Question
Answer
Expert response from Steve Savage
Consultant, Savage & Associates
Friday, 02/10/2015 11:28
The short answer is no – Monsanto has never paid me to write anything about GMO crops. The time I have spent since 2009 blogging or answering questions on the GMO Answers site is un-compensated, and my consulting income is actually reduced because of the competition for time. It’s sort of my anti-career. I do work for companies that develop agricultural technologies, but in those cases I am being paid for information, problem solving and strategic advice on research and commercialization activities – not for doing any public advocacy. If anything my visibility as an advocate has complicated my status as a consultant.
My motivation to invest my time writing is my desire to counter the widespread disinformation about farming and its supporting technologies. I see the farming community being misunderstood and unfairly demonized. I see consumers harboring unnecessary fears and being manipulated by those who profit from that fear. It was out of frustration that I began to blog (currently approaching 300 posts).
I do accept honoraria for speaking engagements, because as those invitations were increasing, the time for preparation, for the event, and for travel was beginning to compromise my family’s income. I have no on-going salary to cover that time. I am typically being hired to speak by grower organizations. In fact when I have spoken to major gatherings of the biotech industry, I was only paid for travel expenses.
Like my academic colleagues who spend some of their time of science outreach, I do it because I honestly believe that technology is important for a sustainable future food supply. We are keenly aware of already missed opportunities that were the result of public misunderstandings. We have all grown used to the “shill accusations,” and joke about it when we happen to get together.