Monsanto: Agent Orange and the Fields of Vietnam (Part 3)
From The History of Fresh Produce by The Produce Industry Network
May 5, 2026 · 49 min · Episode 141
About this episode
The episode explores the impact of Agent Orange during the Vietnam War and its long-term effects on the environment and society.
What was Agent Orange, the herbicide that fell like mist on the jungles of Vietnam — and how did a chemical born in a West Virginia factory end up destroying the food systems, forests, and bodies of an entire nation? Why did the company that knew its own product contained one of the most toxic substances ever identified keep that knowledge from governments, soldiers, and the Vietnamese farmers watching their rice paddies wither and die? And how does the story of twelve million gallons of dioxin-laced herbicide open a window onto one of the great recurring dramas of modern capitalism; from the misfiled letters of Nitro to the class action courtrooms of the 1980s, and the generations of Vietnamese children born into a war that never quite ended? Join John and Patrick for the third episode of their Monsanto series — Rachel Carson, Operation Ranch Hand, the veterans nobody believed, and the distance between what a company says it is doing and what it is actually doing — in an age when the most dangerous chemical in the world was still being sprayed on American rice fields fifteen years after it had been banned from the jungles of Vietnam... ---------- In Sponsorship with Cornell…
People in this episode
Hosts: John, Patrick
Topics covered
- Agent Orange
- Vietnam War
- Monsanto
- chemical warfare
- food systems
- capitalism
- environmental impact
Keywords
- Agent Orange
- Monsanto
- Vietnam
- dioxin
- herbicide
- environmental destruction
- war impact
- chemical exposure
- food systems
- capitalism
Sponsors
Cornell University, Dyson Cornell SC Johnson College of Business
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Monsanto
Places: Vietnam
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