When I went home for Easter break, I returned to the land of Monsanto. I come from Southwestern Minnesota – farm country. The last hour of my drive home is spent cruising through corn and soybean fields. Every town I go through has a grain elevator and it is not uncommon to pass a tractor along the way. Seed companies are a significant source of employment and Monsanto regularly places advertisements in my hometown newspaper. Monsanto, along with genetically modified crops and pesticides, is a way of life in Southwestern Minnesota. People like Monsanto.
I hate Monsanto.
What am I to do? I want to take down the very corporation that provides my community’s livelihood. My friends’ families depend on conventional agriculture. I can’t very well destroy their way of life. However, if I could persuade them to pursue a different way of life, then perhaps I could sleep more easily.
Only half of Monsanto’s story is told in farm country. It provides jobs, increases yields, and donates to community functions. There is nothing to dislike there. However, the other half of the story is much different. Monsanto has a monopoly on GM seeds, promotes increased pesticide application (which is detrimental to the environment), and has patents on life that often restrict farmers from saving and planting their own seed. Monsanto forces GM seeds on ill-suited environments and nations. People are unaware of this regrettably under-told story.
I have come to know both sides of Monsanto’s story. Perhaps it is my duty to share it. As someone coming from within Monsanto’s stomping grounds, perhaps I am the best suited to spread the under-told story. I grew up with the glory of Monsanto – I have seen the good that it has done and am thereby not as eager to dismiss the company as purely evil. However, I cannot sit by idly as the public goes uninformed of the company’s darker side. I may have a job to do.
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