Food, Inc. Discussion Guide - TakePart

C h a p t e r 7From Seed to theSupermarketS y n o p s i s o f F i l m C h a p t e rThis chapter of Food, Inc. focuses on soybean seeds that weredeveloped through genetic modification and patented byMonsanto. It explains that farmers used to save seeds from oneyear’s crop for the next year’s planting. Since Monsanto nowowns the patent on most soybean seeds used in the UnitedStates today, the company has the legal right to protect theirpatent and keep people from saving the seed. In the film,three different farmers and the owner of a small seed cleaningcompany (which cleans seeds so they can be saved) describebeing sued or investigated by Monsanto for alleged violationsof its soybean patent. One farmer says that he doesn’t plantMonsanto soybeans, but his fields have been contaminated byhis neighbors’ and he is still held accountable. Another sayshe was wrongly accused of violating the Monsanto patent butdecided to settle the case because he lacked the money to fightit. The third also agreed to settle and must speak anonymouslyin the film as a condition of the settlement.R U N N I N G T I M E : 1 0 : 0 7 m i n u t e s7 1F o o d , I n c . D I S C U S S I O N G U I D E© P a r t i c i p a n t M e d i a