Chapter 508 Hidden Undercurrent

Heading north along the road along the Mississippi River from Memphis, Xia Yaohua was also looking at this great waterway.

The Mississippi River’s glory days are long gone.

There were hardly any boats on the river.

The occasional jumping of Asian carp further proves that beneath the calm surface of the lake there are creatures that frighten residents on both sides of the strait.

Many people even attribute the decline of the Mississippi River to Asian carp. Now all goods from the central region enter the Atlantic Ocean via the Great Lakes.

Xia Yaohua was replaced by another person, this time a burly black youth named Tarin Hani.

Seeing that Xia Yaohua's eyes were fixed on the river, Tarin, who was driving a Ford truck, suggested, "Xia, if you have a chance, maybe you should try to hunt Asian carp with a bow and arrow."

"You can try it when you have time."

Xia Yaohua could feel the undercurrent of Asian carp surging in the river; there were simply too many of them.

Occasionally, when the truck got close enough, he could see the dense shadows in the river, not to mention the silver carp that leaped several meters away.

Fei Xiao Chub, this is the name left on the confidential documents.

It’s really amazing!

I don’t know which domestic scientist created this masterpiece.

Speaking of which, if this kind of flying carp is introduced into the country, will there be more classic dishes? Since it can fly so well, the meat should be very good, right?

It's a pity that Americans don't know how to eat it.

Xia Yaohua shook his head, discarded his imagination, and asked, "Talin, have you ever hunted Asian carp?"

“Usually only rich white people have the money and time to do this kind of thing.”

Tarin smiled and said, "But I have been there, because I am an employee of Tianhe. The company organizes an event to shoot Asian carp every week. The harvested fish will be sold to the Asian carp processing factory invested by Quanwang, and those who participate will get money."

Xia Yaohua smiled and said, "That sounds good."

“Of course, this is one of the company’s most popular events, and many farmers and residents also attend,” Tarin said.

"It seems I must try it."

When talking about shooting Asian carp, Tallinn felt excited, and Xia Yaohua suddenly felt it was ridiculous.

Is Golden Harvest an ethical company?

At least that's what ordinary Americans believe. Jiahe abides by all federal laws.

The products provided are also seeds cultivated by traditional breeding, as well as safe products such as biological pesticides.

It actively participates in public welfare activities and, in order to solve the problem of Asian carp, has established a processing plant that can not only digest Asian carp but also provide jobs.

They even spent money to organize hunting activities for employees and residents.

Compared with Monsanto's notorious record, Golden Harvest is just a well-behaved kid from outside, harmless to humans and animals.

However, Xia Yaohua, who was lurking in the United States, received a new task a year ago and joined Tianhe North American branch.

The content of the mission made him realize that Tianhe was not a harmless rabbit, but a rabbit with fangs.

Another piece of farmland appeared before my eyes.

They have entered Missouri on the left bank of the Mississippi River, and there are more and more traces of new weeds in the farmlands.

Xia Yaohua shouted in his heart: "Grow faster, faster, and give all the farmers in the United States a surprise!"

If he knew at this moment that the Asian carp in the river also came from Tianhe, he would probably no longer be able to remain calm and discuss the techniques of shooting Asian carp with Tarin Haney.

The further north you go, the more new weeds there are.

That afternoon, Xia Yaohua and Tallin arrived in St. Louis, a big city on the Mississippi River and the headquarters of Monsanto.

There are some really rough neighborhoods in St. Louis.

But some neighborhoods have good security, such as communities where white people gather, but the real farmers live in big houses in the suburbs.

However, on this day, Xia Yaohua saw white farmers marching on the street.

Everyone was wearing or holding various signs, with slogans like "Monsanto destroyed my farm."

The leader was a white man with slightly graying hair, surrounded by the crowd.

He also stood on a high place, constantly shouting and denouncing Monsanto.

Taryn Haney is used to it.

Xia Yaohua asked: "Who is he?"

“Bill Budd,” Taryn said. “The largest peach grower in Missouri. At least he used to be.”

Xia Yaohua pursed his dry lips and asked, "What happened to his Taoyuan?"

Taryn looked at the hysterical Bill Budd with sympathy and said, "All the peach trees died because of dicamba from the soybean and corn farm next door."

