Andrew Taynton of the Safe Food Coalition refers to NEWSWISEAfrica as the “biotech industry’s media PR company”(Letters, February 15), We do not have one biotechnology client and we are not a “PR company”; we are media liaison agents in greater Africa and we operate as journalists.
Farmers’ Monthly is a non-profit endeavour and one of NEWSWISEAfrica’s social upliftment projects. A group of trustees from industry monitor Farmers’ Monthly one of these trustees is involved in organic farming; others have been selected from government and welfare.
Taynton states that Monsanto is in “partnership” with NEWSWISEAfrica/Farmers’ Monthly magazine? In fact, Monsanto, Land Bank, Johannesburg Fresh Produce Market and a host of other companies are advertising in the magazine the standard partnership that any publication enters into with advertisers is a more accurate conclusion.
Farmers’ Monthly editorial team supports traditional organic farming techniques in conjunction with developments in science such as biotechnology where applicable and beneficial for emergent farmers.
I invite Taynton/Safe Food Coalition to follow up with action their expressed concern for the 500 000 subsistence farmers in South Africa. For a small monthly fee you would enable us to feature more organic farming articles (we can print more pages), such as about the Mpumalanga forests where a group of women farmers are earning a living by intercropping on the outskirts of forests with organic vegetable farming. Yoland Geyser, president, NEWSWISEAfrica, Johannesburg