Environment News 20.11.14 Part V: Monsanto - Maker of GMOs, 2,4-D, Agent Orange, the toxic glysophate that has given birth to SUPERWEEDS - Is now moving into climate change information apps - Hmmm, is this just the next huge area to exploit? You probably know Monsanto as the worlds leading producer of genetically engineered seeds but this company is SO much more that is bad…. When it was founded in 1901 by a St. Louis pharmacist, its initial product was artificial sweetener but, over the next few decades Monsanto expanded into industrial chemicals, (releasing its first agricultural herbicide, 2,4-D, in 1945), laundry detergents, the infamous insecticide DDT, chemical components for nuclear bombs and then its ‘piece de resistance’ Agent Orange for the Vietnam War in the 1960s. Nice record eh? Then came biotechnology and by 1987 the first GMO test trials were begun, followed by Monsanto’s massive acquisition of seeds that has been going on since around 1993. Now, theres a new evolution on the horizon: Information acquisition. Thats right: Monsanto is making a big move into big data and, at stake is an opportunity to adapt to (and exploit) climate change by using computer science alongside the controversial genetic science that has been the companys signature for a generation. Last year, Monsanto made a major investment in big data analytics when it paid $930 million to acquire Climate Corporation and as part of the purchase Monsanto acquired Climate Corp.s flagship product – a smartphone app called Climate Basic. There are 30 million agricultural fields in America and this app has all of them mapped with soil and climate data to a 10m x 10m resolution. The app knows real-time temperature, weather, and soil moisture, and what we can expect on those metrics for the coming week in EVERY field. A premium, paid version of the app includes other detailed recommendations—for example, how much water and fertilizer to use. That advice, says Climate Corp’s CEO Dave Friedberg, represents a fundamental shift from intuition-based decision-making to analytical decision-making, combining real-time climate data with records from Monsantos trove of field trials. More than a third of US farmland is now cultivated with guidance from Monsantos climate data and, of course, data being a two way street (except if you’re ASIO) means that every new user of Climate Corp. software is a new source of real-time information for Monsanto about its customers—what kinds of products theyre using and how much theyre producing. Matt Erickson, an economist with the American Farm Bureau Federation, says farmers need to proceed with caution when they sign on to share proprietary data about their business operations with Monsanto. Also these developments also expand Monsanto’s interest in continuing climate instability. Serious political-economic questions arise about who actually benefits from these financial products and Monsanto is placing bets on future weather conditions and the profits they can garner. Their app, for example, will generate private wealth and favours those in a financial position to protect their interests at the expense of those most vulnerable to climate instabilities. Most dangerously, this practice could reduce the incentive for those profiting from these markets to engage in action to mitigate climate change. motherjones/environment/2014/11/monsanto-big-data-gmo-climate-change
Posted on: Wed, 19 Nov 2014 22:45:47 +0000
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