As food crisis worsens, firms push GM seeds

As the world grapples with the worstfood crisis in recent years, Firms like, Cargill, Archer Daniels Midlands, HongKong-based Noble Group, trading in grains are reaping profits.ItsEuropean competitor Syngenta is doing even better, declaring net profits of over$1.1 billion in 2007, up by 75% over the previous year. Both companies, US-basedMonsanto and Syngenta are vigorously pushing their genetically modified (GM)seeds hoping that they will become acceptable now. GM seeds haveoften been accused of triggering unsuspected crop failures or pest attacks.Global fertilizer companies are also on the fast track, as they promise higheryields in times of dwindling stocks. Two of the biggest fertilizer companies��� Potash Corp of Canada and Yara of Norway ��� have made profits ofover $1 billion each last year. Potash was running at a loss of over$123 million in 2003. Others in the big league are Mosaic and Agrium of the USand ICL of Israel, all with about half a billion dollars profit each in 2007.Cargill created Mosaic in 2004.While the agri-business giantsmentioned above trade in physical commodities and are open to some scrutiny,there is a phalanx of traders who have made millions through just betting onprices. According to GRAIN, a network of NGOs working forsustainable agriculture, speculative investment in commodities futures haszoomed from about $5 billion in 2000 to $175 billion to 2007. These includeLouis Dreyfus of France, a private agricultural commodities trading firm withannual sales exceeding $22 billion, which does not report its profits.An indication of the scale at which the speculative futures marketsoperate is given by trading volumes in the world���s largest commodityexchange, the Chicago Board of Trade. In its April 2008 update, CBOT reportedthat during January and April 2008 644,741 contracts were traded on averageevery day, an increase of 17% over last year. The average notional value for aday���s trading was about $2.8 billion for wheat, $8.9 billion for corn and$11.2 billion for soyabean.In 2005, out of 216 countries in theworld, 207 had to import wheat and 170 had to import rice from internationalmarkets, according to FAO. That is why the sun never sets in the offices of bigagri-business.