Farming and Higher Education: What's Corn Got to Do With It?

I'm going to take some liberties with the idea of "for profit" in this blog post. I came across an interesting press release about the Monsanto Fund president, Deborah Patterson, being presented with the Distinguished Business and Industry Award by St. Louis Community College. Congratulations Ms. Patterson and the Monsanto Fund!

I'd like to seque a bit into some history about Monsanto. Monsanto is a company who in their words, "works alongside farmers...We do this by selling seeds, traits developed by biotechnology and crop protection chemicals." To give you a sense of their size and influence Monsanto is a Fortune 500 company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. They employ 21,035 people world wide in 404 facilities. In the United States they employ an additional 10, 317 employees in 146 facilities. Monsantos' products include agricultural and vegetable seeds, plant biotechnology traits and crop protection chemicals. In a word Monsanto DOMINATES the farming and agricultural industry. Scrolling through the Monsanto website it becomes apparent that they have a very carefully crafted message about partnership, sustainability, and philanthropy. I'm sure this is occuring to some extent. Yet, Monsanto is also an incredibly aggressive company who has a history of suing farmers over product use or non-use (think about that for a minute) - and they have little to no competition.

A few years ago though I became interested in Monsanto after watching the documentary, Food, Inc. Check out the movie trailer if you haven't seen this film already!

If you farm it is likely that you use Monsanto products whether you want to or not. In 2011 Natural News readers voted Monsanto the worlds most "evil" company - ouch! I'm not an expert in this area so I'll try and provide some context for being voted the worlds most "evil" company. “Monsanto’s genes are in about 95 percent of commercial soybeans and 80 percent of commercial corn, and people like the attorney generals of Iowa and Texas are concerned that Monsanto’s business practices violate federal antitrust laws that protect free competition.”

Or, check out this from Daily Finance: "Founded by Missouri pharmacist John Francis Queeny in 1901, Monsanto is literally everywhere. Just about every non-organic food product available to consumers has some sort of connection with Monsanto. Anyone who can read a label knows that corn, soy and cotton can be found in just about every American food product. Upwards of 90% of all corn, soybeans and cotton are grown from genetically engineered seeds, also known as genetically modified organisms (GMOs). These genetically enhanced products appear in around 70% of all American processed food products. And Monsanto controls 90% of all genetically engineered seeds. In other words, Monsanto controls -- and owns patents on -- most of the American food supply."

So, how does all this relate to higher education and profit. Monsanto has a philanthropic arm that gives away millions of dollars a year - including to higher education! Related to St. Louis Community College, who just recognized Monsanto as a Business and Industry leader, they have given hundreds of thousands of dollars to:

1.) Create new associates degrees - in 2001 with money from Monsanto SLCC created the first 2-year degree in biotechnology. Very convenient for a company whose products rely on biotechnology.

2.) Create a district-wide partnership - in 2006 Monsanto gave money to SLCC to create the Center for Plant and Life Sciences. "A center director coordinates the ongoing development and expansion of these programs within the context of this emerging high-demand industry in St. Louis. Promoting educational opportunities within the regional corridor of businesses and industries engaged in plant and life sciences initiatives, the center focuses on building relationships with industry partners and on providing leadership in the development of high-demand programs."

Some great classroom conversations have focused on neo-liberalism and higher education and I think here is an excellent example of that happening. I actually have no problem with business and higher education partnering - I think great things can happen through these partnerships. Yet, in this case, I am concerned that this is not a mutually beneficial partnership. I want to make the argument that while developing business partnerships is a viable way for institutions of higher education to find funding and help provide students opportunities to engage in internships and other training partnering with such controversial, aggressive and self-interested  companies is not "good for business". As we wade into this water I would hope that institutions are not jaded by the stream of money that companies like Monsanto can provide - eventually they will want something more for their monetary contributions and then what's an institution to do?