After much trials and errors, it worked. The new tomato had a very long shelf life, the big food growers swamped the market with low cost tomatoes, the small farmers went out of business and then with the competition eliminated, the plantation corporations increased the price of their tomatoes and made a fortune. They still do.
The food science industry boomed and every possible modification to the food we eat has been made. The “not so humble” tomato was to again lead the way. Cold snaps in Florida decimated the tomato crop, the laboratories went to work. This time, as the story goes, they found an organism, (an arctic fish some say) that had a gene that enabled them to survive minus 30 degrees. With this gene spliced into the DNA and genetic make-up of the tomato, the tomatoes had stronger resistance to cold and the plantation owners became even richer. But that is the general idea behind genetically modified plants that make up our food.
The scientific research laboratories of the multinational food corporations launched frenzied research and development programmes to find ways to genetically modify every possible plant that could be used in food and they own the patent for that food .So tomatoes and corn and many more crops that now dominate the food chain is owned and controlled by these corporations. The seeds that produced them are terminal. That is they can’t be planted to grow more crops. The farmer has to buy the seed every year from the corporation that holds the patent.
They own and supply the specific fertilizer that makes the seed grow and upon which it is dependent. In this way, the corporations control the food supply through their GMO seed and food products. They will own us too one day and nations will become dependent and subservient to them. If they don't supply the seed people will starve, riot and topple government. That is greater power than that which grows from the barrel of a gun.
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