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Published in:
2017 | OriginalPaper | Chapter
3. The “Roundup Ready” Rollout
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Abstract
Mark Nelson was still a young farmer in the mid-1990s, figuring out the best tools and tactics for coaxing corn, soybeans, and wheat from the farm fields of northeastern Kansas, when he started hearing about a new type of high-tech seed that would soon be for sale. Other farmers Nelson knew were talking about it. So were university extension agents and seed dealers. It seemed everyone was talking about, and waiting for, these special seeds that had been transformed by alterations to their DNA. Through the magic of technology, scientists at Monsanto Company had found they could insert genetic material from a strain of Agrobacterium into the chromosome of the soybean, transforming the bean into a crop that could withstand being sprayed with Monsanto’s Roundup and still continue to grow and flourish. The company then planted and studied the altered soybean seeds in locations around the United States and in Puerto Rico, Argentina, and Costa Rica through 1991 and 1992, developing a wide range of soybean varieties to commercialize.