Saturday, January 23, 2010

Corporate Land-Grabbers Try to Co-opt / Patent Raw Milk and Rotational Grazing

The Truth behind the drive to outlaw raw/fresh milk sales or:
How the USDA and the federal government are actively working to end family and independent dairy farming for corporate interests.

 The BUSINESS OF CULLEN AGRITECH:

 Business Overview– Pg. 6

Cullen Agritech is a newly formed company formed in June 2009 committed to the development and commercialization of advanced agricultural technologies. Cullen Agritech’s principal focus will be to improve agricultural yields through pasture and animal sciences. Cullen Agritech’s primary operations will be conducted through Natural Dairy Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Cullen Agritech, through which it will attempt to engage in a long term scalable dairy farming operation utilizing the Cullen Agritech farming system in the Southeastern United States. Cullen Agritech will also offer advisory services associated with the development and implementation of efficient farming techniques. This will promote a methodology that incorporates components of New Zealand’s pasture-based farming system, scientifically adapted for use in local markets.” (end clip)

The new technology being promoted by Cullen- New Zealand is simply what farmers have done for thousands of years; the moving of their livestock routinely to fresh pastures making sure ample water was made available to them and incidentally; reducing the number and amount of toxic chemicals, vaccines, hormones and additives required to be used in private operations.  While there certainly is a scientific soundness to this practice, it most assuredly is nothing new. So where would the “scientific” application of what is commonly understood to be the best management practices of dairy herding, be applied?  And how?  And how could you rationalize the re-designation of traditional dairy farming methods as something new and innovative and apply for and receive a patent on that method?


First you go to either Georgia or Arizona, each designated a sole and singular milk [region] by the USDA (in this case Georgia) and you worm your way into a Land Grant University.  This allows you to use taxpayer funds to set up your patent scheme and to test it and work out the bugs.  But this isn’t enough.  You cannot gain proprietary rights through the TRIPPS agreement which will be the only way you can seize property and end competition unless you come up with something supposedly “new”.   You have to be able to claim your proprietary rights were violated (intellectual and/or scientific creations) in order to show harm.  So how would this be accomplished?

Under the auspices of the land grant university you go into an area, say for instance, Eatonton, Georgia and you collect the germ plasms from about 192 native species of grasses and clovers.  Although these belong to the public domain (owned by the public at large) and even though this property of the public is never sold, leased or even formally lent to the corporation gathering them, they in turn take them, attach proteins, alter dna, splice genes or whatever is necessary to then turn around and say “we invented this, and we own it”.

Understand here that what has been [created] by theft from the public domain is a cultivar or grass that has had no risk assessment done on it to see how it will impact local biodiversity and, no attempt has been made to determine how these alien, invasive species will be controlled.  In fact, this is intentionally not done.  Why? You ask?  Because the new grasses and cultivars are now altered in such a way, they become an aggressive species; quickly overtaking native species and altering forever the natural biodiversity of the landscape where they have been intentionally planted.

Agritech goes on to claim their new cultivars and grasses are substantially different from the original plants due to the corporations tampering with the natural state of the plant.  This is the only way they can obtain a patent and claim it is “new”.  Other than their own data, little if any real testing has been done to support not only this claim, but the subsequent claim their new creations cause an increase in milk production.  In fact, the only other known test on these cultivars and grasses showed no significant production increase in milk resulting from the introduction of these invasive species.

In order to sell the milk produced from cattle fed the invasive grasses and cultivars, Agritech must now provide data showing no substantial difference between cows grazed on natural forage and those grazed on the genetically altered forage.
On one hand, to get the patent they claim it is substantially different and on the other, when it comes to selling the milk produced by grazing the gmo, claiming there is no significant difference.   
These new grasses and cultivars were created for no other reasons than activating patent rights and provide no benefit either to livestock or production.

Spreading rapidly and without any control these alien species now invade neighboring properties whether the owner wants them there or not or even knows they are there. Here is where international proprietary rights enter the picture, dealing a fatal blow to private property owners and their rights.  The newly created invasive species which the “creator” can’t and never had any intentions of controlling and which appeared without invitation on private property is now considered “stolen property” under proprietary rights.  That’s right!  You have now “stolen” the creation of an uncontrollable and aggressive alien species via horizontal transfer, wind drift, bird droppings, the movement of animals or the plants’ programmed aggressive genetics.  And now, using the Monsanto standard of planting in close proximity to traditional crops just waiting for nature to follow its course, you begin the next phase of your seizure of public and private lands under proprietary rights.

