This year around 76.024 million acres of US farm land were planted with soy to produce a projected fall harvest of 3 billion bushels worth more than $27.4 billion. Corn estimates are for 12 billion bushels.

Small farmers who show up at farmers markets are simply trying to feed the neighborhood with a variety of natural foodstuffs. Industrial agriculture is all about feeding the world in a manner probably not envisioned by Band Aid when AnyoneWithaRecordingContract showed up to sing That Song. Its range of plants are by and large limited to genetically modified soy, corn and rice. This, we're told, is the only way to cope with the famine victims of Africa and malnourished children in parts of Asia.

Golden rice is a favorite star. It's genetically modified to contain beta-carotene in the kernel which gets milled out though it remains in the rest of the plant. Beta-carotene is converted in the body into vitamin A. Not enough causes half a million African children to go blind each year. Biotechnologists consider donating donate golden rice seeds to Third World farmers. What's not to like?

Well, you've got to wonder about generosity when golden rice comes attached with 70 patents. And beta-carotene is already found for free in the greens that are a standard part of Asian diets. Not just the greens grown on small village plots, but the greens traditionally collected from the wild. The Chinese proverb that if you 'Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime' appears more respected by volunteers and aid workers than by agribusiness.

Which seems a more reliable strategy - to encourage families to continue the practice of planting a diversity of leaves and vegetables, or to urge a product upon them that makes them reliant upon heavily patented seeds? Switching from diversity to monoculture creates a dependency that brings benefit to the shareholders in agribusiness companies but not necessarily, long term, to small farmers.

For the most part, biotechnology companies are targeting countries that have enough food. Some even produce surplus food. But it's not reaching its people. Better to clean up the corruption in those countries whose internal affairs are starving its citizens. And encourage small holders to avoid dependency by sticking with traditional farming practices.