“Peach trees don’t have the gene to be resistant to both Roundup and Dicamba, so all of Bill Budd’s 8,000 acres of peach trees died.”

"It's not just him. Most of the people marching are fruit farmers, because Monsanto has not yet mastered the technology to implant resistance genes in fruit trees."

This should be the group of people Tianhe wants to unite!

Xia Yaohua never thought of meddling in other people's business. Toppling Monsanto was Jiahe's idea, and his goal was to spread the weeds to more areas.

In the evening, Xia Yaohua came to a Chinese restaurant for dinner. Opposite him was a young man with long bangs who looked a little silly.

But after understanding what Tianhe is doing, Xia Yaohua will not look down on any Tianhe employee who comes into contact with him.

Especially this person is in a key technical position.

"Hello, Manager Yang."

Yang Xiaowu grinned, "Hello, Xia..."

"Just call me Brother Xia." Xia Yaohua said. Judging from Yang Xiaowu's expression, Yang Xiaowu knew his identity.

Yang Xiaowu shook his bangs lightly and said, "This Chinese restaurant tastes pretty good."

Xia Yaohua said, "Manager Yang has been in St. Louis for many years?"

“I completed my studies at the nearby University of Washington, so I stayed here to work.”

"Oh, what did Manager Yang study?"

"Biomolecules."

Xia Yaohua's eyes gleamed, "I see. The company asked you to give me the remaining seeds."

Yang Xiaowu said: "I've been ready for a long time. I've been waiting for you. But you can't go. The risk is not small."

Xia Yaohua smiled and said, "Didn't you do the same thing in Missouri?"

Yang Xiaowu spread his hands and laughed, "I have been staying in the laboratory and the farmland and have done nothing."

Looking at Yang Xiaowu's hairstyle, clothes and behavior, it is always very confusing. He looks more like a fool or a homeless person.

But the actual IQ may be frighteningly high.

Xia Yaohua guessed that Yang Xiaowu might be one of the technical members who cultivated those seeds.

It's right under Monsanto's nose. Missouri is also Monsanto's backyard, but it is also the area worst hit by the disaster.

How bold!
Yang Xiaowu didn't know what Xia Yaohua was thinking, he just came to complete the task. Now that he had met the person and discussed the matter, he could just concentrate on eating.

He really thought the food in this Chinese restaurant was delicious. The way he was eating made Xia Yaohua sigh that Jiahe was really full of talented people.

Xia Yaohua asked Tarin Hani to receive the seeds, which were just a batch of ordinary seeds, including corn, soybeans, cotton, wheat, etc.

Then, Xia Yaohua asked Tarin Haney to transport the seeds to various distribution points by truck.

He was not afraid that Tarin Hani would run away, and even hoped that he would run away so that the seeds could spread quickly.

Yes, there is something wrong with these ordinary looking seeds.

Xia Yaohua didn't know how Tianhe did it. It was just ordinary seeds, but when planted in the ground, they caused weeds to grow in the farmland. It was simply incredible.

But he was tactful enough not to ask.

Instead, before leaving, he asked Yang Xiaowu another less sensitive question.

“How do you want to take down Monsanto?”

"Now the Federal Environmental Agency, the Ministry of Agriculture, and the President are all standing behind Monsanto. Even the farmers who benefit from growing soybeans, corn, and cotton are supporting Monsanto. I am really curious, is it just because of those fruit farmers?"

Yang Xiaowu lifted his bangs and grinned, saying, "The Federation cannot cover the sky with one hand. Monsanto is just a company, but we have the whole world behind us."

Xia Yaohua was confused and said, "I'll wait and see."

After staying in St. Louis for one night, Xia Yaohua rushed to Springfield, Illinois, Jiahe's federal headquarters.

The person in charge, Li Yang, received him.

Although Tianhe's seed business in North America is troubled by Monsanto's dicamba, Tianhe may actually be one of the best performing seed companies other than Monsanto.

There are always people in the federal government who don't like GMOs.

Tianhe's traditional seeds, combined with Quanwang's biotechnology solutions, have barely managed to hold on to the market developed in previous years and are still maintaining a slight growth.

Even Xia Yaohua couldn't help but marvel.

But what he finds more interesting is the Asian carp. Hunting Asian carp with a bow and arrow gives him an adrenaline rush.

The various Asian carp products produced in the processing plant are surprisingly popular in the market.

