Fightland Blog: A Mixed Martial Artist Takes on Monsanto

by Michael Hresko, Fightland Vice.com (excerpts)

Dustin Barca doesn’t get along with Corporate America. In 2009, the standout waterman from Hawaii dropped off the professional surfing tour citing that he no longer wanted to surf, or conduct himself in the way that mainland sponsorship companies wanted him to. He didn’t try to re-qualify the next year and instead transitioned to mixed martial arts. Five years later, Barca is now a pro-MMA fighter, a full-time activist, and a grassroots organizer hell-bent on ridding Hawaii of biotech firms like Monsanto....

One day, in the late hours after a training session, Barca was finding it difficult to sleep. He found himself browsing the Internet, and suddenly, after spending his entire life in the lush green valleys of Kauai, he found out for the first time that the notorious Monsanto had been right across the street the entire time....

Barca insists his issue with Monsanto has less to do with science than corporate morality and culturally appropriate use of land....

Barca is now leading the charge against GMOs in Hawaii. Through his environmental activism group, Ohana O Kauai, Barca has lobbied for a county ordinance, Bill 2491, calling for increased regulation of agricultural companies on Kauai, including requirements for disclosure of all usage of Restricted-Use Pesticides, limits on open-air spraying, buffer zones for schools and waterways, and environmental impact studies. After declining to vote on the bill twice, the county council will resume discussion this week....

Barca quickly learned everything that he could online and got in touch with community leaders. Since then he’s hosted a number of protests calling for Monsanto’s eviction from Hawaii. Localism is a big theme for islanders, a theme exaggerated by the fact that Barca is a member of Da Hui Surf Club, a group of surfers responsible for enforcing disputes over waves during the North Shore’s busy season.

“It’s hard once you learn what’s going on to not do anything," Barca says. "For me, I can’t sit here and do that. It’s like seeing someone beat up a chick in a parking lot or something. Me, I’m going to go and grab them and tell them, ‘Brah, you can’t do that over here.’ Basically these guys are committing murder on our natural resources. I’m not going to let someone do that to my home. I can’t sit around and let that happen. It’s so personal to me because it’s in my backyard. There’s just no way.

“The largest chemical corporations in history are making our food and farming our land. The same companies that made gas for Hitler are on my island and testing. Google it. It will blow your mind." 

(Reality: Monsanto did not make gas for Hitler.  The only 'mind-blowing' thing is the fact that anti-GMO protesters and their thug-leaders are willing to believe such patently false internet rumors.)

read ... A MIXED MARTIAL ARTIST TAKES ON MONSANTO