Fluffy, white balls of cotton drifted across I-10, catching in the dried weeds on the side of the road. The cotton harvest had begun. Last Wednesday, I got a chance to visit the 2002 University of Arizona Cotton Field Day at the Maricopa Agricultural Center (MAC).
Two aspects of the day disgusted me ÷ Monsanto Corporation-patented cotton and the 2002 Farm Bill.
The UA was given roots when President Abraham Lincoln signed the Morrill Act of 1862, giving 30,000 acres of land to each state to be used to house and fund a land-grant institution. The bill set the foundations for mass education of the working class in areas of agriculture, mechanics and military.
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