Papaya Farm Vandalism

[wax]

Don't you realize that Pete and his wife are farmers, farming in Puna?

[rainyjim]

“When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down 'happy'. They told me I didn't understand the assignment; I told them they didn't understand life.”

[dayna]

I am anti GMO. I am MORE anti crime against the local farmer. I'd rather have a GMO mom and pop farmer than a huge corp farmer that's organic. It may not be popular, but I support the local family farmer far more than any thing else. In a perfect world it would be an organic non gmo family farm. But the world is not perfect.

I really feel for this family. This is horrible regardless of WHY it happened.

Dayna

http://www.FarmingAloha.com
www.E-Z-Caps.com

[rainyjim]

You said it Dayna. It's very self-damning to vandalize food on such a secluded island...
That said I guess the GMO farmers better lock and load because vandalism will probably only become more wide spread as more GMOs are grown on the islands. Oh, and don't expect the police to do anything or care. They get paid whether they do their job or not!

[Adam-I-Am]

quote:

---

Originally posted by seekir

If anti-GMO sentiments are behind these acts, they're a pretty creepy kind of expression. My understanding is that we probably wouldn't have a papaya "industry" without GMO papayas resistant to viral infection.

---

Why why why why WHY do people listen to Monsanto etc. corporate propaganda?

God made the Papaya trees JUST FINE as they were.

They make their seeds, patent them, make everybody use them, and collect the dollars from their serfs every year.

[seekir]

Blanket condemnation of GMO seems misguided to me. The potential benefit of resolving crop disease and pest damage without the use of toxins/insecticides is the reason GM was undertaken in the first place. A number of voices are equating GMO's with toxic pesticide application without seeming to grasp that GM can reduce toxins in the foods we consume. And as a species, we consume a lot. Methods which could increase food production efficiency without the use of toxins have obvious beneficial potential.

Questionable practices of corporate proponents of GMO notwithstanding, papayas appear to be an excellent example of a successful and beneficial application of GM. If there is credible evidence of harm from these papayas I'm unaware of it, and I have little doubt that the UH scientists who developed virus-resistant papaya varieties had a benevolent purpose.

Do consumers have a right to know if foods in the market are modified? I say yes, and believe GMO proponents/producers are harming their own interests by resisting GM labels on produce as a standard industry practice. By continuing to do so, they seem to me to be giving credibility to the aforementioned voices that accuse them of sinister intent.

[james weatherford]

This type of crime has now been repeated over the past couple of years. No where, even from the victim in this crime, has there been any indication that this crime was committed due to the papayas being a GMO variety. Only by speculators who seem keen to attack opponents of GMO. In an earlier incident involving this same type of crime, the victim (i.e., the papaya farmer) indicated it was most likely someone who was "jealous" of the success the farmer was having.
Unfounded speculation is counter productive and unhelpful.

[Adam-I-Am]

quote:

---

Originally posted by seekir

Blanket condemnation of GMO seems misguided to me. The potential benefit of resolving crop disease and pest damage without the use of toxins/insecticides is the reason GM was undertaken in the first place. A number of voices are equating GMO's with toxic pesticide application without seeming to grasp that GM can reduce toxins in the foods we consume. And as a species, we consume a lot. Methods which could increase food production efficiency without the use of toxins have obvious beneficial potential.

Questionable practices of corporate proponents of GMO notwithstanding, papayas appear to be an excellent example of a successful and beneficial application of GM. If there is credible evidence of harm from these papayas I'm unaware of it, and I have little doubt that the UH scientists who developed virus-resistant papaya varieties had a benevolent purpose.

Do consumers have a right to know if foods in the market are modified? I say yes, and believe GMO proponents/producers are harming their own interests by resisting GM labels on produce as a standard industry practice. By continuing to do so, they seem to me to be giving credibility to the aforementioned voices that accuse them of sinister intent.

---

GMO is not "to serve man." It's for profit. Period. Wake up. They PATENT the seeds. Use your head.

GMO EVIDENCE:

http://gmoevidence.com/
.

[seekir]

Originally posted by Adam-I-Am

quote:

---

Why why why why WHY do people listen to Monsanto etc. corporate propaganda?

---

I don't.

quote:

---

God made the Papaya trees JUST FINE as they were.

---

If so, he also made the ring spot virus. And the intellect and determination of the scientists who learned to control it.

Do you approve of the destruction of the work of the Kea'au farmer as a means to assert your views?

quote:

---

GMO is not "to serve man." It's for profit. Period. Wake up. They PATENT the seeds. Use your head.

---

I'm wide awake thank you, and fully aware of the corporate seed patenting practices that you cite (as I mentioned in my previous post:"Questionable practices of corporate proponents of GMO notwithstanding..."). These schemes seem very wrong to me. Commercial agriculture wouldn't exist without profit. And it's safe to assume that anyone involved in it will be hoping to profit. I don't believe all GM proponents are nefarious corporate criminals.

[Carey]

Not touching the GMO question....

One of the reasons there may NOT be many 10 acres farms here is the very fact highlighted in this one crime....
It is way too easy to lose everything (even overnight) on a 10 acre farm....

I have known some here that have done it...but it does take a lot of capital, work & the potential to lose everything (have known way more people here that have lost herds to dogs & neighbors, been devastated by wildfire, drought, flood, invasive pests, market change and the soil... when you are starting with soils that are naturally nutrient limited, keeping up the soil on a 10acre plot is not easy....

So yes, you CAN farm, but it is much more easy to do if you are starting off with a large nest egg & doing more of a "gentlemans' farm"