Mmm.. Monsanto Brand Onions

Thanks guys, but... (4.00 / 1)

I'll just wait until Walla Walla Sweets are in season.

Any reports on taste?  I've gotta imagine they're probably comparable to something like hot house 'tomatoes'...

The company, which already sells seed for 24 crops, says launch dates for more branded vegetables are at least a few years away.

Question - would one have to sign a contract to buy any potential future Monsanto-branded potatoes?  Will Monsanto's goons lurk around in our kitchens to make sure we're only using their vegetables for eating purposes?

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

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by: JayinPortland @ Fri Feb 05, 2010 at 16:44:19 PM UTC

they probably taste like RoundUp (4.00 / 1)

which sounds delicious, but I think I'd like to wait and see if they introduce a special Agent Orange-flavored variety later.

"I can understand someone from Iowa promoting corn and soy, but we are not feeding the world, we are feeding animals and soft drink companies." - Jim Goodman

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by: Jill Richardson @ Fri Feb 05, 2010 at 16:50:58 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Heh heh... (4.00 / 1)

And I'm sure they'll bounce pretty well, too.

The Agent Orange variety will be seasonal, of course.  Can't use too much of that stuff in one place at one time.

Any guesses on how long until McDonald's adds "EverMild Sweet Onion Rings" to their regular menu?

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

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by: JayinPortland @ Fri Feb 05, 2010 at 16:54:31 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Agent Orange (4.00 / 2)

The Agent Orange brandname has already been appropriated by Narangerie, a Newark-based urban ag guerilla citrus co-op.

(kidding)

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by: count @ Fri Feb 05, 2010 at 19:50:04 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Walla Walla (4.00 / 1)

From the Sweet onion wiki

The Walla Walla sweet onion is named for Walla Walla county in Washington where it is grown. Its development began over a century ago when Peter Pieri, a French soldier who settled in the area, brought a sweet onion seed from the island of Corsica with him to the Walla Walla Valley. This sweet onion was developed by selecting and reseeding onions from each year's crop that possessed sweetness, jumbo size, and round shape.

Vidalia onions were first grown near Vidalia, Georgia in the early 1930s. Today the name refers to onions grown in a 20-county production region in the state of Georgia as defined by both state Georgia and federal law United States Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). The Sunbrero (Nevada) Sweet Onion is grown in Nevada and distributed by Sweet Onion Trading Company, Melbourne, Florida.

The Carzalia Sweet onion is a variety of sweet onion grown by Carzalia Valley Produce in Columbus, New Mexico. The Sunbrero (Texas) Sweet Onion is grown in Texas and distributed by Sweet Onion Trading Company, Melbourne, Florida. The Sweetie Sweet is a variety of sweet onion grown in the Mason Valley in Yerington, Nevada. The Sweetie Sweet onion can be found in marketplaces throughout the U.S. from September through the end of January. The Glennville sweet onion is grown in Tattnall County, in Glennville, Georgia. Maui onions are one of the smaller varieties of onions grown on the Hawaiian island of Maui. They are trademarked "Kula-grown" onions.

All these varieties are brand names, to my feeble brain. The sweet onion business is intriguing. I don't know anything about it. "Vidalia" is a protected name, but how about the others? Why are Walla Walla onions still grown only near Walla Walla, for example? Why aren't those seeds grown everywhere? Are the seeds public domain? Are they patented and owned by someone? Does someone (say, a farmer's group) own the brand? Inquiring minds...

EverMild.  OK, that goes on my list of things not to buy, if it ever shows up in Baltimore.

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by: count @ Fri Feb 05, 2010 at 19:59:27 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

No clue... (4.00 / 2)

I know more than one Portland farmer sells 'Willamette Sweets' (which come up with exactly zero direct hits on an internet search, amazingly enough) at the farmers' markets here from June to September or so, but I have no clue as to their origin.  Are they Walla Wallas in disguise, grown near Portland rather than in Eastern Oregon or Washington?  Are they Vidalias or another variety?  

I should ask somebody at the stands this year.  Don't know why I never thought to do so before.  Maybe Joanne knows, too.  If I can remember to ask her when she comes back...

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

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by: JayinPortland @ Fri Feb 05, 2010 at 20:11:51 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

And... (4.00 / 1)

...you can eat them shits just like apples, too.

Incredible things, those Walla Wallas I get from the coop every year. :)

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

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by: JayinPortland @ Fri Feb 05, 2010 at 20:13:18 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Please do ask. (4.00 / 1)

Maybe someone at one of the open markets will know now, even if they don't happen to be selling onions now.

