Seed Money

Monsanto's Past and Our Food Future

By: Bartow J. Elmore

Narrated by: Sean Patrick Hopkins

An authoritative and eye-opening history that examines how Monsanto came to have outsized influence over our food system.

Monsanto, a St. Louis chemical firm that became the world’s largest maker of genetically engineered seeds, merged with German pharma-biotech giant Bayer in 2018—but its Roundup Ready® seeds, introduced twenty-five years ago, are still reshaping the farms that feed us.

When researchers found trace amounts of the firm’s blockbuster herbicide in breakfast cereal bowls, Monsanto faced public outcry. Award-winning historian Bartow J. Elmore shows how the Roundup story is just one of the troubling threads of Monsanto’s past, many told here and woven together for the first time.

A company employee sitting on potentially explosive information who weighs risking everything to tell his story. A town whose residents are urged to avoid their basements because Monsanto’s radioactive waste laces their homes’ foundations. Factory workers who peel off layers of their skin before accepting cash bonuses to continue dirty jobs. An executive wrestling with the ethics of selling a profitable product he knew was toxic.

Incorporating global fieldwork, interviews with company employees, and untapped corporate and government records, Elmore traces Monsanto’s astounding evolution from a scrappy chemical startup to a global agribusiness powerhouse. Monsanto used seed money derived from toxic products—including PCBs and Agent Orange—to build an agricultural empire, promising endless bounty through its genetically engineered technology.

Skyrocketing sales of Monsanto’s new Roundup Ready system stunned even those in the seed trade, who marveled at the influx of cash and lavish incentives into their sleepy sector. But as new data emerges about the Roundup system, and as Bayer faces a tide of lawsuits over Monsanto products past and present, Elmore’s urgent history shows how our food future is still very much tethered to the company’s chemical past.

The Lies We’ve Been Told

This is an eye opening book that tells the truth of what the world has been sold for profit since the 1800’s. Worth the listen!!!

Very through and easy to follow

Heard about this on the JRE. Bartow did a great job describing the issues and path that created them in an easy to follow and interesting way.
Great job sir!
Thanks

Mind boggling

It was one of the best read I had so far for this year, history of Monsanto is one great rollercoaster 😳

Powerful

Really great overview of how our food became so covered in toxic poisons. Amazing how we got here!

informative. and a bit depressing

probably the right mix of detail and vague given the long history and ongoing status