Monsanto Research Paper

The film begins with an introduction scenery of acres and large amounts of crops (corn and wheat), along with cattle and other forms of animals used in the production of the meat industry. During the agricultural featured scene, Mr. Schlosser elucidated how food preferences and the way we eat is evolving at a rapid speed, while others still perceive the food industry as an agrarian corporation. The film then makes its emotional appeal towards the audience by providing images and videos of chickens in multiple repulsive situations. The chickens were thrown onto conveyor belts by primarily African American workers, which now accounts for a fine percentage of employees in the food industry. Schlosser elaborates on the unseen dilemma of animal and worker abuse in these corporations. He then exemplifies his realization of how the abuse is enacted in numerous ways, one of which is implementing restrictions as to what workers are allowed to do and say. They use these restrictions as a way of controlling their workers and providers in such industries, because the workers/providers can’t risk losing the income they receive from these multi-billionaire companies. The above said scenes justifies how Schlosser uses emotional appeals to the viewers in order to enhance the initial

According to the article somewhere around 325,000 farmers purchase seeds each year under an agreement that “they will will not save and replant seeds produced from” Monsanto. With an agreement like this in place, the corporation feels the need to be sure that clients withhold their contracts. Monsanto sends out private investigators to essentially follow farmers, photographing them and watching everything that they do. If an investigator determines that a farmer is breaking contract, that farmer will have to pay a fine, or, in extreme cases, a lawsuit will be filed. However, according to the essay by Monsanto, there have been only “147 lawsuits filed since 1997 in the United States. This averages about 8 per year for the past 18 years. To date, only 9 cases have gone through full trial. In every one of these instances, the jury or court decided in our favor.” They do this because when farmers replant, they no longer have a reason to purchase seeds, therefore costing the company money. Another reason that Monsanto uses such a practice is because the loss of that revenue hinders their ability to research and develop products that would help farmers. A

Kenner uses the rhetorical strategy ethos by introducing important people of the food industry to the people of America. Kenner introduces us to Joel Salatin. He runs the farm called “Polyface farms”. He compares amd explains in the movie/documentary how his farm is ran and how the animals are fed and treated compared to corporations like Smithfield and Tyson. Kenner features the “Polyface Farm” from anywhere to what the animals eats to where the animals live. Salatin acknowledges that his animals do not eat corn or any product with corn involved. Salatin guides us through the process of killing chickens and how they are handled and packaged. Kenner also compared this process with with huge corporations like Tyson and how their chickens are killed. Tyson has their chicken coops packed with so many that the chickens are unable to move around so when chicken farmers feed the Tyson chickens they all keep gaining weight since they are big that they can con carry their own weight anymore. The chicken farmers emphasize that Tyson tries to make every chicken look alike so that when that chickens are packaged there will not be a huge size discrepancy. Another man interviewed in the movie/documentary is Moe Parr. Parr was a seed cleaner for local farmers around their town. Parr addressed that Monacello (seed company) was sueing him for cleaning seeds. Monasello’s argument was that they have a contract with every farmer who buys seeds from them; that when they save their seeds that they are expected to send those seeds back to the

We do not take in consideration on where our meat comes from and how they treat the animals. People do not know how the process is from slaughtering a cow to the meat that you buy in your neighborhood market. In the book Foodopoly, Wenonah Hauter argues that there is a misrepresentation on what truly happens in the meatpacking industry, hog industry, the impact on small farmers, and how the working conditions are for the meat packing industry workers.

The farmers then give their products to the manufacturers, who represent the bottleneck of the food system (21). “The ten largest companies control half of the world’s seed supply. …Ten firms control 90% of the nearly $38.6 billion pesticide markets (111-112).” Monsanto, being one of the ten companies that controls the world’s seed supply, is a company that has patents on all of its seeds and products. It produces genetically modified crops that are resistant to its own pesticides and herbicides, so that when a pesticide or herbicide is sprayed and it destroys all plants, the Monsanto seed survives because of its resistance. The reason that Monsanto is able to stay in business is because of the economic benefit it poses for the farmers. They are able to produce their crops at a much higher yield because they are losing less of their crops to pests. This higher yield results in lower costs for the consumers as well (Planes). As discussed

You have done a great job explaining this week’s assignment for Perdue Farms. This case is interesting and a little disturbing to me as well. When I started watching the film, I was taken back on how they treated chickens. I knew a little bit about raising chickens since my family has a farm in Texas. I remember that I used to like visiting the farm and it was kind of neat to see how they operated for the locals; it was nothing like Perdue Farms.

