Vanity Fair Covers…Monsanto?

For people who don’t regularly read Vanity Fair, one might think it’s not much more than a fashion magazine, but VF is known not only for high-fashion photo spreads, but for in-depth exposés as well.  This month, Vanity Fair is taking on agribusiness giant Monsanto in Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele’s article “Monsanto’s Harvest of Fear”.

We’ve written about Monsanto’s attempts to control both agribusiness and the public perception of agribusiness.  Shirley wrote about Monsanto’s attempts to keep dairies from labeling their own milk “rbGH-free” and  Beth wrote about Monsanto’s genetically-engineered sugar beets.  Barlett and Steele focus on Monsanto’s tactics of attacking farmers for alleged patent violations and their impact on rural communities, and their article is a must-read for those interested in where their food comes from.

• » See also: “You Talk About ‘Industrial Farming’ Like It’s A Bad Thing!”
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Monsanto is a hot-button topic in the slow food community.  Does Monsanto provide invaluable research and development that feed entire nations, or are their strong-arming tactics disguised as defense of intellectual property rights destroying rural economies and farmers livelihoods?  What do you think?

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