Candace De La Rosa

“One of my favorite chapters in Food, Inc. is titled “From Seed to the Supermarket”: it examines the bizarre notion of a company owning the patent on a food crop. Since humans first began agricultural practices, more than 10,000 years ago, they have saved seeds from their crop to replant the next year. It is the most basic element of sustaining food production. However, in the 1980′s court rulings allowed companies to patent genetically modified seeds. These seeds are designed to do all kinds of things, among them, to survive a dousing of chemicals that kill all the weeds in a field, leaving the desired crop to grow without competition. Farmers that buy these seeds are not allowed to save seeds to replant next year. If they want to keep farming, they need to buy new seeds every year.”

“In 1996, when Monsanto began selling Roundup Ready soybeans, only 2% of soybeans in the U.S. contained their patented gene. By 2008, over 90% of soybeans in the U.S. contained Monsanto’s patented gene”.

“From Seed to the Supermarket” gets into the heart of another issue: genetically modified organisms. It accuses agribusiness corporation Monsanto of abusing its power by patenting crops and essentially forcing farmers to switch to their genetically modified crops through legal action.”

“We also see that farming -- of corn, soy and almost all other crops -- is now almost completely controlled by several huge (and unsympathetic) corporations. For example, Monsanto has patented the strain of soy that is most widely grown and has found ways of prosecuting farmers who strive to avoid using their genetically engineered seed.”

GMO Monsanto Corporation Soybeans Troy Roush David Runyon Seed Cleaners Moe Parr Patented Gene Public Seed Genetically Engineered Seed

Should companies label what foods have GMOs in them? Why might we care whether Monsanto or another company owns the DNA in seeds? Is it fair for one company to have so much power over the production of soybeans?