Monsanto: A Chemical War Comes Home (Part 2) - The History of Fresh Produce
About this episode
The episode explores the dark history of Monsanto and its impact on agriculture and worker safety.
Who was Edgar Queeny, the cold-eyed social Darwinist who inherited a chemical company from his father and turned it into one of the most powerful industrial forces in American history? Why did the man who helped trigger the atomic bomb, kept the Arsenal of Democracy running, and photographed brown bears in Alaska with Walt Disney also preside over a factory in West Virginia where workers were quietly being poisoned — and then denied compensation? And how does the story of a chemical explosion in Coal Country, a misfiled letter about dioxin, and thirteen men who couldn't afford to say no open a window onto the darkest chapter in the history of American agriculture; from the Manhattan Project to the jungles of Vietnam? Join John and Patrick for the second episode of their Monsanto series — the PCBs, the explosion at Nitro, the workers whose wives caught chloracne from their husbands' clothes, and the herbicide that was about to go to war — in an age when the company that made the bomb also made the weedkiller on your lawn... ---------- In Sponsorship with J&K Fresh. The customs broker who is your fruit and veggies’ personal bodyguard. Learn more here ! ----------- Join the…
People in this episode
Hosts: Patrick Kelly, John
Sponsors
J&K Fresh
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Monsanto
Places: West Virginia, Coal Country
More episodes of The Produce Industry Podcast w/ Patrick Kelly
- Monsanto: Agent Orange and the Fields of Vietnam (Part 3) - The History of Fresh Produce
- Inside Sandy Shore Farms - Asparagus, Regenerative Farming, and Community - Fresh From the Field Fridays
- Macfrut 2026 Wrap-Up: Innovation, Global Growth & The Future of Fresh Produce - Global Fresh Series
- Fresh Produce Equipment: Inside the Reisopack & Mosca Group Partnership
- Are Imported Pears Crushing California’s Bartlett Crop? - Fresh From the Field Fridays
- Macfrut 2026: Where Global Fresh Comes to Life - Global Fresh Series
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