Neil Young Boycotts Starbucks Over GMOs

Monsanto, the U.S. corporation that everyone loves to hate, is the target of Neil Young, one of the top composers of protest music of his generation. Now, he’s boycotting Starbucks over alleged involvement with Monsanto and using GMO coffee beans.

“‘Rock Starbucks’ is reportedly set to be included on Young’s next album, a concept album called ‘The Monsanto Years’. Young is reportedly making the album with Willie Nelson’s sons Lukas and Micah, with whom he played a surprise show in San Luis Obispo, California earlier this year.” [1]

The idea here is that Starbucks is involved with pro-GMO initiatives due to it’s involvement in the Grocery Manufacturers Association – a group dedicated to crush GMO labeling efforts. A post on GMA’s website, dated June 13, 2014, confirmed its stance that Vermont’s GMO labeling law is unconstitutional, leading the GMA and others to try and overturn the initiative.

Therein lies the connection.

“Hiding behind the shadowy ‘Grocery Manufacturers Association,’ Starbucks is supporting a lawsuit that’s aiming to block a landmark law that requires genetically-modified ingredients be labeled,” Young wrote. “Amazingly, it claims that the law is an assault on corporations’ right to free speech.”

But Starbucks isn’t itself working tirelessly to fight any GMO labeling initiatives.

In a statement on its website, Starbucks said a petition Young directed his followers to is wrong:

“Starbucks is not a part of any lawsuit pertaining to GMO labeling nor have we provided funding for any campaign. And Starbucks is not aligned with Monsanto to stop food labeling or block Vermont State law. The petition claiming that Starbucks is part of this litigation is completely false and we have asked the petitioners to correct their description of our position. Starbucks has not taken a position on the issue of GMO labeling. As a company with stores and a product presence in every state, we prefer a national solution.”

“In the tune ‘A Rock Star Bucks A Coffee Shop,’ Young rips into Starbucks for its alleged support of genetically modified organisms, a.k.a. GMOs.

‘I want a cup of coffee but I don’t want a GMO,’ Young sings. ‘I’d like to start my day off without helping Monsanto.'” [2]