Mentat: That class of Imperial citizens trained for supreme accomplishments of logic. "Human computers."

Monday, November 24, 2008

Corn Express

I've thought about writing a fictional short story about this news but I'm not feeling up to it right now. Apparently rich countries and corporations are "investing" in developing countries around the world.

Nothing new there right? Well this time they are buying up farmland in an effort to profit from the ongoing (yes, it didn't go away) global food crisis or secure their own supply of food in future. So really these culprits aren't actually planning to do anything useful to work to address the inequalities in global food production. They are already working on a contingency plan to keep business flowing as usual.

Here's a highlight from the Guardian: "South Korean firm Daewoo Logistics announced plans to buy a 99-year lease on a million hectares in Madagascar. Its aim is to grow 5m tonnes of corn a year by 2023, and produce palm oil from a further lease of 120,000 hectares (296,000 acres), relying on a largely South African workforce. Production would be mainly earmarked for South Korea, which wants to lessen dependence on imports."

Didn't they make electronics? I guess they can tell which way the wind is blowing. And you can bet that all that corn is going to be genetically modified. Heaven forbid that we have a discussion about the fact that Korea will not be able to feed it's population so should ponder family planning policies.

I just hope that their corn supertankers go close to the coast of Somalia. Then we might have a measure of justice. You're not going to get it through the UN or multilateralism as this news demonstrates.