ukraine is

poised to become the world’s second biggest grain ex-
porter in the world (after the U.S.). But the past decade
has seen an abrupt change in Ukraine’s agricultural
sector, with foreign investors and agri-business hugely
expanding ownership and influence in the country.

According to a report from the U.S.-based Oakland

Institute, over 1.6 million hectares of land have been
signed over to multinational companies since 2002,
including “over 405,000 hectares to a company listed in
Luxembourg, 444,800 hectares to Cyprus-registered
investors, 120,000 hectares to a French corporation,
and 250,000 hectares to a Russian company.” A deal
THE RAM’S HORN PAGE 6

vided a strategic location for many transnationals looking for

Solving Hunger: Turkey’s Neo- entry points to other countries in the region.
Liberal Miracle Parallel to the changes in the food processing industry,
by Mustafa Koc, Department of Sociology, we see an even stronger tendency of consolidation in the
Ryerson University (slightly edited) retail food sector in Turkey during the 2000s. Growing by
86% between 2002 and 2012, the retail sector is one of the
Turkey has been recognized as one of the recent success
fastest growing sectors in the Turkish economy. As the share
stories in the fight against hunger and food insecurity among
of traditional small grocery stores continuously declined,
the developing economies in a variety of recent international
“share of supermarkets in the total consumable goods mar-
reports. In recent years economic development indicators
ket (excluding cigarettes) has increased 54% in the last 10
show that Turkey has achieved remarkable success – FAO
years”, while the global supermarket chains such as Carrefour,
lists Turkey among the countries that reached the Millen-
Metro, Tesco, Real or others such as the UK based BC
nium Development Goals – as many countries in the South-
Partners Private Equity Fund have entered in to the super-
ern Mediterranean, the Middle East and North Africa suf-
market frenzy by acquiring existing national chains or through
fered the impacts of global financial crisis and/or civil wars.
joint ventures. Nevertheless, the lion’s share in the retail
With growth rates as high as 9.2% (in 2010), per capita GDP
sector is the locally owned discount retailers such as BIM
of Turkey grew from $8,667 in 2002 to $18,114 in 2012.
(3,751 stores), A101 (2,000+), Sok (1,200+), Dia (900+)
This gives support to conservative arguments that economic
and Ucz (900+). With smaller bare-bones outlets especially
growth is the key in solving food insecurity.
in poorer neighbourhoods, discount stores tend to have
intense price advantage with their own private label prod-
Yet macro data provided by the economic develop-
ucts, lower operating budgets and labour costs. (Statistics
ment and food security reports do not provide us enough
from GAIN, 2014).
insights on this economic miracle which pretty much de-
pended on low wages and low agricultural prices. The
With all these changes, the shopping and consumption
August 2014 report by the conservative trade union confed-
patterns of city dwellers began to change in Turkey. As
eration TURK-IS calculated the monthly minimum wage of
retailers pushed for higher profit margin products such as
891 lira (approximately $ 448 CAD) can only maintain a
sauces, soft drinks, candies, cookies, breakfast cereals and
single person for 21 days. Sadly, it is estimated that close to
cheese varieties, food consumption patterns also changed.
70% of the wage earners are receiving the minimum wage
The shift from traditional diets high in cereal and fibre to
in Turkey.
more Western style diets with processed foods, high in
sugars, fats and animal proteins, and sedentary lifestyles
So what is behind the improvements in food security
resulted in higher prevalence of chronic and degenerative
despite low wages? One of the key factors has been the low
diseases.
prices of agricultural products. A major agricultural pro-
ducer, Turkey has benefited from relatively lower produce
The consequences of this dietary change were re-
prices over the years. In recent years, government policies
flected in a recent study by the Turkish Diabetes Epidemiol-
shifted from support pricing and purchasing to a program of
ogy Study (TURDEP), which concluded that the prevalence
farm support per acre and per head of animal. Favouring
of diabetes in Turkey was 16.5%, obesity 36% and hyperten-
mid- to large-scale farmers, the impacts of these policies
sion 31.4%. Compared to the previous TURDEP study
have been reflected in rural poverty and rural urban migra-
conducted in 1997-98, these figures show a 90% increase in
tion patterns. Between 2002 and 2012 the share of agricul-
diabetes rates and 44% in obesity.
ture in total employment declined from 34.9% to 24.6%.
The poverty rate among rural unemployed in 2009 was
Even the discount grocery stores or public markets are
51.9% – almost five times more than the 12.4% urban
not within the reach of hundreds of thousands of urban poor,
poverty rates. Many rural poor sought employment as agri-
or displaced refugees of Iraqi and Syrian civil wars, despite
cultural labourers or miners (such as the victims of recent
their lower prices. To deal with those who are unable to
Soma mine disaster), others moved to urban areas to work in
purchase their food in the market, one of the earlier acts of
the service sector, the construction industry or emerging
the ruling AKP government was the legalization of food
greenhouse sector that has been providing cheap produce to
banks in 2004. The new law allowed associations and
the expanding supermarket chains.
foundations to set up food banks, provided that this was
explicitly stated in their charters. Companies were allowed
Rising population, increasing urbanization and effec-
a hundred percent tax deduction for donations to food banks
tive marketing and advertising also created an expanding
and were exempted from value added tax.
consumer economy for the food processing industry. Grow-
ing domestic demand led to consolidation through mergers
Municipal governments were also allowed to set up
and takeovers by foreign transnationals. Turkey also pro-
food banks in 2005, and many municipal governments

