• The Land Institute, Salina, Kansas.
  • History and Philosophy of Natural Systems Agriculture
  • Overview of Programs at The Land Institute
  • The Land Institute's Publications and Resource Links
    
  • Some specific publications by Wes Jackson
    
    • New Roots for Agriculture
    • Altars of Unhewn Stone : Science and the Earth
    • Becoming Native to This Place
    • Rooted in the Land : Essays on Community and Place
  
  
• Fields of Genes: What Do We Know, What Do We Need to Know? , Congressional Briefing, Monday, January 24, 2000, 2:00 - 4:00 p.m., 2168 Rayburn House Office Building, Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C.

  [Recent briefing of Congress and the Washington press corps by Wes Jackson and other experts about the potential impact of biotechnology on agriculture.]

• Some Current News, Reference and Research Material on Agricultural Biotechnology
  • Canada - CBC "Fields of Genes" ( Numerous interviews and news reports over several months).
  • Canada - CBC GM Food Special Report. "Food at the Crossroads."
  • Canada - CBC Report on Biotech Industry's Response to Critics.
  • President Clinton Proclaims January National Biotechnology Month
          Saying that biotechnology holds the potential to make "unprecedented" contributions to public health and environmental quality, US President Bill Clinton yesterday proclaimed January National Biotechnology Month.
  • Biotech and Biosafety Montreal - 21 January 2000. Groups opposed to the growing use of genetically modified organisms in crops and food products hope their message will be heard at U.N. talks in Montreal next week, even though they will not be taking part.
           Environmental organisations and public interest groups such as Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and the Council of Canadians are gathering in Montreal ahead of the Monday start of talks among 134 countries on a proposed Biosafety Protocol. An agreement, if reached, would establish rules for the international movement of genetically modified organisms.
  • BBC-Report: Soil Problems from Modern Agriculture.
    Soil Health Extended interviews and discussion of the dying agricultural soils in England as a result of modern agricultural techniques.
  • The Connection., Discussion on Genetically Modified Food and the WTO meetings, WBUR, Boston, 23 November 1999.
  • Interview Jeremy Rifkin, President of Foundation on Economic Trends and Nation contributor Rifkin explores the corporate rush to patent genetic resources -- and control life itself. The battle to keep the earth's gene pool an open commons, free of commercial exploitation, is going to become one of the critical struggles of the Biotech Age, he argues. [ From RadioNation -- Week of APRIL 8 - 14, 1998.]
  • Monsanto Decision on 'Terminator' technology. Pacifica Radio, 5 October 1999.
  • Concentration of Control over Plant Genetic Material. Pacifica Radio, 5 October 1999.
  • MONSANTO - GENETIC ENGINEERING. NPR. In recent years, one company - Saint Louis-based Monsanto - has led the way toward a genetic engineering to produce food. The company's executives say new genetically engineered crops could help feed the world and preserve the environment. But as NPR's Dan Charles reports, instead of being celebrated, in many parts of the world, Monsanto and its technology are reviled. (12:00). 16 March 1999.
  • MONSANTO PART TWO NPR. NPR's Dan Charles has the second report on the Monsanto company and the genetic engineering of crops. The new plants have traits that could never be introduced by traditional plant breeding. And the new seeds have brought new rules to agriculture. Now, farmers risk legal penalties if they save part of the harvest and use it as seed for the next year. It's provoked anger among some farmers. (8:00). 17 March 1999.
  • Terminator Gene. NPR. NPR's Allison Aubrey reports that Monsanto, one of the nation's leading bio-techology companies, has decided not to commercialize the controversial "terminator" gene, which keeps crops from producing fertile seeds. In announcing the decision, Monsanto said there's too much opposition to the new technology. (3:19). 5 October 1999.
  • Scarlett Foster, Monsanto Spokeswoman. BBC (Discussing decision to drop 'terminator' technology.) 5 October 1999.
  • Patrick Holdren, Soil Association, U.K. BBC (Discussing decision to drop 'terminator' technology.) 5 October 1999.
  • 'Roundup Ready' Soybeans NPR. Joyce Russell from member station WOI in Ames, Iowa, reports on chemical manufacturer Monsanto and its new genetically-engineered soybean and a powerful herbicide. The soybean is resistant to the herbicide, and farmers are using them in combination. That's forcing other herbicide companies to cut prices or develop new products of their own to keep up with the competition. (3:33). 16 August 1999.
    
