What was Roundup, the herbicide born from a soap crisis in a radioactive Idaho slag heap, that became the most widely used weed-killer in human history — and how did the shy, introverted chemist who discovered it almost by accident set in motion a transformation of global agriculture more radical than anything since the plough? Why did a company drowning in Agent Orange lawsuits and Superfund sites stake its entire future on a single molecule — and how did that gamble lead, step by step, to the most audacious business strategy in the history of farming: owning not just the chemical, but the biology of the crop itself?
Join John and Patrick for the fourth episode of their Monsanto series — the phosphate mines of Idaho, the patent cliff, the genetically modified seed, and the ultimate expression of John Queeny's founding insight — in an age when the most powerful thing a company could own was no longer a factory, but a strand of DNA...
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