{"podcast":{"title":"The History of Fresh Produce","slug":"the-history-of-fresh-produce-6999611","podcast_index_feed_id":6999611,"rss_url":"https://feeds.captivate.fm/hfp/","website_url":"https://hfp.captivate.fm","image_url":"https://artwork.captivate.fm/b25d857f-0f9b-4f2c-8116-1d496b4db3b5/W3kLioZTryHgRMozQmkg_ui1.jpg","author":"The Produce Industry Network","episode_count":159,"summary":"Join John Paap and Patrick Kelly in this podcast series that explores the fascinating and often overlooked history of fresh fruits and vegetables. Each episode offers listeners a unique perspective on how produce has shaped our world, featuring in-depth interviews with top experts and historians, engaging storytelling, and a blend of historical and contemporary perspectives. Whether exploring the journey of grapes through time or the influence of produce in Tolkien’s Middle-Earth, this series leaves no stone unturned. Social Channels: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/historyoffreshproduce/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@historyoffreshproduce?lang=en Threads: https://www.threads.net/@historyoffreshproduce?hl=en Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61558921896574","last_synced_at":"2026-06-16T14:18:49.984714+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-history-of-fresh-produce-6999611"},"episode":{"title":"Monsanto: Playing God (Part 5)","slug":"monsanto-playing-god-part-5","published_at":"2026-05-19T04:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-history-of-fresh-produce-6999611/monsanto-playing-god-part-5","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-history-of-fresh-produce-6999611","url":"https://hfp.captivate.fm","audio_url":"https://op3.dev/e/episodes.captivate.fm/episode/60e60835-6dbc-4157-ab19-269bb035d52d.mp3","summary":"Who was Bob Shapiro, the guitar-playing Vietnam protester turned Monsanto CEO who genuinely believed genetically modified seeds could save the planet — and how did the same man who preached environmental salvation simultaneously bury a billion dollars of toxic human suffering in a corporate spinoff so that Wall Street would never have to look at it? Why did the most consequential revolution in the history of American farming arrive not with a manifesto but with a technology-use agreement that made it illegal for farmers to do what farmers had done for ten thousand years? And how does the story of Roundup Ready seeds open a window onto the hidden architecture of modern food; from a Vice President offering himself as Monsanto's Washington liaison in a company greenhouse, to the superweeds growing three inches a day that nobody in the marketing department wanted to mention? Join John and Patrick for the fifth episode of their Monsanto series — the GMO revolution, the monarch butterfly, the seed-saving ban, and the extraordinary gap between Bob Shapiro's vision and the contracts his lawyers were writing — in an age when the most powerful thing a company could own was a gene, and the most dangerous thing it could lose was trust... ---------- In Sponsorship with Cornell University: Dyson Cornell SC Johnson College of Business ----------- Join the History of Fresh Produce Club for ad-free listening, bonus episodes, book discounts and access to an exclusive chatroom community. Support us! Share this episode with your friends Give a 5-star rating Write a review ----------- Subscribe to our biweekly newsletter here for extra stories related to recent episodes, book recommendations, a sneak peek of upcoming episodes and more. ----------- Instagram, TikTok, Threads: @historyoffres…","meta_description":"Who was Bob Shapiro, the guitar-playing Vietnam protester turned Monsanto CEO who genuinely believed genetically modified seeds could save the planet — an…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3078,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-history-of-fresh-produce-6999611/episodes/monsanto-playing-god-part-5/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-history-of-fresh-produce-6999611/monsanto-playing-god-part-5.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}