Monsanto Enlists Astroturf Group vs. Food Inc.

The Monsanto Co. is leading Big Ag's PR offensive against Food Inc., the searing documentary on industrial agriculture that opened Friday. That's not surprising. The chemical giant comes off as the biggest bogeyman in the film, which focuses on...

June 14, 2009 | Source: Cult of Green | by

The Monsanto Co. is leading Big Ag’s PR offensive against
Food
Inc.
, the searing documentary on industrial agriculture that opened
Friday. That’s not surprising. The chemical giant comes off as the
biggest bogeyman in the film, which focuses on the company’s genetic
seed patents, alleged bullying of farmers and efforts to influence
politicians.

What is surprising is that Monsanto is tying its response to the
movie to a discredited front group called the Center for Consumer
Freedom. It seems too obviously payback for at least $200,000 that Monsanto has contributed to the supposedly nonprofit
organization
.

The company’s PR offensive against
Food Inc. is no
ham-handed reaction. It includes a very slick (of course) web page featuring an interactive seven-question
quiz and the following characterization of the movie:

Food, Inc. is a one-sided, biased film that the creators
claim will “lift the veil on our nation’s food industry, exposing the
highly mechanized underbelly that’s been hidden from the American
consumer.” Unfortunately, Food, Inc. is counter-productive to the
serious dialogue surrounding the critical topic of our nation’s food
supply.

A couple of points may undermine Monsanto’s message, however. A core
theme on the company’s site is that
Food Inc. “demonizes American farmers.” But
the movie actually positions itself as siding with family farms against agribusiness and accuses the
ag industry of doing precisely what Monsanto
is doing in
response to the movie: conflating its interests with those of small
farmers.