by Sean Begin
Have you eaten today? Probably. And if you have, you’ve probably eaten a GMO or genetically modified organism, most likely from either a soy product like soy milk or a piece of meat that came from an animal that fed on soy.
And most likely, those soy beans were modified versions bought by farmers from Monsanto, a company that many see as the singular evil company in the agriculture business.
Monsanto describes itself on its website as a “sustainable agriculture company,” that seeks to use genetically modified food to feed the world.
The idea of GMO food has been around for sometime and isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Imagine being able to grow crops that could survive the harsher climate that seems to be inevitable. It could mean solving world hunger.
In a recent interview with NPR, Vance Crowe, Monsanto’s Director of Millennial Engagement (yes that is an actual job title), was asked about how he was changing millennials’ perception of Monsanto and GMOs. Millennials tend to have negative views towards both of these.
“We are listening and making sure the concerns we are trying to address are the ones people have. To me, the science on GMOs is very clear, so why do people have trouble with this,” Crowe said.
While the interview didn’t follow up on this, Crowe is not entirely wrong but he is missing the point. The science behind genetically modified food suggests that it doesn’t negatively impact humans in any way relative to health.
Were millennials tend to find fault with Monsanto has more to do with business practices and the future of food than any health concerns.
Monsanto currently owns around 90 percent of the soy bean industry. They sell their GMO bean to farmers to grow. And, the company has not made it easy for farmers who wish to grow non-GMO beans to continue doing so.
Monsanto began as a chemical company but over the last twenty years has attempted and succeeded in taking over the seed business, specifically soy bean seeds. The company has filed hundreds of lawsuits against organic farmers, claiming that their fields of beans contain traces of Monsanto’s GMO bean.
And since these farms didn’t pay Monsanto’s ridiculously high prices for the seed, they are not legally allowed to grow them. So any farms that Monsanto can’t get to buy their seed, they simply test the fields and sue those farmers until they either shut down or relent and buy the GMO seed.
This is the fear millennials have: that one company should have control of a food supply because they have a patent for it. By slapping government approved patents onto their soybean, using horrendous business practices to grow their monopoly over the crop, Monsanto has taken over control of the entire soy bean industry.
Food is not something one company should have direct control over. Food is a right all people are entitled to. The government should be looking at how to limit those companies, barring Monsanto and its ilk from controlling the food supply.
And if Vance Crowe is worried about changing a millennial’s perception of Monsanto and GMO food, he’d focus on those unethical business practices rather than the science.