USA and EU: I'm right, you're wrong, end of story
Filed in archive Int'l Development by Miche on May 19, 2007

There is this background shuffle going on in agriculture that almost nobody understands or sees, and it all starts with food and drug administrations. The US FDA, in particular, is really stringent on what gets out to the public, and they have basically made it impossible for small farmers across the globe to survive.
Essentially they have it set up so that only farmers who use single-use seeds and chemicals to treat their produce get wide market exposure.
The system works like so...
Single-use seeds and chemical treatments are offered at a subsidized rate, and the farmer's produce is then put on the market at a prime rate. This helps the farmer earn more so they can continue to purchase the single-use seeds and chemical treatments. This process is also "FDA Approved" so farmers using this method basically gain instant access to the US and EU markets, in addition to being able to produce in larger quantities and purchase more land due to the lower initial investment.
Renewable seeds (i.e. naturally produced seeds) and renewable fertilizers/pesticides (i.e. organic and healthy ways to treat produce) are severely penalized in the form of a lower fetching price for the produce, and less market exposure. Labelling is more strictly regulated, with all kinds of fees and fines associated with little mistakes in verbiage. Plus maintaining these farms takes more people and is generally more expensive, so growth and overall mass in production is very limited.
I'm right, and that's that
If a country's food administration does not believe a method to be inherently safe, they won't allow the produce to be imported - and the "organic" method is very much shunned in the world market. It's just not profitable, and doesn't exactly forward the development of a country. Of course, refusing these imports from less developed countries, who can only produce in this way, isn't helping either.
I wish the governments of the world would just get over themselves and let people decide for themselves.
Permalink: USA and EU: I'm right, you're wrong, end of story
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international development FDA food farming agriculture global systemic problems social social+enterp
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