So what does this accomplish?

The protesters are celebrating a victory, but all I read is that Monsanto closed their offices for a day. So what? Will this somehow cause them to rethink their highly profitable operations?

GMO seeds are so widely used now I don't think there's any turning back. The damage is done.

In Hungary, farmers destroyed 1000 acres of GMO corn... nice gesture but in the US over 80 million acres of corn are planted annually and you can bet a big percentage of that is GMO now. As for Hungary, cross-pollination will eventually affect any organic crops grown.

"A recent two-day protest in Northern California against genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) led to the complete shutdown of a Monsanto corporate office for an entire day, according to reports. On Friday, March 16, 2012, activists affiliated with the Global Days of Action to Shut Down Monsanto began rallying in front of the Davis, Calif., office of Monsanto, where they held up banners, gave speeches, and set up tents in front of the Monsanto building on Fifth Street, which caused the biotech giant to shutter its operations."

Re: So what does this accomplish?

Not too many GM crops here

Re: So what does this accomplish?

As long as there are rigorous testing and safety regimes in place, I really don't see the problem with GM crops. Unless humans stop reproducing at such a rate, GM seems the only possible solution to the problem of feeding the world's ever-increasing population.
Population growth has always been the elephant in the room over the past 50 years. In poorer countries, all foreign aid has achieved is to keep each generation alive just long enough to reproduce and make the next generation's lives even more marginal. Apart from contraception in the water supply, GM crops seem to be the only answer.

Re: So what does this accomplish?

This is like the tap once turned on cannot be turned off, if it really will prevent starvation , then it is probably worth the risk, if it is about increasiing profits through greater yields then it probably is'nt. Going by what we seem to have learnt of late, the latter will probably prove correct in the fullness of time, but then again we may be entering a new era, who knows.