A cold, but bright Sunday

From a Vanity Fair story on Monsanto:

Monsanto’s genetically modified seeds have transformed the company and are radically altering global agriculture. So far, the company has produced G.M. seeds for soybeans, corn, canola, and cotton. Many more products have been developed or are in the pipeline, including seeds for sugar beets and alfalfa. The company is also seeking to extend its reach into milk production by marketing an artificial growth hormone for cows that increases their output, and it is taking aggressive steps to put those who don’t want to use growth hormone at a commercial disadvantage.

Even as the company is pushing its G.M. agenda, Monsanto is buying up conventional-seed companies. In 2005, Monsanto paid $1.4 billion for Seminis, which controlled 40 percent of the U.S. market for lettuce, tomatoes, and other vegetable and fruit seeds. Two weeks later it announced the acquisition of the country’s third-largest cottonseed company, Emergent Genetics, for $300 million. It’s estimated that Monsanto seeds now account for 90 percent of the U.S. production of soybeans, which are used in food products beyond counting. Monsanto’s acquisitions have fueled explosive growth, transforming the St. Louis–based corporation into the largest seed company in the world.

That is downright frightening.

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Breakfast with JK at Nervous Nellie’s in Ballard. A simple and quiet café in Ballard that is close enough that I walked to meet her. Among other curiosities, they have a bread slicing machine that brought back memories of a bakery job I had when I was in high school.




An afternoon of images. Some made in my studio, some made on an afternoon walk. Those made out doors were often unsuccessful because the wind caused motion I couldn’t account for at the camera settings I wanted to work with.



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Wolfe, from his iPhone with the little studio garden in the background.