Becoming a Market Society 9in North Kansas City, Missouri, I never imagined that one day one of
the largest chemical companies would become the world’s largest seed
company.
Years before, Monsanto, headquartered five hours away on the oppo-
site end of the state, had purchased the rights to a molecule earlier syn-
thesized by a Swiss pharmaceutical company and labeled glyphosate.
Compared with other chemical herbicides used in agriculture, glypho-
sate had a shorter half-life or initial effectiveness. It was also less likely to
contaminate the surrounding air or disperse into soil and groundwater.
Some scientists had gone so far as to say that glyphosate “more closely
approximates to a perfect herbicide than any other.” With little evi-
dence of natural resistance by plants, glyphosate (trade-branded as
Roundup) quickly became a once-in-a-century blockbuster success.
But patents eventually expire, and this was true for the glyphosate
patent, too. So well before its expiration, Monsanto went to compa-
nies like Farmland to discuss its post-patent options. At the meet-
ing I attended, Monsanto presented examples of expired patents on
pharmaceutical and chemical products. While each was different, all
followed a similar script: the patent expired, generic production ramped
up, supply expanded, prices fell, and the company’s once-secure stream
of profits vanished.
As I listened to Monsanto’s representatives, one theme came through
with absolute clarity—glyphosate was too lucrative to let go; the com-
pany was not about to relinquish control. Monsanto was already ex-
perimenting with altering the DNA of soybeans to resist glyphosate,
enabling the entire field to be sprayed for weeds without harming the
genetically altered crop.
Working in the company’s favor, the Supreme Court had previously
ruled that inserting foreign genetic material within a bacterium cell
was patentable. That outcome led to the US Trade Patent Office ruling
that farmers could no longer save and replant seeds that companies like
Monsanto had patented; outside research was also forbidden. Later,
the federal government decided that genetically engineered products were
to be regulated no differently than traditional seeds, plants, foods, and
chemicals.