Sam Dryden: the most powerful figure in the global south’s agriculture? | Global development | guardian.co.uk
►http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2012/jul/06/sam-dryden-global-south-agriculture
The #Gates Foundation’s head of agriculture has attracted criticism for his involvement with global agribusiness, but he insists his aim is to improve life for the world’s poorest farm
Dryden dismisses this. For a start, he says, only 5% of Gates’s agricultural money is directed at transgenic research and development. That may be around $100m since 2007 – more than any other government or world body is known to have handed out – but 95% of the foundation’s work is devoted to developing better conventional seeds, and improving farming practices.
However, the ties between the foundation and US biotech companies are strong. Within nine months of his arriving at Gates, the foundation had invested $23m in Monsanto, but although it may partner biotech companies and governments such as the UK to develop GM crops, Dryden says it is fiercely independent.
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