seeds

The agritech world got a lot bigger this week when German chemical giant Bayer inked an agreement to acquire Monsanto for $66 billion in cash. The 2 companies had been bickering for months, and this was the 3rd refurbished offer. In the end, Bayer agreed to pay $128 per share, up from the company’s previous offer of $127.50. [1]
The agreement makes it the largest all-cash deal on record.
Markus Manns of Union Investment, one of Bayer’s top 12 investors, said:

Beekeepers have instinctively known this all along, but a new landmark study has linked insecticide dust to damaged beehives. This is a sad but welcome confirmation of what beekeepers in Minnesota have been trying to tell the world for years now.

VICE’s entire third season of its HBO show is now available online for free! The May 2015 episode focuses entirely on genetically modified crops.
In the video, host Isobel Yeung traces GM ‘super-crops’ from the headquarters of American agribusiness titan Monsanto to the soy fields of Paraguay. She also visits the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, which is financed by Bill Gates and the biotech industry. Seeds are stored there in case of widespread crop disasters.

France, Germany, and Spain filed a suit against Monsanto last year because the company tried to patent a non-GM tomato that was resistant to a common fungal disease (EP1812575). Now, the European Patent Office (EPO) is revoking another patent Monsanto has held on non-GM melons.

The United States Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, recently met with high-ups at Monsanto and other companies to discuss agricultural ‘advances’ for 2016. But was this really a ‘forum,’ or a way for Vilsack to promote Monsanto? And why were Monsanto insiders ever appointed to protect the safety of our food?
Vilsack’s meeting sounds more like a master conflicts of interest group get-together for the biotech and industrial agricultural model, especially when you consider who was leading the discussion:

The country of Venezuela, through its National Assembly, has approved a law that will ban GMOs and prohibit seed-patenting.
Its aim is to promote sustainable agriculture and real food security. Grassroots efforts for years has finally culminated in the passing of a law that prohibits Monsanto, Bayer, Dow, Syngenta, and others from controlling the seed supply and poisoning the people.

The Big Six biotech companies have had their way patenting genetically modified foods for decades now; that, we know. But unsuspecting individuals likely have no idea that companies like Syngenta and Monsanto have been patenting REAL food (also known simply as food) which was not made in a lab using gene splicing or editing techniques.

(Natural Society) The civil war in Syria has prompted the first withdrawal from the Global Seed Vault, which is buried deep beneath the frozen tundra of the Norwegian island of Svalbard.

Seed banks provide a treasure trove of genetic diversity. The challenge, say scientists, is bringing together existing banks and ensuring their financial security so as to conserve the world’s crop history before it is lost forever

It doesn’t matter if you have acres of space to plant your herbs, vegetables, and fruit, or if you are starting with a few small pots in a window sill; beginning your own organic gardening is a cinch when you know how to get your seeds growing right from their first stages.
Here are 5 unknown gardening tips to start and grow your own organic seedlings.