The world according to Monsanto : pollution, corruption, and

212 the world according to monsanto“It was very easy to tell which fields were under contract, as the contractclearly stipulated,” he told me. “I offered to let the detective consult the documentsand my herbicide invoices, but he refused.” In May 2000, he wassued; supporting Monsanto’s claim was a topographical map and analyses ofsamples taken from his property without his permission. “There were severalglaring mistakes. For example, one of the suspected fields was in realityplanted with conventional corn for the Weaver Popcorn Company, which Iwas easily able to prove.”“Why did you negotiate a settlement with Monsanto?” I asked.“We had already spent $400,000 to establish our innocence,” he answered.“And after two and a half years, the family was totally wiped out. Ino longer had the strength to face a trial with an uncertain outcome, becauseprecedent unfortunately favors Monsanto, which has unlimited resourcesfor this kind of case and has everything under control. If thecompany had won, we would have lost everything, because it would havetaken everything. Everything. Also, when I asked my lawyer what I wouldgain from going to trial, he told me: ‘Just the glory of being found innocent.’”In the middle of this conversation David Runyon, another Indiana farmerwho had been visited by “detectives” in 2003, came into the room. The detectiveshad left a business card with the name “McDowell and Associates”and a startling logo: a large M superimposed on a row of men wearing capesand black hats. According to him, these were Monsanto agents claiming tohave an agreement with the Indiana Department of Agriculture authorizingthem to inspect the fields of farmers suspected of “piracy.” David Runyonwrote immediately to Senator Evan Bayh, who checked the claim and confirmedthat it was a lie, in a letter that I have a copy of.“Patents ruined the life of rural communities,” David Runyon told me, obviouslyvery upset. “They destroyed trust between neighbors. Personally, Italk to only two farmers these days. And before I agreed to meet with you oreven talk to you on the phone, I checked on Google [to see] who you were.”“Farmers are really afraid?”“Of course they’re afraid,” Roush answered. “It’s impossible to defendyourself against that company. You know, in the Midwest, the only way tosurvive with the profit margins of farming constantly going down is to increasethe size of your land. For that to happen, a neighbor has to leave. So,a phone call to the snitch line, and you never know.”“You don’t feel safe from another charge?”