The world according to Monsanto : pollution, corruption, and

monsanto weaves its web, 1995–1999 195learned from his experience with Pioneer. From now on, he would controlthe game: to get the right to insert the gene in their varieties, seed companieshad to sign a licensing agreement, which meant that Monsanto collectedroyalties on each transgenic seed sold. In addition, Shapiro insistedon a clause that was later attacked as improper by the antitrust authorities:companies had to sign a contract agreeing that 90 percent of the herbicideresistantGMOs they sold would contain the Roundup Ready gene.* Thiswas a way of cutting the ground out from under the feet of Monsanto’s competitors,such as the German company AgrEvo, which was forced to give upmarketing GMOs resistant to the herbicide Liberty (known as Basta in Europe)because it could not find a seed company partner.Monsanto’s CEO changed his strategy in 1996. Realizing that he had toown the seeds to earn the highest profits, he launched an ambitious programfor the acquisition of seed companies, which profoundly transformed agriculturalpractices around the world. Shapiro didn’t skimp to reach his goals: hepaid $1 billion for Robert Holden’s Foundation Seeds, which had a strongpresence in the American corn market, with annual profits of only a few milliondollars: “Overnight, Ron Holden became a very rich man.” 37 Then Shapirobought a whole string of companies: Asgrow Agronomics, the largest soybeandealer in the United States; DeKalb Genetics (for $2.3 billion), the secondlargestAmerican seed company and the ninth-largest in the world, which hadmany subsidiaries and joint ventures, particularly in Asia; Corn States HybridServices; Custom Farm Seed; Firm Line Seeds (Canada); the British companiesPlant Breeding International and Unilever; Sementes Agroceres, a leadingforce in the Brazilian corn market; Ciagro (Argentina); Mahyco, principalsupplier of cotton seeds in India, along with Maharashtra Hybrid Seed Company,Eid Parry, and Rallis, three other Indian companies; the South AfricanSensako (wheat, corn, cotton); National Seed Company (Malawi); Agro SeedCorp (Philippines); not to mention the international division of Cargill, thelargest seed dealer in the world, with branches in Asia, Africa, Europe, andSouth and Central America, that Monsanto bought for $1.4 billion.In two years, Shapiro had spent more than $8 billion and made Monsantothe second largest seed company in the world after Pioneer.† To finance thiscostly program of acquisitions, it had sold its chemical division to Solutia in*The percentage was later reduced to 70 percent after the intervention of regulatory authorities.†Monsanto continued its acquisitions in the early 2000s. With the purchase of Seminis (vegetableseeds) in 2005, the company became the largest seed company in the world.