"In fact, Quanwang's Asian carp processing plant has been profitable. The company is already planning to open branches and sell its products to more areas in the federal government."

After listening to the introduction of the factory general manager Mao Ziqiong, Xia Yaohua suddenly asked, "Flying silver carp, which is the kind of silver carp that can fly very well, is the meat more popular?"

Mao Ziqiong was surprised and asked, "How did you know?"

Xia Yaohua smiled and said, "Because it can fly. With such a high athletic talent, it must have good flesh on its body."

...

Another year has come to an end.

Some are happy and some are sad.

Farmers in the United States were also in a dilemma, but winter finally arrived, and the snow came as expected, so most of the farmers who were marching stopped.

But the peach farmers who suffered devastating disaster, represented by Bill Budd, began to run around in various courts.

They were funded.

Later, many equally powerful forces came out to support them, diverting some of Monsanto's attention.

First, Corteva stepped forward, and its new CEO Green made a public statement on TV.

“We are concerned, and I am very afraid of dicamba.

I think many growers might choose it, not because they like it, but to protect themselves from their neighbors!
This is Monsanto’s conspiracy, a miracle marketing unique to Monsanto!

They created a problem for farmers that didn't exist in order to sell them a solution to the problem.

In this way, they want to drive other seed and chemical competitors out of the market. They want to completely monopolize the market!

This would be a disaster for the Federation.

Monsanto will destroy the world!"

When facing the interview with reporters, Green did not shy away from the crisis of Corteva.

“Yes, Corteva’s seed and pesticide markets are both declining rapidly, and the merger of DuPont and Dow AgroSciences has not helped us get out of the crisis.”

“Dicamba is too dangerous, and farmers have no choice but to choose Monsanto’s solution to avoid the threat.

But this will put the Federation into a new crisis!

For the vast majority of federal farmers, the only hope is a government ban on Monsanto technology.

Unfortunately, the government sided with Monsanto.”

Monsanto also responded to Green's call, claiming that they are solving the problem.

Listing a series of achievements from last year, farmers who chose Monsanto's solution all had a good harvest and made a lot of money in the international market.

Only those who were unwilling to accept Monsanto's plan were harmed.

Following in the footsteps of Corteva, giant companies such as Limagrain, Seminis, and Bayer have also come out to confront Monsanto.

With the help of various sources of funding, peach farmer Bill Budd has frequently made headlines in major media.

Eight thousand acres of peach orchards were devastated by dicamba.

The lawsuit against Monsanto lasted for two years, but the federal court has not yet made a final judgment.

Farmers stood up one after another.

In past years, fruit farmers and orchardists like Bud have often suffered heavy losses because they were unable to purchase seedlings that were resistant to dicamba.

Seedlings with this property do not exist.

Therefore, they could only watch the fruit trees wither and die.

As business declined, Budd and others had no choice but to take Monsanto to court.

There are now thousands of similar cases on federal court records, but not a single one has resulted in a verdict.

All fruit farmers are waiting for a fair judgment.

On New Year's Day in 2015, The New York Times also published a statistic about Monsanto's herbicides.

Take soybeans as an example. In just 20 years after the introduction of Roundup-resistant seeds, the use of herbicides on American farms increased by 150%.

But the actual total soybean planting increased by less than 30%.

Weed scientist Mark Locks also spoke out, saying that during the years when Roundup dominated the market, an older compound stood out: 2-D.

This is one of the most toxic agricultural herbicides.

Still, farmers have had to turn to older compounds like 2-D.

Because in many cases, it’s the only thing that will kill glyphosate-resistant weeds.

Similarly, dicamba is a similar compound.

And because of the upgraded resistance of weeds such as Tribulus terrestris, the new formulation of dicamba is even more toxic and poses a greater threat to human health.

As if organized, more and more victims came forward after Mark Rocks.

These people are all patients suffering from various cancers, and the cause of their illness is long-term exposure to Monsanto's Roundup.

This is a large group, just like the many class action lawsuits Monsanto has faced in the past.

But what is even more frightening is that the number of people suffering from the disease is still increasing, the symptoms are becoming more and more strange, and many unheard-of terminal illnesses have appeared.

And all the sources of the illness were traced back to the same thing: a new formulation of dicamba.

(End of this chapter)