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Puerto Rico's Hurricane Recovery Hinders Farm Businesses' Seed Research

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Puerto Rico's Hurricane Recovery Hinders Farm Businesses' Seed Research

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This news article provides insight on how damaged the seeding industry is in Puerto Rico after hurricane Maria. Because of its tropical climate Puerto Rico is a place where commercial corn, soybeans, cotton, sunflower, and many others are researched on. Multiple clients of these research companies are wondering what is left of their investment of seeds. This article states that the damage of this could affect some places in the mid-west because they depend of this specific research.

I feel this directly relates to environmental ethics discussions. Maybe the research companies are just down there because it is cheaper to research the materials down in a slightly underdeveloped region. Are these companies taking advantage of the ideal climate in Puerto Rico to possibly implement changes that could affect individuals on the island? Maybe the investors should possibly take this loss in crops as a sign that Mother Nature doesn’t want genetically manipulated crops on that island? Ok that last question was a little unorthodox, nevertheless I do insist that maybe what these companies were doing was not exactly ethical. I’m going to try and take a positive spring off on this situation and thank Mother Nature for possibly stopping that could change the climate for the worse.
Nicholas Maliniak-Module 7

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Puerto Rico's hot winter days and warm nights have played a key role in the global seed business for more than 30 years. So, the devastation wrought on the U.S. territory by Hurricane Maria in September stretches to the croplands of the Midwest and Great Plains.

Fields in Puerto Rico are used for research and development of up to 85 percent of the commercial corn, soybean and other hybrid seeds grown in the U.S., according to the Puerto Rico Agricultural Biotechnology Industry Association.

From small regional seed producers to multibillion-dollar powerhouse players like Monsanto, Bayer and DuPont, companies that strive to improve the quality and consistency of their products or want to verify the purity of their seeds before putting them on the market turn to Puerto Rico. There, one can plant three seasons of corn and soybeans year-round. Sunflower, sorghum and cotton also are grown for research.

The hurricane knocked out power to millions and destroyed water infrastructure. It also tore up plants across the island, washed soil off fields and knocked down fences.

"The winds were so powerful that they basically devastated and blew off everything that was green," PRABIA executive director Beatriz Carrión says. "Everything that was standing up. Trees. Everything."

Some projects were moved quickly to other locations where seed research is done, like Hawaii, Chile and Argentina. Because most of the planting for this winter had not begun yet, Carrión says the biotech companies were able to get their operations up and running.

"Our companies have water and some already have electricity," she says. "we are open for business." But that doesn't mean business is as usual.

Minnesota-based Third Millennium Genetics (3MG) has farms in Puerto Rico to help Midwest seed producers run winter research projects. The plan this year was to have two farms in Puerto Rico, 3MG first science officer Raechel Baumgartner Delgado says.

The company scaled back to just one after the storm wiped out generators, stole the roof off of a building and damaged another. Instead of squeezing more profit from the single farm by growing contract research plants, 3MG is producing watermelon, honeydew and cantaloupe.

"One of the things we kind of talked about was stopping the fruit and vegetable growing in favor of our customers," Baumgartner says, "and as we thought about it we realized we couldn't because we needed the food on the island."

There have been other challenges: spotty cell service, limited electricity and having to layoff employees when it became clear there would be less work.

"We kind of operate like family," she says, "and so to have to reduce the number of staff has been difficult."

Yet, the projects are mostly on schedule, and planting is now underway.

That's good news for Les North of MayerSeedline, who leaves his Iowa home each winter to inspect the rows of corn 3MG has planted in Puerto Rico for his company. He looks for anomalies that, if too common, may indicate a problem with a whole batch of seeds.

His trip may be shorter than usual this year because federal emergency responders were occupying all the rooms through the end of the year when he called last month.

"I hope to be down there probably between Christmas and New Year's," he says, though the earliest he could make a reservation was Jan. 2. "The hotel doesn't have rooms available at this point."

Still, he expects to be able to verify the quality of his customers' corn seeds in time for them to ship to farmers in the spring.

Purity standards have been around since the 1939 Federal Seed Act, which aimed to protect farmers.

"It was trying to do away with the situation, 'Let the buyer beware,'" Iowa State seed lab manager Mike Stahr says. "And so the seed companies, if they want to stay in business, they're going to have to keep the farmers happy."

North estimates between 50 and 70 percent of the seed corn planted in the U.S. has been put through an in-the-ground test - whether that's in Puerto Rico or other places. Though lab testing has become more sophisticated over the decades, Stahr says there's no substitute for growing out the plant.

"There's value in doing both," Stahr says. "There's certain characteristics we can't see in the lab."

