Even since being suspended, agroscience company Monsanto’s project to build a major corn-seed production facility here has generated growing protests. Work on the project in the central province of Córdoba was blocked by demonstrators beginning on Sept. 18 (See “Protesters block work on Monsanto seed plant”—EcoAméricas, Oct. ’13) and was formally suspended by court order on Jan. 8. Even so, though, protest action against the project has escalated, which has become a lightning rod for criticism of the relentless expansion here of monocrop agriculture rooted in use of gene-altered seeds. On Feb. 20, a demonstration in Malvinas Argentina, the community where the project site is located, resulted in a violent confrontation. Participants called on the community’s mayor to sign a decree definitively rejecting Monsanto’s presence in the city, then some of them tried to enter City Hall, prompting a police crackdown. One demonstrator was hospitalized with a... [Log in to read more]