Roundup Ready Soybeans

MAKER:
Monsanto Corporation
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION:
lucite (overall material)
MEASUREMENTS:
overall: 3 3/4 in x 2 3/4 in x 1 in; 9.525 cm x 6.985 cm x 2.54 cm
OBJECT NAME:
lucite block
DESCRIPTION:
This marketing souvenir was used to promote the release of Roundup Ready soybeans in 1996. These soybeans, resistant to the weed killer Roundup, were the first widely successful genetically engineered crop. While expensive, the new seeds made cultivating (plowing weeds) or hand-weeding unnecessary solving a major labor problem for farmers. In 2000, only four years after introduction, over fifty percent of American soybean acreage was planted in GMO beans and by 2007 the figure was 91 percent. While most scientists thought the biotech seed posed no greater danger to the environment than conventional seeds, some members of the public worried about the safety of the new product.
RELATED PUBLICATION:
Sewer, Andy; Allison, David; Liebhold, Peter; Davis, Nancy; Franz, Kathleen G.. American Enterprise: A History of Business in America
CREDIT LINE:
Gift of Monsanto Corporation through Douglas W. Rushing
ID NUMBER: