It was a sunny and picturesque afternoon on Monsanto’s 2300-acre grow-out station in Kunia. The Waianae mountain range loomed above and Pearl Harbor’s west loch sprawled out past the H-1 below. Taylor Kellerman, Kailua born-and-raised Operations Lead at Monsanto, wore a red aloha shirt, blue jeans and a bright yellow hat labeled Monsanto. He smiled and greeted other employees as we briskly walked through the front office. After showing me a picture of his wife and kids, we quickly slipped out the backdoor and hopped into his Ford F-150.
“Farmers look at their seeds just like any other technology,” said Taylor Kellerman as we began our tour of Monsanto’s fields,
“Just like cell phones haven’t really been lagging in the world of technology, agriculture is no slouch as well.”
Biotechnology companies like Monsanto have run into a lot of political opposition lately, particularly in Hawaii. Maui County voters recently passed a Genetically Modified Organism Moratorium Initiative on Nov. 4 which calls for a temporary ban on genetically modified farming practices until biotechnology companies like Monsanto fund a study to evaluate the health effects of GMOs. The ordinance is currently being evaluated in Honolulu federal court to determine its legality. Monsanto has attracted national attention due to its showcasing in the film, “Food, Inc.”
“I’m not sure if the enforceability of this initiative is as important as the symbolism of it actually being passed,” Paul Achitoff said, managing attorney at Earthjustice, a national policy and legislation team.
via Kalamalama – Hawai'i Pacific University Student Newspaper.