Another blog that doesn't suck

Bittergreens Journal is the platonic ideal of a blog, in my mind. Tightly focused, well-written, plenty of personality. And it covers incredibly important subject matter.

Tom Philpott, financial journalist turned farmer, has a lot to say on topics that are tragically underplayed by major news organizations. Seeds, for starters, a subject about which most people have trouble supressing yawns. Sure, that's fine, as long as you don't care about something that lies "at the heart of all organized food production, and thus at the heart of human culture for the past 10,000 years." That's Philpott talking, and you should ask yourself--is he exagerrating, or is this something that's worthy of my attention?

The big deal here, as Philpott very clearly lays out, is that Monsanto (Philpott's bete noir, as he freely admits--it should be everyone's) is taking steps to dominate both the vegetable seed market and germoplasm market (the hardware and software of the seed business). He asks a pretty damned important question:

Now, so far, Monsanto's dominance extends only to the largest, most lucrative, and (not coincidentally) heavily subsidized crops: soybeans, cotton, corn. What happens if it turns its R&D attention to fruits and vegetables?

... and proceeds to look into the what-if-it's-true ramifications. Not a pretty picture, and with "pro-industry zealot John Roberts" taking the reins of the Supreme Court, Philpott lays it on the line: "Ladies and gentlemen of the small-scale sustainable-farming world, it's time we got more serious about seed saving."

Read the whole article...