Liliana Sanchez Cortes runs Puerto Rican operations for seed giant Syngenta. She rode out the hurricane in her home in Ponce, but quickly went back to work assessing the damage.

"My boss asked the question immediately, 'Are you going to be able to run the season?' And I explain, yeah, this is my work plan and this is how I need your support."

The company gave its employees generators, water and ice - necessities on a tropical island where nearly two months after the hurricane more than 60 percent of residents are still without electricity and nearly 20 percent don't have safe drinking water, according to a report from the International Medical Corps.

Sanchez says she's gotten the support she asked for, but things are tough for the 45 full-time workers. Three lost their homes and some are still without functioning cooking stoves.

Plus, she's struggling to find the 500 seasonal workers Syngenta needs for the winter because thousands of people have fled the island.

"We are trying to look for the people that usually come to work for us," she says, "and they are not in the island anymore."

Seed companies remain committed to Puerto Rico because its climate and location make it an accessible and practical place to work during the winter. That's something even Hurricane Maria couldn't strip away.
This story comes to us from Harvest Public Media, a reporting collaboration focused on food and agriculture.

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Puerto Rico's Hurricane Recovery Hinders Farm Businesses' Seed Research

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Puerto Rico's hot winter days and warm nights have played a key role in the global seed business for more than 30 years. So, the devastation wrought on the U.S. territory by Hurricane Maria in September stretches to the croplands of the Midwest and Great Plains.

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Yemen war: ICRC buys fuel to pump water in stricken cities

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Yemen war: ICRC buys fuel to pump water in stricken cities

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In this news article the International Committee of the Red Cross is buying very expensive diesel fuel in order to keep the generators that provide clean water to millions of civilians in Yemen. Currently Yemen is under a blockade by a Saudi coalition and is unable to receive fuel and other important resources needed for the population. The ICRC has even had to purchase fuel from dangerous and extremely overpriced black market merchants.

This is something that reminds me of the Immanuel Kant’s Ideals. Acting to treating people as ends, or treating people as other people that are also trying to live a happy life, was what struck me as the ICRC was doing. They are providing aid to other people who need help, and are not letting other outside factors deter them away. Kant also believed that people are easily corrupted, and by having to buy fuel obtained inexplicitly the ICRC is somewhat feeding corruption.

Nicholas Maliniak-Module 6

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The International Committee of the Red Cross is buying 750,000 litres of diesel fuel to help provide clean water for a million people living in Yemen.

Nine cities ran out of clean water this month because a blockade by a Saudi-led coalition prevented imports of fuel needed for pumping and sanitation.

The ICRC's fuel purchase will allow the water systems in two cities, Hudaydah and Taiz, to operate for a month.

The organisation described the move as "exceptional and unsustainable".

Remaining fuel stocks, some available only on the black market, have rocketed in price leaving local water boards unable to afford them.

Yemen: Finding near-famine - and lots of food

Yemen's civilians pay price of blockade

Yemen conflict: Who is fighting whom?

The coalition, which has backed the Yemeni government in its war with the rebel Houthi movement since 2015, closed Yemen's borders to stop alleged weapons smuggling on 6 November after a missile was fired at the Saudi capital Riyadh.

Aid deliveries to rebel-held sea and air ports have since been allowed to resume, but only a few flights and two ships have so far arrived.

The ICRC and other humanitarian organisations say aid alone is not sufficient to provide for the needs of Yemen's 27 million people, and have called on the coalition to immediately permit commercial shipments of food and fuel.

Yemen is reliant on imports for more than 90% of its needs, and it faced the largest food security emergency in the world even before the blockade was tightened.

More than 2.5 million people across Yemen are currently without access to clean water as a result, according to the ICRC.

On Wednesday, ICRC spokeswoman Iolanda Jaquemet said it had decided to purchase fuel to supply the water boards in Hudaydah and Taiz as a last resort.

The organisation's Middle East regional director, Roberto Mardini, wrote on Twitter that it was "not supposed to do this", adding that "fuel imports must resume".

Without access to clean water and sanitation, Yemenis living in crowded urban areas are at risk of a renewed cholera outbreak and other water-borne diseases.

In Hudaydah, untreated sewage has been flooding the streets regularly.

Before the blockade was tightened, Yemen was slowly emerging from what the ICRC called the worst cholera outbreak in modern times, with 945,000 suspected cases and 2,211 associated deaths.

Some 17 million people in Yemen do not know where their next meal is coming from and seven million are totally dependent on food assistance. Severe acute malnutrition is threatening the lives of almost 400,000 children.

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The International Committee of the Red Cross is buying 750,000 litres of diesel fuel to help provide clean water for a million people living in Yemen. Nine cities ran out of clean water this month because a blockade by a Saudi-led coalition prevented imports of fuel needed for pumping and sanitation.