"It's fascinatin' because we're in uncharted terri-tree," says the genial, Scottish, entertainingly named Hugh Grant, 52. He is the CEO of Monsanto, possibly America's most feared corporation. Monsanto dominates the agricultural biotechnology industry, whose audacious mission is to transform the genetic composition of the world's food supply. More than 80% of the soybeans and cotton harvested in this country now have at least one patented Monsanto gene in them, as does more than 70% of the field corn.
Monsanto (MON, Fortune 500) is the company best known, depending on which documentary film one has seen, for feeding Frankenfoods to our children, courting ecological catastrophe, or bringing ruinous patent suits against struggling family farmers.
First saw this on that Food Inc. Documentary...Crazy that a company that makes Round-Up developed a Soybean that was immune to Round-Up and then patented it so that they actually OWN the seeds from the plants even after they grow and produce new seeds. Even the farmer that didn't use their seeds was subject to inspection of his crops "In case" some of the patented seeds blew in and grew on his farm accidentally. That's just insane...and downright scary when you think about it.