Seed Money: Monsanto's Past and Our Food Future

To those of us who have thought of Mansanto as primarily an agricultural genetic/tech company, this work provides a very through and well-documented account of the almost inadvertent turn in that direction that the company took to remain competitive vs. larger chemical companies, such as Dow. The impact of Monsanto's chemical/genetic products (really part of one package, especially Roundup herbicide sold with Roundup-tolerant crop varieties) is a topic that I wish had been a greater focus of the book, but the history of the company prior to that point is essential. Yet it is not self-righteously preachy. Some of the greatest damage might have been caused by, in a couple of cases, people with positive intentions. This is an enormously valuable work.

In this surprisingly well-researched, timely, and informative book, Bartow J. Elmore reveals how Monsanto monopolized its way into being the sole food-grower in all of the US and its attempts to replicate its “success” to the world. Tracing Monsanto’s beginnings as a chemical manufacturing startup in the 1890s towards the present day, where Bayer absorbed Monsanto, Elmore believes that in order to better the planet’s way of producing its food, we must look into the past and find what went wrong, and how we came to today. The book is organized chronologically, starting with Monsanto’s origins interestingly beginning with its founder Joh F. Queeny, working his days selling “miracle cures” towards hapless customers in the Chicago area. There is a reason that Elmore started Monsanto’s story with a snake-oil salesman: the company had been advertising dangerous chemicals as products that could potentially make a customer’s life better, whether it is “medicine” filled with a hodgepodge of chemicals or weed-killers that end up killing more than weed. Monsanto’s success in the emerging American chemicals industry, however, took a turn for the better when World War I began, and the US did not want to rely on German chemicals (along with high American tariffs to support its own industries). Elmore describes it as “scavenger capitalism,” where Monsanto fed on the excesses of the simultaneously booming oil industry.It was after WWII where Monsanto became known for its chemical products, starting with its 2,4,5-t chemical product. This product was advertised as a weed-killer, and eventually as a de-foliage product for the US military in its fiasco in Vietnam. As the decade went by, Monsanto faced increasing backlash for the medical side-effects for its products, with the final nail in the coffin being the US government banning its use in 1970, but spraying eventually stopped in 1985. Monsanto was forced to pay some form of compensation for its victims in both the US and in Vietnam, yet it did not spell the end of Monsanto. US Congress became more business-friendly thanks to the corporate policies of Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, giving Monsanto an opportunity to rebound in its fortunes. With new management, Monsanto branched into the agricultural business with its fertilizers, seeds, and Roundup, its now infamous weed-killer. In other words, Monsanto was doing the same thing that they done in the 1950s; History has a way of rhyming with its past. But the company yet again encountered financial troubles and was forced to pay compensation for its products yet again (for the untold amounts of health problems that it created). Bayer proceeded to buy Monsanto just the latter could escape its financial troubles, but it only caused the former to continue paying for the numerous lawsuits. In spite of all of this, Elmore cautiously concludes that Bayer will attempt to do the exact same thing Monsanto did, but hopes that farmers across the globe would know better. The sources that Seed Money uses is diverse, ranging from testimonials from interviews, court cases, academic journals, and other studies in relation towards Monsanto’s escapades. With the collection of sources, and Elmore’s background as someone who teaches environmental and business history at the Ohio State University, the book comes off as a large investigative piece than a work done by a history scholar. While I do not have a problem with the format, it certainly does make the reading more interesting and attention-grabbing. Thus, we know that Elmore is aiming his audience not towards an academic one, but a non-academic one. What Elmore discusses about Monsanto is truly enlightening, however there should be much more that needs to be discussed when it comes to the issue of corporations dictating society. The economic policies of Ronald Reagan, commonly referred to as neoliberalism, have certainly helped Monsanto to bring itself back from its bad reputation of Agent Orange and other products. More discussion should have potentially been placed there as to how such a climate allowed Monsanto to have continued its ways, especially since succeeding administrations had only continued neoliberal policies. Elmore’s conclusions about the future of agriculture seems rather lackluster, as he assumes that the future is still with Bayer and capitalism. There noticeably seems to be a trend among both academic and non-academic circles as to imagining a future beyond capitalism, or the failure of doing just that. The success of neoliberalism in society has created an atmosphere where imagining life beyond capitalism seems impossible. Elmore unfortunately seems to be in that atmosphere. If we are to look at how we grow our food, we too must also look into the past of how we grew our food, look at how we do it today, and envision how we will do it in the future. The technology and theory are there, all that humanity needs is the motivation and willpower to do it, along with a radical reshaping of society so that we can actually envision a future beyond capitalism; a better and more prosperous future.

Bartow Elmore has so much intelligence and fortitude to take on a project of this breadth. Covering its beginnings from over 100 years ago, he tells all sides of the Monsanto story. Surprisingly Monsanto was often led by well meaning environmentalists, but that belies the true underbelly of the organization. From the start it was all about profitability, and people mattered very little.Over and over in various places around the country people became sick and often died from Monsanto's toxic mining and production. When they organized and sued, Monsanto lobbied and turned everything against those who sometimes spent decades working in their factories. When Monsanto struggled financially, they acquired other companies or spun off their least own profitable assets--along with their toxic liabilities.Monsanto is a fine example of excessive capitalism and corporate greed. Kudos to Mr. Elmore for detailing the hundreds of people involved in Monsanto, fighting Monsanto, and the successes and failures of our government institutions.On top of it all, his few pages of acknowledgements are a tribute to many fine people who supported him over several years to get this work to completion. Acknowledgements from simple, hard working scientists in the future can use this as a model for how to write this section. Touching.

Follow Monsanto on their path of destruction. From a small town company to a global controller of food. The information shared in this book needs to be common knowledge. This is certainly a must read, especially if you fight the good fight of food sovereignty.

It’s a fun, interesting read on. The history of Monsanto. Most books have a terrible author but good context he is great at both.