established food banks identical to super markets. Approved
food bank recipients are given electronic cards and use these
to receive items of their choice available at these establish-
ments. Many find this approach much more liberating in
comparison to the more traditional food banks’ hampers
where recipients have no choice but to accept. However, by
commodifying donations, transforming donors into shop-
pers, and providing them “choices” dictated by the establish-
ment, this approach replicates and legitimizes the supermar-
ket system. Moreover, the clientalist nature of the program
leaves the recipients completely at the mercy of the food
bank authorities. A similar situation is evident at the munici-
pal level as food banks established by municipal gov-
ernments run by opposition parties face closure as
they could not receive sufficient donations from
independent food banks or businesses.
Charitable food banking also pro-
vided a legitimate venue for the AKP’s
local organizing efforts in various munici-
palities, where providing particular social
services was key for electoral success. Further-
more, tax exemptions provided desired in-
centives and benefits to businesses that were
politically closer to the government.
The fact that food banks donate not
only food but clothing, shoes, cleaning and
heating material indicates clearly that food
banks operate as not only frontline food
security organizations but as civil society
based social assistance networks in filling the gap created by
the shrinking welfare state. It is, however, not a system
facilitating income redistribution through cash transfers but
rather aid in-kind. In this sense it is not about respecting the
right of all citizens to make their own food choices, but
handouts to those who are loyal and friendly to the regime.
The privatized welfare system that they have intro-
duced has shifted a citizenship based system to a clientalist
privilege through submission and acquiescence. The Turk-
ish case also raises questions about the limitations of even
the most sophisticated food security indicators as they mostly
look at conditions of food provisioning, not conditions of
production, distribution, control and ownership in the food
system.
BBQ Advice
Just in time for the last barbeque of the season comes
research into red meat consumption that shows
butyrylated resistant starch, found in cooked potato
that has cooled, reduces the number of micro RNA
molecules linked with the survival and growth of
colorectal cancer cells. So make sure you have potato
salad with those burgers! – New Scientist, 9/8/14
THE RAM’S HORN PAGE 7
Privatising Knowledge
“In perhaps its biggest shift yet, Monsanto is moving
into computing. Through the purchase of two compa-
nies, Precision Planting and the Climate Corporation,
Monsanto has begun offering software and hardware
products that gather and process information relevant
to a farmer – data about temperature, rain, soil, seeds,
and pests. ‘This isn’t about a farm,’ says Hugh Grant,
Monsanto’s chief executive officer and chairman. ‘It’s
not about a field. It’s literally about every square yard
in that field and doing the best thing for the soil and the
water in that yard-by-yard approach.’
“Last October, Monsanto acquired the Cli-
mate Corp. for $930 million. Climate Corp. was
started in 2006 by two Google engineers as a
way to utilize historical weather data to
create more accurate, localized fore-
casts. They quickly realized that the
business most dependent on the
weather was farming and began
using their software and the
climatological data they’d gath-
ered to offer a new kind of crop
insurance. Climate Corp. poli-
cies have no claims process: If
the company’s models show
that the weather over a farmer’s
field has been bad enough to hurt yields – too
much rain or too little, daytime heat stress or an early
freeze – and if that farmer has bought coverage to cover
those events, he automatically gets a cheque.
“Monsanto liked the way the high-tech insurer
used data to help protect farmers not only from poor
weather but also poor decisions. For $15 an acre, Cli-
mate Corp. offers a set of software ‘advisors’ that can tell
a farmer what, when, and how deep to plant, whether to
irrigate, which fertilizer to apply and where perhaps to
reapply . . . .
“Monsanto’s attachment to the concept has gener-
ated suspicion. ‘The more data they control, well, the
more they’re going to control the farmers,’ says Swiss
agronomist Hans Herren. ‘So the farmers will go from
being entrepreneurs to basically laborers for Monsanto.’
“Climate Corp.’s privacy policy emphasizes that
the company does not own a farmer’s data. ‘Your infor-
mation remains yours even after you provide it to us,’ it
reads. Information, however, is different from under-
standing, and the broader critique of both Climate
Corp. and Monsanto is that they’re taking knowledge
that once resided in farmers’ brains and centralizing it
– some of it in seeds, some of it in software.”
– verbatim from Businessweek, 4/7/14
THE RAM’S HORN PAGE 8