  
  
• Further Published Discussions and Position Papers:
  • Latest News: Yahoou!'s Index to News on Genetically Modified Food.
    
    
  • Rockefeller Foundation President, Gordon Conway, Calls for "Global Forum on Biotechnology."
          Gordon Conway, "Let Us Not Jeopardize The Real Promise Of GM Crops."
          Rockefeller Foundation Programs Themes - Food Security - 1999
          Rockefeller Foundation News: 'Terminator' seed sterility technology dropped.
          Other related publications:
           The Doubly Green Revolution : Food for All in the Twenty-First Century
               Gordon Conway's Doubly Green Revolution -- Book summary and reviews.
           After the Green Revolution : Sustainable Agriculture for Development
           Unwelcome Harvest : Agriculture and Pollution

  • Calestous Juma -- Harvard, Kennedy School of Government -- International Conference on "Biotechnology in the Global Economy," 2-3 September 1999. [Conference Program]. Conference convened and run by Calestous Juma.
           Some related publications by Calestous Juma
    • The Gene Hunters : Biotechnology and the Scramble for Seeds
    • Long-Run Economics : An Evolutionary Approach to Economic Growth
    • In Land We Trust : Environment, Private Property and Constitutional Change (Acts Environmental Policy Series, No 7)
    • Coming to Life : Biotechnology in African Economic Recovery (Acts Technology Policy Series, No. 8)
    
    
    
  • Agriculture Network - Daily News and Story Archive.

  • Rachel's Environment & Health Weekly:
    • #639 - Genetically Altering The World's Food, February 25, 1999

  • Selected British Media Coverage of Genetically Modified Foods
    • ITN - GM Food Debate Special
    • The New Scientist, Special Report: Living in a GM World
    • BBC Special report: Food Under The Microscope
    • BBC Genetically-modified Q&A
    • BBC - Food Under the Microscope GM Links
    • BBC News SciTech Brakes put on GM industry
    • BBC News Terminator gene halt a 'major U-turn' . 5 October 1999.
    • BBC News Government 'U-turn' on GM crops
    • BBC News Ministers 'ignoring public' on GM food
    • BBC News Public mood hits GM trials. 8 June 1999.
    • BBC News GM crop trials leap in size. 11 November 1999.

  • Third World Perspectives from the Third World Network, Maylasia
        Biotechnology and Biosafety Papers.

    Biosafety and Agriculture

    • Open letter from World Scientists to all governments
    • 10 reasons why biotechnology will not ensure food security, protect the environment and reduce poverty in the developing world (Miguel Altieri)
    • Biotech, help or harm to developing countries? (Danielle Knight)
    • US farmers rethink future of biotech crops (Danielle Knight)
    • Cheers for Monsanto's reversal on 'terminator' (Danielle Knight)
    • No to GMO: Civil Society vs. Corporate Empire  (M.W.Ho)
    • Head to Head Feature, Sovereign Magazine (M.W.Ho)
    • Plant losses threaten food security (Danielle Knight)
    • Genetically altered corn eyed with suspicion (Pilar Franco)
    • US thwarts moratorium on terminator technology (G.S.Nijar/TWN)
    • Brazil holds up RR soya planting (TWN)
    • Brazil: Debate rages on genetically-altered seeds (Mario Osava)
    • Andean meet sounds alert on transgenics (Kintto Lucas)
    • Costs and benefits of biotechnology (Danielle Knight)
    • World Scientists' Statement: Calling for a Moratorium on GM Crops and Ban on Patents
    • World Scientists' Statement: Supplementary Information on the Hazards of Genetic Engineering Biotechnology
    • Brazil: South seeks to block transgenic soya  (Mario Osava)
    • Monsanto's genetic engineering trials in India are dangerous and anti-democratic. (Vandana Shiva)
    • Destructive consequences of "Controlling Plant Gene Expression" or "TERMINATOR" Technology for Food Security and Biodiversity (Farhad Mazhar/UBINIG)
    • From "Terminator" to "Traitor" technologies (C.Raghavan/SUNS)
    • Monsanto project in Thailand assailed (TWN)
    • Special Safety Concerns of Transgenic Agriculture and Related Issues - Briefing Paper for Minister of State for the Environment, The Rt Hon Michael Meacher (by ISIS)
    • The Impact of Genetic Modification on Agriculture, Food and Health - An Interim Statement (by British Medical Association)

