“So I’m writing this story about Monsanto,” I said to my friend.
“Who?”
“Monsanto.”
“Never heard of them.”
My husband’s career in agriculture spans nearly 30 years. I take it as a given that everyone’s heard of Monsanto.
The company is one of the big dogs in farming and biotechnology. If you live in St. Louis, as I did for almost 13 years, you know Monsanto. If you eat food raised in the United States, it’s possible Monsanto has been involved in the production of that food in some way.
But I discovered from talking with my friend that there are people who don’t know Monsanto or what they do. And then there are a lot of people who only know what they’ve heard from activists and Food, Inc.
With that in mind and with the guidance from my editors at BlogHer, I tried to write a story that gives readers some context for what Monsanto does and communicates the thoughts of four women I interviewed who work there.
Please click over to read Listening to the Women of Monsanto on BlogHer. Your classy comments and shares are appreciated.
Listening to the Women of Monsanto
Have a great weekend!
photo credit: James Jordan via photopin cc
Aimee, as always, you are so skilled at writing a thoughtful post to share another side of a heated debate. I wish more people understood the science behind GMOs and the regulatory rigor. While the safeguards are not perfect (nothing is, in my opinion), I don’t think GMOs are nearly the devil some describe. Personally (and professionally) I don’t think GMOs pose a health hazard or allergen. However, if I could have one wish, it would be to have better plans and buffers for preventing pollen drift. Because GMOs are not going away, I wish some of the energy surrounding the GMO debate could be about improving some of the regulatory programs and not trashing the effort altogether. Peace, and carry on with your excellent blogging!
Since I’ve been planning my own post about Monsanto and I couldn’t help but read your incredibly one sided Monsanto love-a-thon I’d love to know hat it is your husband’s 30 year agriculture career looks like. Does he work for Monsanto? I’m trying to make sense of your post.
Hi, Jessica. No, as I wrote in the BlogHer post, my husband doesn’t work for Monsanto and neither do I. He had a summer internship there when he was in college. My husband grew up on a dairy farm and has worked in agriculture all his life, mostly in communications. As I also wrote in the BlogHer post, we lived in St. Louis and personally got to know several people who work for Monsanto. We know they’re not the monsters that activists like to make them out to be. I thought it would make an interesting story to interview a few of the women who work at Monsanto and give them a chance to share their perspective. I pitched my story idea to the editors at BlogHer and they thought it was a good idea, too. Hence the post.
Ugggh, “Food, Inc.” It’s real easy to watch 90 minutes of activism on tv. A lot easier than reading about the issues, or even going to college to learn this stuff. I watched it. The best documentaries aren’t the ones that are the most neutral, they’re the ones with the best story-telling. “Food, Inc” spins a heck of a yarn.
I’m glad you found someone that didn’t know who Monsanto was. I think as a business they are overly aggressive in the courtroom, but at the end of the day their trying to make money by feeding as many people as possible. If it was as simple as organic farming, they would be involved in that–because organic products cost more! But farmers make terrible money, so Monsanto and similar companies are trying to increase yields and decrease cost per unit harvested.
Thanks for commenting, Michael. A few years ago, I actually dined with the director of Food, Inc. before I knew what it was or who he was. You can read a little more about that in Milk Wars: http://everydayepistle.com/2011/06/20/milk-wars/