Isn't this an interesting topic, though?

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by: count @ Fri Feb 05, 2010 at 20:17:56 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Yeah... (4.00 / 1)

...and one that never crossed my mind before.

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

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by: JayinPortland @ Fri Feb 05, 2010 at 20:26:05 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

same here. nt (4.00 / 1)

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by: count @ Fri Feb 05, 2010 at 20:28:34 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

You can buy Walla Walla seed at the grocery store (4.00 / 2)

I think Lilly Miller, Ed Hume and other brands sell it. I usually just buy the green sets in the early spring, saves me from having to start seed for sets in winter.

As to the varieties sold at the farmers markets, I couldn't tell ya that, best to ask the individual farmers, as you suggested. Perhaps Willamette Sweets are a marketing name? I don't think that Walla Walla Sweet is an appelation? I'd think that if it was then the seed and sets couldn't me marketed as such.

As I understand it, sweet onions are so, in part, not only because they produce less of the substance that makes them hot and gets into your eyes (which is a genetic thing), but also because of the soils they're grown in.

I was watching one of Emiril's cooking shows when he was in Hawaii. He visited a farm growing Maui onions and asked the farmer why the onions were so sweet and mild. Was it a special type? No, the farmer said, they were just regular yellow onions. He said the key was the type of soil and the micro climate. The way he explained it, one important component of growing sweet mild onions was that the soil have a very low sulpher content. Sulpher is what makes onions hot. You can grow a mild variety in high sulpher soils and they'll be hot just like a regular onion. Conversely, you can grow a regular onion in low sulpher soils and get a very mild bulb, which is what he did.

Regarding locavores as elitists - explain to me how supporting local business is elitist....

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by: Joanne Rigutto @ Sat Feb 06, 2010 at 13:56:09 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Contract (4.00 / 1)

Believe it. I haven't seen the contract, but even in complete ignorance of the facts, I feel comfortable in guaranteeing that these seeds are very tightly controlled.

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by: count @ Fri Feb 05, 2010 at 20:01:55 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Looking out the back window... (4.00 / 1)

"Is that a Monsanto Company Rep taking samples from our garden, hon?"

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

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by: JayinPortland @ Fri Feb 05, 2010 at 20:14:41 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Ah, I see. (4.00 / 2)

I think I get your point now. You mean, would a consumer have to sign a contract - after all, the onions could be planted to grow seed, or potatoes could be sectioned and planted for propagation.

Jay, you have an enterprising, though devious, mind.

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by: count @ Fri Feb 05, 2010 at 20:27:14 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Exactly. (4.00 / 1)

;)

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

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by: JayinPortland @ Fri Feb 05, 2010 at 20:28:17 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

they spray potatoes (4.00 / 2)

with something to prevent them from sprouting. Not sure about onions but Monsanto's got so many chemicals I'm sure they can come up with something.

"I can understand someone from Iowa promoting corn and soy, but we are not feeding the world, we are feeding animals and soft drink companies." - Jim Goodman

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by: Jill Richardson @ Fri Feb 05, 2010 at 22:18:09 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

"NOT developed using genetic engineering" (4.00 / 1)

Actually no.

I have a conversation yesterday with a seed guy and he told me something I did not know.

Virtually all hybrid seed starts off as a GMO.

The GMO technology is so effective as the selection of traits that it has become the common starting point in the development of new see varieties. It cuts down development time of new seed by years.

Once the seed breeder has the seed, with the traits they want like drought resistance or kernel size, they remove the GMO proteins. They then grow out the new hybrid seed and test to make sure the proteins are removed before they sell the seed to farmers.

The Monsanto onions started out as GMO.

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by: OrganicGeorge @ Fri Feb 05, 2010 at 17:18:40 PM UTC

Dear George (4.00 / 1)

Something in your comment might be true, but as written, your comment does not begin to make sense.

Please back that up if you can.

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by: count @ Fri Feb 05, 2010 at 20:09:02 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

genome anaylysis (4.00 / 1)

The GMO technology is so effective as the selection of traits that it has become the common starting point in the development of new see varieties. It cuts down development time of new seed by years.

Just to be clear, that paragraph would be sensible if, by GMO technology, you simply mean the ability to analyze genomes. That could speed up trait selection.

