Essay - Lords of the Harvest: Big Money, and the Future of...

Lords of the Harvest: Big Money, and the Future ***** Food

ONE (Summary): The book by Daniel Charles brings attention to an issue that is vitally import*****t to consumers, scientists, and political leaders, genetically engineered foods. Are these products safe ***** eat? Do they in any way harm the environment? These are the questions Charles poses and attempts to answer, although he says in his Prologue, "This book is not an argument. It's the product of a personal search for understand*****g." In that context, it is clear that Charles is not attempting to preach to his readers, or necessarily attack Monsanto and the other companies dabbling or diving into biotechnology.

But the information he provides, while not as provocative as a juicy novel, is valuable and worth*****, albeit t***** ***** w***** published 7 years ago ***** in ***** amount of time a wealth ***** new information can become available on the topic. It is clear that Charles enjoys creating narrative ***** traces the steps of the people who were involved in manipulating the genes of seeds. He also enjoys describing the characters as though ***** were in a short story to be turned in for ***** grade. It ***** as if he wants to *****sure readers that t***** isn'***** just a ***** about good guys vs. bad guys. In fact some of t***** characters ***** his book that actually helped launch agricultural biotech ***** idealists who gained their optimism about feeding the world's hungry from *****ir experiences in the Sixties. Examples included Harry Klee, Roger Beachy, am*****g others; and in t***** way Charles shows the human side of a very controversial subject.

Among the most disheveled, unpolished faces" was Harry Klee (p. 32), who worked at Monsanto, where "***** genetic transformation of *****lants rapidly became rout*****e." And there was Roger Beachy, a young *****ssistant pr*****essor at Washington University in St. Louis; he was "and remains, a greg*****rious, athletic man brimming with enthusiasm." He had been "intrigued by t***** ways ***** plants develop resistance to certain viruses" for a long time. Along with being ***** he w*****s obviously ***** bright ***** eager ***** use biotechnology "in bettering the diet and lives of the world's poor" (37). ***** turns out that even though Klee made some great discoveries at Monsanto, ***** powers in charge of Monsanto at the ***** didn't see his work as productive to ***** bot*****m line. This is not unique to Monsanto (wanting research to lead ***** profits) but the author uses that example to set the stage for Monsan*****'s ability to make good money later.

TWO (Commercialization): In order to promote their product Roundup Monsan***** needed a commercial strategy that would get ***** items not just on the shelves of stores ***** into ***** consciousness ***** consumers. The company ***** a merchandizing wizard in their agricultural division named Robert Shapiro. He ("...***** built, **********, but soft-spoken") (114) is the man who convinced Coca-Cola to allow the logo ***** NutraSweet ***** be printed on every bottle and ***** can