{"product_id":"corporate-crops-gabriela-pechlaner-9780292756878","title":"Corporate Crops: Biotechnology, Agriculture, and the Struggle for Control","description":"\u003cp\u003eBiotechnology crop production area increased from 1.7 million hectares to 148 million hectares worldwide between 1996 to 2010. While genetically modified food is a contentious issue, the debates are usually limited to health and environmental concerns, ignoring the broader questions of social control that arise when food production methods become corporate-owned intellectual property. Drawing on legal documents and dozens of interviews with farmers and other stakeholders, \u003ci\u003eCorporate Crops\u003c\/i\u003e covers four case studies based around litigation between biotechnology corporations and farmers. Pechlaner investigates the extent to which the proprietary aspects of biotechnologies--from patents on seeds to a plethora of new rules and contractual obligations associated with the technologies--are reorganizing crop production.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe lawsuits include patent infringement litigation launched by Monsanto against a Saskatchewan canola farmer who, in turn, claimed his crops had been involuntarily contaminated by the company's GM technology; a class action application by two Saskatchewan organic canola farmers launched against Monsanto and Aventis (later Bayer) for the loss of their organic market due to contamination with GMOs; and two cases in Mississippi in which Monsanto sued farmers for saving seeds containing its patented GM technology. Pechlaner argues that well-funded corporate lawyers have a decided advantage over independent farmers in the courts and in creating new forms of power and control in agricultural production. \u003ci\u003eCorporate Crops\u003c\/i\u003e demonstrates the effects of this intersection between the courts and the fields where profits, not just a food supply, are reaped.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Gabriela Pechlaner\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0292756879\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780292756878\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Texas Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 12\/01\/2012\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 301\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.98lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.68d","brand":"Gabriela Pechlaner","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":44522242965759,"sku":"9780292756878","price":29.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_42f59e40-4ea5-41e5-a485-4751eed35c6a.jpg?v=1700156254","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/corporate-crops-gabriela-pechlaner-9780292756878","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}