    Genetic Engineering and Health

    • Update of concerns #2 - 22.09.99  (Dr Mae-Wan Ho and Angela Ryan)
    • GEOs pose hazards, risk assessment difficult, but essential (C. Raghavan/SUNS)
    • Special safety concerns of LMOs (Mae-Wan Ho)
    • GEOs pose hazards, risk assessment difficult, but essential (C. Raghavan/SUNS)
    • British doctors caution on GM products (C.Raghavan/SUNS)
    • Update of concerns - July 1999 (Dr Mae-Wan Ho and Angela Ryan)
    • The Impact of Genetic Modification on Agriculture, Food and Health - An Interim Statement (by British Medical Association)
    • Why genetic engineering is hazardous (Mae-Wan Ho)
    • Genetic engineering and the world health crisis (Mae-Wan Ho et al)
    • Possible human health impacts of Monsanto's transgenic glyphosate-resistant soybeans  (C.Von Weizsacker/B. Tappeser)
    • Genetic engineering and the world health crisis (Mae-Wan Ho et al)
    • Possible human health impacts of Monsanto's transgenic glyphosate-resistant soybeans  (C.Von Weizsacker/B. Tappeser)

    Genetic Engineering and Food Safety

    • US: Concern over health effects of biotech food (Danielle Knight)
    • Japan: Furore over gene-altered food products (Suvendrini Kakuchi)
    • Hazards of genetically engineered foods and crops: Why we need a global moratorium (Ronnie Cummins)
    • UK body warns against marker genes in transgenic plant (C. Raghavan/SUNS)
    • British doctors caution on GM products (C.Raghavan/SUNS)
    • The Thalidomide of genetic engineering (L R B Mann and D Straton)
    • Split codex puts off OK for synthetic beef hormone (C.Raghavan/SUNS)
    • Zimbabwe: Controversy over genetically modified food (Lewis Machipisa)
    • Fight hots up against GM foods (Martin Khor/TWN)
    • Fox mating with the guard dog (on biotech)? (C.Raghavan/SUNS)
    • Fatal Flaws in Food Safety Assessment: A Critique of the Joint FAO/WHO Biotechnology and Food Safety Report (FAO Food and Nutrition Paper 61) (Mae-Wan Ho/R. Steinbrecher)
    • Damning findings by scientist raise alarm about safety of GM foods (Chee Yoke Heong)
    • GMO risks and hazards: Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence of risk (Terje Traavik)
    • Scientific Advisory System Inquiry (Genetically Modified Foods) - MEMO by the Institute of Science in Society (ISIS)
    • Genetically engineered foods: Coming to your supermarket?  (Brian Tokar)
    • Genetic engineered foods: The hazards are inherent in the technology  (Mae-Wan Ho)
    • The hazards of genetically engineered food  (Mae-Wan Ho)
    
    
• Other Published Analyses:
  • "Nature, Risk and Responsibility : Discourses of Biotechnology," by Patrick O'Mahony (Editor).
  • "Biopolitics : A Feminist and Ecological Reader on Biotechnology," by Vandana Shiva (Editor), Ingunn Moser (Editor).
  • "Gene Wars : The Politics of Biotechnology," by Kristin Dawkins.
  • "Against the Grain : Biotechnology and the Corporate Takeover of Your Food ," by Marc Lappe and Britt Bailey.
  • "Eat Your Genes : How Genetically Modified Food Is Entering Our Diet," by Stephen Nottingham.
  • "The Ecological Risks of Engineered Crops," by Jane Rissler, et. al.
  • "Agricultural Biotechnology and the Environment : Science, Policy, and Social Issues," by Sheldon Krimsky.
  • "Biotechnology : Science, Engineering, and Ethical Challenges for the Twenty-First Century," by Frederick B. Rudolph (Editor), Larry V. McIntire (Editor).