While all this goes on, the USDA one of the corporations’ major financial and political supporters begins working to convince the public that a great danger lies in consuming raw/fresh milk.  Buying their way via cooperative agreement bribery funding into your state, USDA begins a methodical collapsing of privately owned and operated dairy operations to facilitate the overtaking of all dairy production in the US by Cullen Agritech and centralizing it in the southeastern states.  Fictions of law called “regulations” are erected to facilitate the theft of land and the ending of private operations.  The USDA is also busying itself in trying to convince the public that “traditional” and “cafo” farming are the same thing.  Even the land grant university refers to industrialized cafo farms as a “traditional” farming method; in whose nightmares I wouldn’t know.

This is happening in almost every state of the Union and yet not one state legislator has moved in any state to even attempt to protect sovereign private citizens from being forced out of business and off their land.

Page 6 cont.)
Upon completion of the merger Cullen Agritech will acquire rights with respect to a proprietary, pasture-based, farming system for the production of raw milk, primarily in the Southeastern United States. This farming system has been tested through application on research farms in the state of Georgia in the US. These research farms are not owned by Cullen Agritech and the research was conducted by the Research Partners. The resulting know-how associated with its farming system, including the constituent components incorporated within the holistic system, is proprietary information which will be owned by Cullen Agritech upon consummation of the merger. 

Natural Dairy intends to acquire farmland in the Southeastern United States for the implementation of Cullen Agritech’s farming.

Upon completion of this merger mentioned, traditional dairy farming will become the proprietary right of Cullen Agritech/New Zealand.  In all of these political maneuverings, the outright assaults on public domain and sovereign citizens; the attempts to destroy family and independent farming and ranching lies the catalyst and reason for what is being facilitated by our own government: THE THEFT OF THE  LAND.  All across the globe private farmers and ranchers are being forced off of agricultural land.  The nation/state immediately seizes it for corporate investors after first implementing Codex Alimentarius, Premises ID and an animal identification system.  All three things devised for the sole purpose of taking production and supply of food away from the individual and handing it over to corporations, for profit.
While they did this to countries and poor nations on the other side of the globe we didn’t think it was anything to worry about.  But the vultures have come home to roost and now they are landing on our shores and a corporate government dedicated to seizing food production and supply is waving them in for a safe landing.

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Please note the use of the term “raw milk” in the above clip.

NOTE:  Just so you know, (ask anyone sued by Monsanto) the court system does not care that you did not intentionally plant or even want the Frankenstein plants or the dna of those Frankenstein plants in your crop or grassland; nor do they care or recognize that these results of science gone mad invaded your property. The US judicial system has routinely allowed unwarranted search and seizure by individuals hired by corporations to illegally trespass on your property and to seize it when they choose too.  Instead of the corporation being held liable for damages, for contamination of traditional crops and grasslands, for rendering your genetically pure traditional seed as unfit for human consumption and there fore unacceptable for foreign markets and free trade (most foreign countries will not accept GMO).  Instead, they cite the private land owner/crop grower as responsible; handing billions over to corporations who caused the problem, calling it “damages”. 


