Just heard about this today. 70% of all coffee is grown by smallholder farmers because coffee doesnt ripen at the same time - making large mechanised farming unpracticle. A US company ICTI is developing GM coffee beans which can be made to ripen at the same time. These GM coffee beans can be 'switched on' when sprayed with a chemical.
Obviously this is being developed so that multinationals can increase the size of their operations and reduce their workforce.
Im surprised this hasnt had more media coverage, I think it must have been hushed up.

Anyway, if you get chance copy & paste the e-mail here:  http://www.actionaid.org/campaigns/coffee2.html

Some interesting stuff on  http://www.actionaid.org.uk regarding patenting of basmati rice etc.

Cheers Eskimo