Breaking News: US is an Oligarchy Fertilizer Protection

The US government does not represent the interests of
the majority of the country’s citizens, but is instead
ruled by those of the rich and powerful, a new study
from Princeton and Northwestern Universities has
concluded. The report used extensive policy data col-
lected from between the years of 1981 and 2002. After
sifting through nearly 1,800 US policies enacted in that
period and comparing them to the expressed prefer-
ences of average Americans, affluent Americans and
large special interests groups, researchers concluded
that the United States is dominated by its economic
elite.
The peer-reviewed study says: “The central point
that emerges from our research is that economic elites
and organised groups representing business interests
have substantial independent impacts on US govern-
ment policy, while mass-based interest groups and
average citizens have little or no independent influ-
ence.” – The Telegraph (UK), 16/4/14
Is this not also true for Harper’s Canada?
Editors’ comment on the content of this issue:
We cannot carry on this way! Fortunately, a lot of
people are working quietly to undermine this
system. We will continue to look for and publish
those stories too.
A number of years ago, the deliberately benign term
“crop protection agents” began to be applied to agrotoxins
by their manufacturers as a kind of whitewash. Now the
notion of ‘protection’ is to be applied to fertilizers. A
University of Manitoba ‘soil scientist’ is saying, “The
Prairies have been wet for a couple of decades and if that
climate pattern continues, farmers in the region may
need products that preserve and protect fertilizer in-
puts.” Perhaps it would be better to say that it is the
farmers who need protection from the farm input suppli-
ers, particularly now that the federal (Harper) govern-
ment has loosened regulations and companies no longer
have to prove their products are effective. – WP, 16/8/14
It’s not just the heavy rains that caused the
Assiniboine River in Manitoba to flood in midsummer.
“The elimination of vast numbers of small ponds and
wetlands across the Canadian Prairie has removed a
crucial buffer that can temporarily store water during
periods of excessive precipitation.” Drainage systems –
levelling the earth to get rid of the hollows that served
as small reservoirs and installing sub-surface perfo-
rated plastic drain pipes to lead water away quickly into
drainage ditches – slightly increase the area a farmer
can plant, but with negative consequences of down-
stream (or river) flooding when it rains ‘too much’. The
fast-draining water also carries fertilizer down river
into Manitoba lakes, causing massive algae blooms.
– GM, 10/7/14

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