Land grab - not a game
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This blog was set up by GRAIN as a collection of online materials used in the research behind Seized: The 2008 land grab for food and financial security, a report we issued in October 2008. GRAIN is small international NGO concerned about farmers’ control over biodiversity and local knowledge. We see the current land grab trend as a serious threat to local communities, for reasons outlined in our report.
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 Low milk prices, the result of market price manipulation by the USDA, is setting the stage and preparing the way for the New Zealand based Cullen-Agritech to over take the domestic and independent dairy industry in the US. 
While on the eastern seaboard, warnings are issued that a regional shortage of milk is looming; in the mid and western US, dairy farmers are paid and encouraged to cull their herds or eliminate them altogether as the USDA claims there is a milk glut.
(At this point I could post various links to almost every state in the Union, concerning the “glut” of milk on US markets.  A simple search with keywords: Milk glut in US  will produce enough reading for days.)
USDA never speaks about the importation of tons of milk products from China, nor that yet another batch of melamine laced milk products were just dumped into the US food supply for the umpteenth time, by China.   They most assuredly do not seem too concerned about the afore mentioned milk glut.  Why the hell would we be importing any milk products into the US if our markets are, in fact overflowing with surplus.  (Except on the eastern seaboard of course where they are in danger of not having enough milk to meet consumer needs unless all the New Zealand corporations can take over the dairy farming)
Contamination aside: why would we be importing any milk products from anywhere if one portion of the country is facing a shortage and the other portion is facing a glut?  Wouldn’t the rational, the most economic thing to do, be……send the excess milk from the western US to the eastern US?  Has it occurred to anyone at the USDA that it might be far better to maintain our own herds; produce and sell our own products and generate this portion of our markets and economy rather than continuing to allow China to use us as a dumping ground for contaminated goods?
Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) in an article on Cattle Today said this:
On July 2 CWT announced the first of three dairy herd retirement programs scheduled for this year had removed 101,040 dairy cows – mostly from the western part of the nation – and almost two billion pounds of annual milk production from the national inventory.”
While there is no doubt that it is optimum to keep only top producers in a herd, these 101,040 dairy cows were not replaced….just eliminated.
It’s important not to underestimate the sheer size of the take-over being planned.  Because of onerous USDA regulations, the forced use of antibiotics and vaccines, endless paperwork, and the interference of the USDA via state Ag agencies, family and independent dairy herders are being rapidly regulated out of business.
Milk from “range-fed” is recognized as assuredly more cost efficient, however, cows caged up in barns, never allowed to graze or to move from the cramped cages they are forced to endure, produce more milk.
So let’s see…….no exercise and a regular dose of recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) equals what?  Equals a 20% increase in the overall production of milk as a result of PUS and BLOOD in the milk.  The growth hormone, well documented in the dvd “The World According to Monsanto”,  the most common cause of output increase.  Yummmm….
Add in the fact super-producing dairy cows in the Unites States are fed on processed grains, which cause considerable gastric distress for the cows and add a heaping helping of gmo grains, known to aggravate the naturally occurring e-coli in the cows intestinal tract and what do you have?  Between the growth hormones, the gmo grains, antibiotics, vaccines and whatever else the USDA insists must be force fed or used upon these animals, what you have is….nothing we really want to consume.
The claimed “fierce” price fluctuations in the costs related to processed feed from gmo grains for these animals is a direct result of intentional manipulation of market prices by the USDA, and pandering to corporate interests, making the costs of dairy herding untenable, unless of course you are from New Zealand in which case you aren’t subject to those market riggings or too many of the USDA regulations meant to end private and independent, non-corporate dairy herding in the US.
So, lets just cut to the chase here:
  • The USDA is manipulating market prices and,
  • Turning a blind eye to the monopolies being created by a few big corporations
  • American dairy farmers are being regulated out of business, while
  • Cullen-Agritech is allowed to slide in and set up business
  • USDA and Land grant universities such as the U of GA, conspire to portray the New Zealand plan as something “new and improved” even though what they are selling is nothing more or less than known and proven traditional herding methods.
  • The USDA pays US dairy herders to cull or eliminate herds, while claiming,
  • There is a milk shortage in the eastern states.
  • A milk glut in the mid and western states, and
  • USDA will not allow the milk produced in the mid and western states to be shipped to the supposedly sparse eastern states, but,
  • Will continue to allow massive shipments  of uninspected and melamine laced milk products from China to be dumped into the US food supply, further eroding the price of domestic milk.
  • China will not be penalized, nor,
  • Will China be stopped from importing to the US
  • Meanwhile, US family and independent dairy farmers are harassed and assaulted by state Ag agencies, after,
  • A country wide campaign has been launched by USDA and the FDA to make the public believe that massive regulations, fees, permits, drugs and intentional disruption of the milk market are necessary and
  • the result of poor herding practices……not because some desk jockey in DC struck a lucrative deal behind closed doors. 
In the meantime:
  • Cooperative agreement funding (bribery) has been supplied to the state to obtain their cooperation in collapsing the independent and family dairy’s, and as a result
  • Family and independent herders are forced out of business or denied licenses to make sure they go out of business.  
  • Imports from China increase, and,
  • all the interested and related New Zealand based corporations are slipping into one state after another selling the “new & improved” dairy herding methods….the same ones your dad and grand dad used with such success
  • USDA continues to put the screws to domestic herders because they have neither the political clout nor the unlimited funds to buy off the USDA.
And you are supposed to conclude that New Zealand showed up just in the nick of time to rescue the failing dairy farmers from self destruction, and to preserve the US milk markets.
 Just one problem:  The New Zealand corporations are focused on exporting.
Got milk?

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