[Ngo-sanrm] Land grab in Ukraine is Monsanto's backdoor to the EU

Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resources Management Working Group ngo-sanrm at ngocentre.org.vn
Tue Apr 7 05:39:12 BST 2015


*OrientalReview.org
<http://orientalreview.org/2015/04/06/land-grab-in-ukraine-is-monsantos-backdoor-to-the-eu/>*

Land grab in Ukraine is Monsanto’s backdoor to the EU
<http://orientalreview.org/2015/04/06/land-grab-in-ukraine-is-monsantos-backdoor-to-the-eu/>

Mon, Apr 6, 2015

Europe <http://orientalreview.org/category/regions/europe/>, Ukraine
<http://orientalreview.org/category/regions/eurasian-union/ukraine/>, United
States
<http://orientalreview.org/category/regions/north-america/united-states/>
*By ORIENTAL REVIEW*

[image: Land grab in Ukraine is Monsanto’s backdoor to the EU]
<http://orientalreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Monsanto-Skull1.jpg>

*The quest for Ukraine’s legendary black earth is almost complete. To the
dismay of French, Polish, German farmers, the multinational agricultural
corporation Monsanto, as well as DuPont Pioneer and John Deere, have all
lobbied for access to the largest agricultural market in Eastern Europe.
This will soon reshape the market for agricultural products in the EU and
spell ruin for Europe’s farmers.*

In Nov. 2013, the Ukrainian Agrarian Confederation drafted a legal
amendment that will benefitglobal ag producers by allowing the widespread
use of genetically modified seeds. *Taking a backseat to the dramatic
political developments there, this turn of events went almost unnoticed,
although Monsanto has been lobbying within Ukraine’s agricultural market
for quite a while.* Back in 2007 the US embassy in Kiev demanded that the
Ukrainian government take action against sellers of “fake” seeds (i.e.,
producers competing with Trans National Corporations -- TNCs).

When GMO crops were legally introduced onto the Ukrainian market in 2013,
they were planted in up to 70% of all soybean fields, 10-20% of cornfields,
and over 10% of all sunflower fields, according to various estimates.* That
equals about one million hectares of land growing GMO crops (or 3% of the
country’s total farmland).* Leaving aside
<http://www.biosicherheit.de/pdf/aktuell/zentek_studie_2008.pdf> for the
moment the controversy about the hazards of GMOs in general, let us merely
consider how the seizure of the Ukrainian market by American multinational
agribusinesses will affect the EU’s economy.

Since the mid-90s the Ukrainian-Americans at the helm of the US-Ukraine
Business Council have been instrumental in encouraging the foreign control
of the Ukrainian ag industry. *Within two to three years, as the relevant
provisions of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU
<http://eeas.europa.eu/ukraine/assoagreement/assoagreement-2013_en.htm> go
into effect, Monsanto’s lobbying efforts will transform the Ukrainian
market into an oligopoly consisting of American corporations.*

Although the media in Kiev is awash in patriotic rhetoric, it is unlikely
that any heroic figures will emerge who will stand up for the right of new
generations of Ukrainians to live and work on wholesome land. *The
intellectual standards of the work being done by the Ukrainian Grain
Association, for example, the largest umbrella organization of Ukrainian
farmers, are on eloquent display in its latest press release
<http://uga-port.org.ua/en/press-releases/eng-press-reliz-2>, which needs
no further comment.*

Within a few years ag producers will expand their use of biotechnology
licensed from the US, which Article 404 of the Association Agreement with
the EU somewhat ambiguously refers to as “best practices … for agricultural
policies.” *Making Ukrainian ag producers addicted to seeds that are only
available from America is part of a relentless
<http://www.europabio.org/press/licence-ban-safe-gm-crops-undermines-innovation-and-single-market>
PR
campaign promoting GMO technology throughout Europe that brandishes
keywords like “innovation,” “biotechnology,” and “the common EU market.”*

<http://orientalreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Screen-Shot-2014-08-30-at-9.47.07-AM.png>Within
the next few years, as addendums to Ukraine’s Association Agreement with
the EU go into effect, Monsanto is counting on a significant increase in
the acreage of ​​GMO cropland in Ukraine. Afterward they will begin to act
out their role as a colonial power, raking in profits from emerging
markets, although India already knows that story does not have a happy
ending. The company was booted out a few years ago, after a ghastly
outbreak of mass suicides among the local farmers, according to the
<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/93-farmers-committed-suicide-in-45-days-in-Marathwada-region/articleshow/46293718.cms>*Times
of India
<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/93-farmers-committed-suicide-in-45-days-in-Marathwada-region/articleshow/46293718.cms>.*

Because of budget deficits and their dependence on the IMF, Ukrainian banks
are now firmly tethered to external financing. IMF loans and assistance
from the World Bank and other supranational organizations are secured by
Ukraine’s rich black earth, in a practical as well as a legal sense. Local
banks will only offer favorable credit terms to those farmers who agree to
use certified herbicides. Naturally those are manufactured by Monsanto. The
corporation will receive a steady income from that precious black earth,
“wringing” the fertile soil dry.

*Further proof that American investors have a sincere appreciation for the
value of Ukraine’s black earth can be seen in the recent acquisition
<http://streetgazette.com/2015/03/04/us-investment-fund-siguler-guff-company-acquired-a-stake-in-container-terminal-in-the-port-of-ilyichevsk/>
of
a 50% stake by the investment fund Siguler Guff & Co in the Ukrainian Port
of Illichivsk, which specializes in agricultural exports.*

Ukraine controls a third of all arable land in Europe. The hasty
introduction of biotechnology into developing countries leads to deplorable
results that are evident in Latin America and Africa. But Europe’s farmers
will go bust much earlier. *Their goods, which are produced by workers in
the EU where the price of labor is quite exorbitant, cannot compete with
the influx of GMO products from Ukraine.*

Polish farmers know very well where all this is heading. They cannot win a
court fight against the lawyers employed by these multinational giants, and
so in 2013 they shifted their tactics in favor of mass protests
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7-3u_xdH7s>.

*By contrast, ag producers in France, Germany, and other EU countries still
seem indifferent. The bottom line is that European farmers, who are
somewhat removed from politics, have not yet grasped that Washington’s
much-hyped propaganda about “working toward democracy in Ukraine” has but
one objective – to toss another lasso around Europe’s economy and her
agricultural producers, bringing them to their knees.*



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