Monsanto's 'Seed Police'

Farmers that use Monsanto’s patented soybeans must enter into an agreement with the American Soybean Association therefore acknowledging the use of Monsanto’s soybeans. As per the Harvest of fear article “Every farmer which purchases the seeds must enter into a stewardship agreement”. The farmer agrees to respect Monsanto’s patent these patents are protected by law. The farmers are not to replant used soybeans. Monsanto claims that if this were to occur they would work with the farmers in order to resolve the situation. Monsanto is gaining control by forcing farmers into purchasing there products and that effects the food which consumers buy to feed their

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).

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

Monsanto is controlling the farmers and manipulating organic farmers to use their patented seeds and artificial growth hormone to increase production. As, Troy Roush, VP of American Corn Growers Association explains “In the case of Monsanto their control is so dominant, if you want to be in production agriculture, you’re going to be in bed with Monsanto (Food Inc 1:15:40-1:15-48). Monsanto should not have the right to control what the farmers can and cannot do. Monsanto has induced politician and the government to abdicate their responsibility to protect consumers through funding their campaign and heavy lobbying. As Michael Pollan clarifies “For the last 25 years, our government has been dominated by the industries that it was meant to be regulating” (1:17:07-1:17:13). The consumers and farmers should be the ones deciding and voting on the farming practices, not congress or large seed industries. I believe the farmers should reject to use Monsanto’s seeds and have the right to save, clean and reuse the seeds from their harvests. It should be unacceptable and illegal for the government to change ancient agricultural farming; hence we would have a healthy food chain. Government and congress should focus on the interest of consumers and farmers and not be conquered by large companies. The government needs to revisit the seed patenting law and sign an agreement of the

Most farms in the U.S. are controlled by Monsanto and other GMO companies. If they are controlled by Monsanto they are strictly supervised. They have no freedom to farm as they please because they can get sued by Monsanto. A farmer using Monsanto seeds signs a "Technology Agreement"

the seed, they decided to redesign our legal system as well. The FDA is stuffed with

In prehistoric times, the cultures that flourished were those who grew​ ​ grains, rice and corn. Now one of those very cultures face cultural​ ​ genocide as Monsanto works to destroy its roots and replace ancient​ ​ maize with GMO corn. The film ​SUNÚ documents this struggle,​​ ​ from the halls of​​ ​ government to the hills

If one company owned an entire food crop, it would result in a huge profit of money for that company. However, it would also result in destroying the tradition of farming for farmers and their families. A primary reason why companies would want to own an entire food crop is because they will make a lucrative amount of money. A statistic involving this is stated by www.not-gmoreport.com, “ The cost for Monsanto’s Roundup Ready 2 soybeans in 2010 was $70 per bag, a 143% increase in the price of GM seed since 2001.” This inflation is called seed monopoly. One reason people strongly dislike seed monopoly is because of the way it affects not only farmers, but also the consumers. Farmers will have to pay more money for seeds, which will eventually

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.

Mexico should stop buying corn from those corporations that demand to turn over their corn crops to them. Therefore, it would be best for Mexico because Monsanto’s control on the corn imported into Mexico has caused a food and health catastrophe. A fact, “In post-NAFTA Mexico, 42 percent of the food consumed comes in aboard. Before NAFTA the country spent $1.8 million dollars on food imports. It now spends a whopping $24 billion” (http://fpif.org/nafta_is_starving_mexico/). This is an issue for Mexico because all the genetically modified corn imported from the U.S. is causing for small farmers to go out of business. A reason why it caused them to go out of business is because, “Seventeen years after NAFTA, some two million farmers have been

As parents, it is our job to look out for our children. Feeding them healthy, balanced meals is essential to their well being. But what if the products companies promote are not helping our children? What if they are hurting them? It turns out the brands we know and love may not have our best interests in mind when creating their products. Main brand companies use GMOs, genetically modified organisms, in their products. GMOs are created through a process called genetic engineering and in this process an organism’s genetic material is unnaturally modified through human intervention (Benson 2015). Well if companies are using them that must mean they aren’t hazardous… right? Unfortunately, that isn’t entirely true. According to Dick Benson, well over 60 countries world-wide have either banned the use of GMOs completely or have strict guidelines of when and how much they can be used. If so many countries have banned them then why are they being sold in the US?

Monopoly, generally known as a fun board game, but in the business world being a monopoly means power. They are illegal in the United States and there are laws and regulations that companies must follow in order to prevent a monopoly from occurring. Monopolies are prevented due to the fact that they have exclusive power of a good or service, allowing to hold on to their product and increase the prices to whatever is desired. It also makes it hard for entry of competitors into the specific market. Even though monopolies are generally prohibited, there have been claims that Monsanto is an monopoly in the GMO [Genetically modified organism] market because Monsanto is the leading power in the production of GMO

In the article ‘India Rejects First GM Vegetable, Hampering Monsanto’ by Jay Shankar and Thomas Kutty Abraham, they discuss how India’s first GMO called bt brinjal (genetically modified eggplant) is rejected by the Indian government due to the fact that there are potential threats to the GMO. GMO’s are genetically modified organisms that are made so that they can enhance the original organism in various ways. The Indian government wants to make sure that they have food security, especially with GMO’s, so they rejected the bt brinjal because they felt that there weren’t enough tests run on the organism. Also, they’re worried because farmers don’t take many precautions when putting pesticides on the plants, which puts them at risk. After making sure that bt brinjal is safe, India needs to keep the GMO’s so that they’ll be able to feed their growing population and to save money.

If a new entrant came into the market that were able to utilize a lower cost strategy as well as learn from Monsanto’s mistakes and keep a clean record, they could potentially take market share away from Monsanto. This is mentioned briefly in terms of Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc., but additional information would be necessary to make a decision. Also, no information is made on Monsanto’s advertising or marketing efforts. They might not need to market products in the traditional consumer marketing sense, but an advertising campaign aimed at reestablishing corporate image could be very advantageous.

I N T R O D U C T I O N : A S U M M A RY O F TH E C ASE AN ALY SIS P R O C E SS