I can’t think of anything positive for the environment, health and safety, and economic security of the somewhat rural area that can come out of this connection with Monsanto in Avra Valley. Monsanto currently has cotton farmers using Monsanto seed stock for crops grown in Pima County.

Monsanto, according to the presentation included in County documents released on the above site, wants to build a gigantic greenhouse to test out new hybrid corn development. End result to sell the hybrid, GMO corn to farmers and use their typical ploy of locking farmers into their seed – suing them if they use another type of seed. The movie, “The World According to Monsanto”, describes these practices.

Here’s a statement from the overview of project:

“Approximately 51 citizens voiced comment to the Board of Supervisors during the meeting and many others provided written comment – most of which was in opposition to the Monsanto facility. Community concerns ranged from opposition to the use of genetically modified seed in farming, the health effects of genetically modified food, the use of a proprietary herbicide, the impact on local farmers, past incidents of contamination elsewhere and questions about Monsanto’s corporate ethics.”

Let the county Supervisors know how you feel about this development! There are schedule community feedback meetings scheduled over the next few days in mid-January in different locations throughout the county. Here’s the county press release, with info about upcoming meetings/locations for the public to provide feedback about the project. You can also use the “Feedback” link to provide comments via the web site.