American agrochemical firm Monsanto was the world’s largest maker of genetically engineered seeds until merged with German pharma-biotech giant Bayer in 2018. Its Roundup Ready® seeds, introduced twenty-five years ago, are still reshaping farms, landscapes and ecosystems all over the world. 

Bart Elmore is a professor of environmental history at Ohio State University, as well as an award-winning author. Alasdair spoke to him about his 2021 book on the history of Monsanto, Seed Money: Monsanto's Past and Our Food Future.

Further reading:

• Click here to buy Seed Money: Monsanto's Past and Our Food Future 
• Click here to buy Bart's latest book, Country Capitalism: How Corporations from the American South Remade Our Economy and the Planet
• 'The herbicide dicamba was supposed to solve farmers’ weed problems – instead, it’s making farming harder for many of them', The Conversation, January 2022
• 'Coca-Cola’s biggest challenge in greening its operations is its own global marketing strategy', The Conversation, May 2023
• Baptized in PCBs: Race, Pollution, and Justice in an All-American Town, Ellen Griffith Spears, 2014
• Genetically Engineered Crops: Experiences and Prospects, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, 2016

Click here to read our investigation into the UK biomass supply chain, or watch a clip from the BBC Newsnight documentary.