ag·ri·cul·ture (ăgrĭ-kŭl′chər) : a clash between god & big bidness ?

[sear]

ag·ri·cul·ture (ăgrĭ-kŭl′chər) n.
The science, art, and business of cultivating soil, producing crops, and raising livestock; farming.
[Middle English, from Latin agrīcultūra : agrī, genitive of ager, field; see agro- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots + cultūra, cultivation; see CULTURE.]
https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=agriculture

The GMO (genetically modified organism) controversy is multi-faceted.

Some believe the quality of GMO crops is either deficient or worse, toxic.
Experts say a naturally occurring nutrient is nutritionally indistinguishable from a GMO replacement. BUT !!

Artificial genetic modification can add essential nutrients that can protect children from needless adversity including blindness.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/26/gm-golden-rice-delay-cost-millions-of-lives-child-blindness

Block on GM rice 'has cost millions of lives and led to child blindness'​

Oct 26, 2019 ... Golden Rice is a form of normal white rice that has been genetically modified to provide vitamin A to counter blindness and other diseases ...
https://allianceforscience.cornell.edu/blog/2015/10/golden-rice-as-a-way-to-prevent-blindness-in-children-gains-public-support/

Therefore GMO is good. Right?

Not so slow.
There's a sinister corporate swindle underway in GMO.
Big $money like Monsanto genetically engineer ostensible high yield seed for U.S. farmers. But these GMO crops that can't be sustained by reserving some of the harvest yield for next season's planting.
That way Monsanto gets to sell the farmers their seed for planting, every planting season.

That's not only more $money for the seed wholesalers. It has the potential to substantially diminish the pool of bio-diversity.

Who owns food crop seed bio-diversity?
If no one owns it, is no one responsible for it?

Such bio-diversity is invaluable, and in 2021 virtually irreplaceable.
We already know the risk. Mono-culture crops can lead to outcomes like the Irish potato famine.

We are already dependent upon modern agriculture for our survival. Using modern agricultural techniques we can feed more humans per acre than with the limited yield available to slash & burn nomadic agriculture.

How dangerous is this bio-diversity precipice upon which we teeter?

 

[Borg Refinery]

Your thoughts almost verbatim echo my own on this, one part you missed was that predatory and ultra-coprrupt practices of certain big agri corps in the third world. And then there's this.

I'd say the precipice is very dangerous. There are innovative new techniques being pioneered in places like California but big agri biz wants to put a stop to it.

 

[sear]

From your link BR #2:

"Monsanto operated a “fusion center” to monitor and discredit journalists and activists ..."

https://www.theguardian.com/busines...-fusion-center-journalists-roundup-neil-young

Surely this raises the question: what's Monsanto trying to hide?

Part of the ideological complication here, Monsanto is not pure evil.
A keystone of modern society's success is efficiency.
3rd millennium food production substantially improves the productivity per acre for feeding humans.

Salmon farms produce 760 million calories per acre. That is 43 times more than potatoes. Unlike potatoes, Salmon require feeding because they are animals. but unlike land animals, salmon don’t need to develop strong bones, they don’t need to fight against gravity to stand up and move around, and they are cold blooded, and don’t need to expend energy to warm themselves. This means that salmon end up needing to consume 2 pounds of food for every 1 pound of edible meat they will grow. That is very efficient when you consider that chicken will require 3.6 pounds, pigs will require 8 pounds, and cows will require 22.5 pounds.

https://arktide.org/how-much-food-can-we-grow/

But a potential downside of genetically modified crops is loss of the natural bio-diversity it displaces.

Farming only the most productive most efficient crop may seem an optimizer's dream. But efficiency does not protect against the risks of "all eggs in one basket". In this case as in many others, a viable "plan-B" may pay rich dividends.

I haven't read the term "population explosion" lately. Nope. Not sure why not.