Lords of the Harvest

Why it’s on the list: Charles’ history of agricultural biotechnology — Monsanto’s bet on transgenic crops, the scientists who made it work, and the European backlash that met it. The industry answer for ag-biotech, written before the outcome was settled.

Where I saw it: In the reply thread to @WillManidis’s question, “what is the single best book you can read that will explain an entire industry?” (June 2, 2025) — a crowd-sourced list Kyle recovered by hand and saved to his Apple Note “Books To Read”; the full set of replies lives on what is the single best book… (tweet). It was listed there as “Lords of the Harvest”.

Connections

• Agriculture — the industry the technology was aimed at.
• Biotech — transgenic crops as the first mass-market application.
• Toxic Legacy — the case against glyphosate, named in the same thread; the two books are the two sides of this argument.
• what is the single best book… (tweet) — the thread this recommendation came from.