Since 6 o’clock this morning, 50 persons of the action group ‘Roundup
Monsanto’ are blocking both gates of the Monsanto seed company near
Rotterdam. ‘Roundup Monsanto’ wants Monsanto to back out of the seed
market, and demands an end to patents on seeds and living organisms.
Monsanto and other agro-chemical multinationals are lobbying the Dutch
government and the EU for legislative changes that would make it easier
for large companies to take control of the seed market and food
production.[1]

The blockade is taking place at the former De
Ruiter Seeds, acquired by Monsanto in 2008, where research laboratories,
offices, greenhouses, and a central storage for seeds and seedlings are
to be found.

The chemical company Monsanto has 23% of the
worldwide market of commercial seeds in its hands. In the last 5 years,
the company has bought up three large internationally active seed
companies in the Netherlands: De Ruiter Seeds, Western Seeds, and
Seminis. As a result, Monsanto now dominates the world market for
vegetable seeds and seedlings. In addition, Monsanto is the market
leader in genetically engineered soy, corn, sugar beets, and cotton, and
has a large market share in pesticide sales. “Farmers and vegetable
growers are becoming increasingly dependent on these big seed companies
and patented seeds will make the situation even worse,” says Flip Vonk,
an organic farm employee present at the action.

Monsanto is a
chemical company which has grown large due to the production of
pesticides, Agent Orange, and PCBs. [2] After countless scandals
revolving around these chemical substances, the company found a new
market strategy: development and sales of genetically manipulated crops.
These crops are cultivated in enormous monocultures, with excessive use
of fertiliser and pesticides. Monsanto represents a destructive model
of chemical agriculture.

The current system of agriculture, based
on mass import and export, is completely dependent on the consumption
of fossil fuels. Chemical agriculture is responsible for a quarter to a
third of the release of all the greenhouse gases. Over 80% of the
cultivated GMOs are pesticide resistent, the remaining 20% produce
insecticide inside the plant. This form of food production is extremely
harmful to people, nature, and the climate. Genetic engineering will
not contribute any solution to climate change.

Genetic
engineering is often presented as a solution to the global food
question. But in spite of 15 years of cultivation of genetically
manipulated crops, 2009 witnessed a record amount of starvation. GM
crops have not increased yields. “The food problem requires completely
different solutions. We need to drastically change course, away from
large-scale chemical agriculture, towards local food production in
harmony with nature, without pesticides and without genetically
manipulated crops. A world without Monsanto is a good step in that
direction,” according to Miranda de Boer from ‘Roundup Monsanto’.

The
two most important access doors to the Monsanto terrain have been
closed off. The action group put up banners with the message “Imagine,
monopoly of food, poisonous agriculture, The World according to …
Monsanto”, adbusting the company’s logo. It has also adjusted the giant
cucumber and tomato on the lawn to Monsanto’s manipulated reality.
Employees and customers are greeted with coffee, tea, and background
information on arrival.