One would think that at this point, the crop scientists at the University of Arkansas would take a big deep breath and think about another kind of approach. But no, their solution is to replace one failed herbicide with another doomed-to-fail herbicide—technology trumps thinking. 

The technology in this instance is LibertyLink, a biotechnology developed by Bayer CropScience. LibertyLink seeds work with Ignite, an herbicide that is in many ways more powerful and dangerous than RoundUp. Much like RoundUp ready soybeans, the new LibertyLink soybeans will be able to survive the heavy spraying of Ignite, but the surrounding weeds will be killed, at least for now. (In a few years the University of Arkansas will probably be having joint sales/field days with another multinational to solve the LibertyLink-Ignite weed problem).

And so technopoly goes on, and the land-grant universities that were chartered to serve the needs of their community, particularly those of its farmers, continue to be little more than chemical peddlers for the agribusinesses that pad the university’s endowment. 

What we need is something different from technopoly. We need hard questions, reappraisals, real science, and critical research. We need universities with blind trusts and a ban on corporate partnerships. We need a culture that is strong enough to build these kinds of institutions and raise these kinds of questions. But we cannot have any of this unless we take the first steps towards cultural revitalization. These can be found most profoundly in the deepest of cultural practices: growing, preparing, and eating (and I mean real eating which is done sitting someplace other than in a car or at a desk).  If we would all take on these practices, then we would be well on our way with moving toward a country of culture rather than an absurd technopoly.