Last Day to Rally the Troops

Our last day was spent in a very similar way to all the others—in a car and constantly moving from one thing to the next. We started this morning out at the World Food Prize Hall of Laureates in downtown Des Moines. The building was originally served as the public library for the city of Des Moines. Its original purpose lasted for almost one hundred years. With the help of very generous donations by the Ruan Family, the Borlaug Family, and the (evil) Monsanto, the building was completely restored at a cost of nearly thirty million dollars. It featured the wonderful work that people from around the world had done in an effort to conquer hunger around the world. Some notable names included Norman Borlaug, Robert Dole, and even George McGovern. The World Food Prize is typically given to scientists who have made significant strides in some area of food policy, but as noted above, some of the World Food Prize recipients have been politicians. The building had a lot of history, and I felt like our tour encompassed all the topics we have discussed over the past few weeks, mainly the “feed the world” motif. We then ventured over to Zombie Burgers, where I consumed around a thousand calories in about ten minutes—another rushed meal. The “fifteen minute meal” has been another regular motif over the past few weeks as well. Oh well, it was still indulgently delightful. We then took our energy over to the BioCentury Farm in Boone, Iowa. The BioCentury Farm is a research center run by Iowa State. It houses several different research initiatives, all of which are centering on finding new cost-effective ways to use biomass. BioCentury’s research in creating more reliable sources of fuel has been revolutionary. Andy, the man giving us the tour of the facility was extremely knowledgeable in the field. I was following what he was talking about until we got inside and started talking real science. From there on, I was totally lost. However, he was very informative on the future of biofuels. We then made our way to… wait for it… MONSANTO. We met with a very influential lobbyist of Monsanto in the United States. He was extremely nice, and gave a very interesting presentation. Although it was similar to other presentations given by Iowa Corn Growers Association, the Soybean Association, and Pioneer Seed Company, this presentation had distinct aspects that made it unique. First off, we were meeting with one of the head lobbyist for one of the most targeted companies in the world. So, that made the meeting pretty darn special. Also, unlike the other presentations, we were given a few parting gifts. They included some of their own seeds, handouts and pamphlets, and a hat! After dozens of meetings and encounters with important people, we had yet to receive a gift of this size. Why? Throughout his presentation, he made it very clear that Monsanto has a huge target on their back, and every friend they can make is one step in the right direction. A main portion of our discussion however was about the nature of origin labeling, or “COOL” as described in Imhoff. His point was simple. Monsanto and its affiliates are completely against this system of labeling not because they are afraid of the “negative” health effects that GMO food can have on the human body, but because of the absolutely negative image the labeling will present to consumers. I think the “COOL” argument is not the real item on the agenda. I think the “COOL” initiative is just the first step in getting rid of GMO’s completely. This is an interesting case to be made about country of origin labeling, which is directly linked to the surrounding communities in Iowa. I also believe there is such a negative reaction to the work of Monsanto because of the millions of health buffs who have a skewed point of view. They believe that Monsanto is a corporate giant, out their to take over the world and do harm to the human population. My question: how would this make sense for any business? Why would any successful large-scale business have the goal of hurting their consumers? To me, the argument just seems a little flawed. Farmers in Iowa are not evil. They aren’t trying to hurt or kill people and Monsanto wants to keep it that way.