Sustainable Monsanto

Listening to NPR this morning, I was amazed to hear that the segment of "Marketplace" I had just heard had been sponsored by Monsanto, "Dedicated to sustainable agriculture."

There's nobody I know of who is more committed than Monsanto to undermining the ideals of the sustainable food movement. Their practice of buying up seed companies and genetically engineering food crops threatens the genetic diversity that is at the heart of sustainable agriculture. Their policies and products are designed for large-scale, fuel intensive farming, which is anything but sustainable.

The underwriting message made me think of WalMart's recent green initiatives, building energy efficient stores and promoting green products. Despite the healthy skepticism that any thinking person feels when they hear about these efforts, it's still better to have energy efficient WalMart stores than traditional WalMart stores. I'd be curious to hear Monsanto's side of the story but, as far as I know, they're not even making the kind of effort you see from WalMart except, I suppose, by sponsoring public radio to spread this bizarre message.