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by: count @ Fri Feb 05, 2010 at 21:21:05 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

To be clear (4.00 / 2)

I was told that none of the big seed companies use traditional hybrid technology in the development of new hybrid seed.  

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by: OrganicGeorge @ Fri Feb 05, 2010 at 23:41:26 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Monsanto Onions (4.00 / 2)

I think the comments so far miss the significance of this move by Monsanto.

Despite the clever lines about signing contracts, the taste of the onions and all that, what this represents is a significant step toward more vertical integration by Big Ag in our food supply. It means even more monopoly power for Monsanto. And it tells us they aren't worried much about the pending anti-trust investigation. Think about it.

Monsanto controls most of the crops in our food supply chain at the input/producer (farmer) level. Now they are moving to establish a beachhead at the opposite end of the food chain--at the retail/consumer level. If this goes unchallenged, when you shop at the supermarket you can have as much freedom of choice about food as you wish--as long as it comes from Monsanto.

THAT is what this is about and it ought to send shudders through anyone who buys food in America.

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by: Vince at the beach @ Sat Feb 06, 2010 at 00:37:34 AM UTC

I might disagree. (4.00 / 1)

Nobody missed the significance of this. From the cited article,

"All of our vegetables are sold in the supermarket, but this is one of the first we've trademarked with a name."

Monsanto has been "vertically integrated" in the vegetable market for a long time, this is not news. I welcome the attachment of brand names to their products, because they let me know which products to avoid.

I placed "vertically integrated" in quotes because I'm not sure what it means where Monsanto is concerned. What I don't know about Monsanto practices concerns me as much as what I do know, frankly. The article reports

The onions are grown on a farm in the Pacific Northwest, which purchased the seed directly from Seminis Inc., which Monsanto acquired in 2005. Schnucks is getting the product through one of its current distributors, one that specializes in onions.

A person might reasonably surmise that Monsanto doesn't own the farm and grow the onions - sounds plausible that Monsanto merely controls the chain very tightly, which still could count as vertical integration under a broad interpretation. Monsanto probably would disagree.

Another possible inference from the article is that Monsanto actually only owns the brand name, not the onions, but who knows at this point? Both of these points are only surmise and inference.

The situation is somewhat different with SDA soybean oil. From Monsanto's GRAS Notice for Stearidonic (SDA) Omega-3 Soybean Oil

(Page 7/169)

D. Conditions of Intended Use in Food

Monsanto intends to market SDA soybean oil as a food ingredient in the United States in a variety of food products including baked goods and baking mixes, breakfast cereals and grains, cheeses, dairy product analogs, fats and oils, fish products, frozen dairy desserts and mixes, grain products and pastas, gravies and sauces, meat products, milk products, nuts and nut products, poultry products, processed fruit juices, processed vegetable products, puddings and fillings, snack foods, soft candy, and soups and soup mixes. SDA soybean oil will be added to foods at levels that provide 375 mg SDA/serving.

(page 17/169)

Monsanto does not intend to sell SDA soybean oil as a pure supplement.

The GRAS notice says the soybeans are grown at "several U.S. locations" and goes into detail about how the oil is processed from the soybeans. It does not say that the company owns the farms or owns the processing facilities. It clearly does say that Monsanto will own and market the finished oil.

Has Farmer Monsanto displaced Old MacDonald? Darned if I know, but you're right - Monsanto is vertically integrated from seed to table, however they might quibble about the technicalities. I agree with you there - my disagreement might be with your contention that this somehow is news that we missed.

By the way, we already know that there is no known way to prevent contamination of nearby soybean fields with this new GMO SDA variety. Not owning the fields, not actually doing the farming, not owning the processing facility, would be a Monsanto legalistic mechanism for insulating themselves from liability lawsuits, which is why I think Monsanto might not take title to anything in the SDA oil chain except for the seeds and the oil.

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by: count @ Sat Feb 06, 2010 at 01:42:59 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Not really... (4.00 / 1)

This is how blogs work, sometimes we joke about things.  If you can't find something to joke about, especially these days, you can go crazy in a matter of minutes.

Like count said, nobody here misses the significance of this.

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

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by: JayinPortland @ Sat Feb 06, 2010 at 02:46:16 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

But as Vince said, (4.00 / 1)

We didn't emphasize that.

I wonder what Vince is doing at the beach, though. Shouldn't he be in the trenches? Or the garden? The kitchen?

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by: count @ Sat Feb 06, 2010 at 02:54:07 AM UTC

[ Parent ]