Yes, you are trying to paint me negatively, and that’s fine. People see a a nameless troll harassing a scientist which is why I respond. In the days of standing up for science, etc. it does not work well for you.

There is no “course” to change. My job as a Land Grant scientist is to support farmers. I need to know their products, need to know the companies that make them. So as long as farmers buy seeds, I’ll interact with seed companies.

That said, the big biotech companies are very much not interested in interacting around the topic of GE issues. I heard from a friend that was at a dinner that the discussion was, “He’s worth more to us if we don’t interact with him.” That means that I have the science right and am making an impact, the further they can distance me from that “corporate crony” allegation the better. Fine with me.

They never supported my research, they are not interested in my research, and I really don’t care about them one way or the other.

That said, I have some new breakthroughs in the lab that federal funders don’t want to support. My guess is that many companies would be happy to help. So all of this might change going forward. That’s good, because someone needs to cover the costs of innovation, and if they are willing to do it, that’s a plus.