One issue the documentary highlights is the abuse of animals and workers by the food companies, in order to reveal how the companies hide

American agriculture can produce more food on less land and at cheaper cost than any other nation. Did anyone ever wonder why or how? The documentary Food Inc., produced by Robert Kenner, is designed to put the spotlight on the unsafe preparation of food products, the inhuman treatment of animals being used, and the unethical treatment of workers in corporate farming. Robert Kenner uses multiple rhetorical analysis to get his aspect across to his viewers. Throughout the movie, there are several claims to appeal of ethos, pathos, and logos in order to uncover the true secrets of the American food during its journey to the table.

The objective of this report is to analyze the differences in Monsanto’s experiences in the United States and Europe and the reasons of opposition in Europe, despite that, why Monsanto pushed ahead so hard.

Biotech companies including Monsanto do not allow the farmers to reuse seeds from their own crops. These companies have put a patent on these seeds and plants, a patent on actually life. They own the living organism.

Companies, like Monsanto will come after small farms and sue them for more than they can pay if they find out they are using even a small portion of GM crops in their fields, even if by accident” (Fitzgerald). Approximately 2,400 farmers in 19 states through 2006 were sued and spied upon for alleged “seed piracy”, Monsanto has an annual budget of $10 million dollars and a staff of 75 devoted solely to investigating and prosecuting farmers who are caught with different seed. (Monsanto).

Additionally, big business controls the farmers by capitalizing on widely used commodities. For example, the company Monsanto which is based in St. Louis, Missouri protects its dominance over the genetically modified crops such as the soy bean with the use of a patent law. Because of this, Monsanto’s patented genes “account for 95 percent of all soy beans and 80 percent of all corn grown in the U.S.,” (Associated Press). Although genetically modifying the soy bean crop has made it more readily available and more sustainable, this comes at a high price to farmers. Monsanto continues to raise their prices, which forces farmers to accrue even more debt, and there is no sign of the rise in the seed prices stopping. Since a lot of the farmers are under contract with Monsanto, there is nothing they can do about this unethical policy in fear of losing their job.

In addition to his solutions, Pollan’s modern narrative sheds light on the façade of our food industries; asking us to rethink what we know. Despite the mention of certain inhumane acts in All Animals are Equal, Pollan takes us one step further to uncover the reason for which we continue to purchase our corrupt food. We all know animal abuse exists, but the average consumer like myself is more worried about the best price and the fastest way to get a burger rather than how fairly the animals are treated in the process. Whether it be the confined living space of chickens or the mental and physical torture of pigs, we continue to blind ourselves from reality. Is it purely out of selfishness? Or are we too ignorant to come to terms with our wrong doings? Like Pollan explains, it takes seeing the abuse before the shame of our disrespect can be felt (pg.6). After seeing Pollan’s truth, I might now think twice before eating out and the choice to support organic produce can make a dramatic difference for those farmers who promote the ethical lifestyle.

The film then travels to a hog processing plant that kills 32,000 hogs a day. They expose the strategy of the company to hire extremely poor and illegal immigrants who can’t afford to quit their jobs, despite problems with frequent infections of the hands and fingernails, a side effect of poor sanitation standards.

The way these farmers or workers treat these animals are very horrifying. They are feeding the animals with antibiotics and artificial foods so that they can grow bigger faster in a short period of time. He also explained that there are no seasons at supermarkets because the fruits and vegetables are being picked when it was green from halfway across the country. Products are even being imported from outside of the country. The products are being ripened with ethylene gas. The film went on to show that the meat no longer has bones. If you follow the packaging of these products, you would be surprised what