Green Options

In the European Union, there is only one permissible genetically-modified crop — and that is Monsanto’s MON 810 engineered corn.  But current law allows individual countries to bar the production of genetically-modified crops, and the MON 810 ban has been gaining momentum throughout the continent. This is despite the European Union’s continuous fight to force GM production, such as in the recent failed attempt to overturn Austria and Hungary’s ban.

Late last month, Luxembourg joined Hungary, France, Austria and Greece in banning Monsanto’s corn.  According to Luxembourg’s Health Minister Mars Di Bartolomeo, studies addressing the grain’s safety have failed to “conclude that MON810 is completely innocuous”.

Yesterday, Germany brought the number of dissenting countries to six by also banning MON 810.  German Agriculture Minister, Ilse Aigner, went a step beyond Luxembourg’s position, and stated outright that she feels “there are just reasons to assume that the genetically modified maize MON 810 represents a danger for the environment.”

On the table in the European Union yesterday was the question of MON 810 Maize, a genetically-modified type of of corn.  Developed by the United States-based Monsato Company, MON 810 releases an insecticide intended to kill European corn borer larvae before the pests can harm the plant.  Although the engineered corn is currently approved for cultivation in the European Union, individual member-states within the EU have the authority to enact bans against growing GM crops.

Hungary, Austria, Greece and France have already made a stand against MON 810 by completely banning its cultivation within their borders.  But yesterday, the European Commission attempted to reverse Hungary and Austria’s ban.

Korea’s Daewoo has just completed a deal to lease an area about half the size of Belgium in Madagascar for food production. The most surprising part of this lease is that the initial cost to Daewoo is nothing. That’s right, zip, nada, zilch.

Why is a South Korean company leasing so much land on another continent?

According to a few under-the-radar reports, Korea’s industrial conglomerate Daewoo has just completed a deal with Madagascar for a 99 year lease of an area half the size of Belgium (about 1.3 million hectares). While complete terms of the lease are not yet available, the total price is: NOTHING.

The initial plan is to plant maize and palm oil for export to South Korea. The benefit to Madagascar of losing a little over half of their arable land would be the anticipated employment opportunities for farmers and other locals.

According to a Daewoo spokesperson:

We want to plant corn there to ensure our food security. Food can be a weapon in this world,” said Hong Jong-wan, a manager at Daewoo. “We can either export the harvests to other countries or ship them back to Korea in case of a food crisis.

Note: This article is part of EcoWorldly’s series on food and agriculture around the world. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, this week EcoWorldly writers are exploring environmental issues related to bringing food from the farm to your dinner plate and looking at food and farming in other cultures and countries around the world. Subscribe to our RSS feed by email to get all of these, plus our regular stories about the environment from writers living on six continents.

The majority of Thanksgiving dinners in South Africa would be based on a very large serving of Mielie Pap, accompanied by a vegetable stew and possibly a small portion of meat. That is if it were celebrated here!

Mielie Pap is a thick white porridge produced from maize meal and is the main staple of the majority of the people of South Africa. This is especially true of poorer rural people who might aspire to bread and rice but need to rely on maize because of its low price and the fact that they are able to produce and process maize in the household. The dominance of maize in the diet of South Africans is reflected by the fact that on average one third of South African’s calorie intake is supplied by maize.