So, where do you work?

This is one of the most common questions we all get asked when catching up with old friends or partaking in small talk with strangers. Some people might think being asked this question would bring me a sense of dread because of the fierce controversy surrounding my employer. Actually it’s quite the opposite! I’m extremely proud to work for Monsanto and I get a rush of excitement at being presented with an opportunity to talk about my company, my job, or agriculture with anyone willing to listen. The responses I receive might surprise you.

Reactions

The two most common reactions I receive are either polite smiles of complete disinterest or genuine curiosity. Sometimes the response is a wrinkled nose or a comment like, “Aren’t they the ones poisoning us all?” However, after a little conversation, the skeptic is typically left transformed to at least neutral or indifferent.

During these face-to-face interactions, I’ve come to realize the debate surrounding Monsanto isn’t as strongly polarized or far reaching as a Google search might lead you to believe. Considering all the negative misinformation you can easily find in a Google search, you’d think their “evil empire” was a common, well known threat to society. However, in my experience, it seems the large majority of people have no idea who we are or what we do. In fact, many of the conversations I have are quite pleasant!

Of course, there are times I find myself confronted with more uncomfortable reactions, but they’re few and far between. There are two instances that stand out in my mind.

The Jump

The first instance occurred during my first skydiving jump. Until you reach a certain level of experience, you must jump in tandem with a professional strapped to your back. As you can imagine, it’s awkward enough being strapped so closely to a complete stranger but as my luck would have it, this stranger also happened to not be a fan of Monsanto or GMOs.

The small talk began during the plane’s ascent as he tried to take my mind off the fact I’d soon be jumping out of a plane from 18,000 feet. After I mentioned working for Monsanto he vocally expressed his disapproval by stating it was wrong how we patented life and sued farmers. He also pointed to the ground and said all the crop land below was an “environmentally unfriendly monoculture.”

I did my best to explain Monsanto wasn’t the only company that held patents on plants, nor were GMOs the only plants that were patented. In addition, I pointed out the ability to patent plants came long before GMOs. I also mentioned Monsanto has never sued farmers for unintentional cross-pollination and that the issue of monocultures was not unique to GMOs.

As you can imagine, this conversation did little to calm my nerves. The man responsible for pulling our parachute and preventing me from splatting onto the surface of the Earth didn’t approve of my employment with Monsanto.

Of course he did in fact pull the parachute and we landed safely – though not before I had a heart attack as he loosened a strap across my chest during our leisurely parachuted descent. Apparently the strap is non-essential and he finds people like to have it loosened once the free-fall is complete. We had a good laugh when I told him I thought he was going to unhook me.

No Words

On a heavier note, the second instance occurred at a get-together during a game of bags when I struck up a light conversation with a woman I’d never met. Inevitably, the question of employment was asked and my response was met with an physical step away from me and, “Oh, I don’t like Monsanto.” I politely asked if she’d mind telling me what it was she didn’t like about us, and was fully prepared for the typical responses of corporate greed and overall evilness. But her answer caught me completely off guard. “My daughter passed away from a brain tumor several years ago and I think it was because of all the GMOs in our food.”

Where do you go with that? I felt trapped. To begin explaining all the reasons why that statement was wrong would appear insensitive, but to say nothing would allow the superstition to perpetuate in her mind. I wanted so badly to refute her claim, but I realized when devastating events like losing a child happen, it’s natural to place blame on something to help cope with the loss. For her, that was GMOs and Monsanto.

Her perception didn’t come from a doctor’s diagnosis or any scientific links she could pose between GMOs and cancer. Spitting out facts and statistics to her would have seemed insensitive and wouldn’t have changed her mind. Monsanto simply became the boogie man she needed for some sense of closure, no doubt concluded after countless hours spent navigating the complex web of fear-mongering and misinformation on the Internet. I knew there was really nothing that could be said so I expressed my deepest sympathies for her loss and the conversation awkwardly trailed off.

To this day I wish I could have said something more or handled it differently, but maybe not aggravating the issue was the best thing I could have done. Part of being an advocate for such a heated and emotional issue lies in understanding not every person can be reached and not every mind can be changed.

Validation

Still, the overwhelming majority of face-to-face conversations I’ve had about working for Monsanto have been truly engaging and enlightening. I’ve found these conversations to be exponentially more productive than ones online. I’m not sure if that’s because people can’t hide behind their keyboards in real life, or if the loud, outspoken voices on the Internet simply don’t as accurately represent the majority of the public as it would appear.

Either way, I truly think if I ever found myself scared or ashamed to tell people I worked for Monsanto, I’d have to reconsider whether or not this job was the right path for me. The fact a simple question, “Where do you work?”, can make my heart swell with so much pride and passion tells me something.

What’s it like telling people I work for Monsanto? It’s like receiving a sense of validation that reassures me I’m exactly where I belong.