What is to stop monsanto if one day they say "hey we're not selling any products to the public"? The vast majority of foods would then be held ransom basically. Similar to microsoft of the 1990's having a monopoly on operating systems monsanto is the monopoly on foods and farmers can't compete. if monsanto decides to halt production or sales of their products, they could effectively starve the entire country.

Expert response from Tom Helscher

Former Director, Corporate Affairs, Monsanto Company

Wednesday, 11/09/2013 13:44

Monsanto¹s core business is selling seeds to farmer customers.  Farmers have many choices for their purchases and we have to work hard to earn their business.  Consider the U.S. market for corn and soybean seed.  While there is variability in the specific market share data in any given year, if you look at the trend of the corn seed Monsanto sells, our brands would be roughly one-third of the market. Among corn seed suppliers, there is one other company with a similar or larger seed share in corn and literally hundreds of other seed companies who sell corn seed to American farmers. In soybeans, Monsanto's share would be a bit less than one third of the market, making it second in the market, and like corn, there are scores of other seed companies who sell soybean seed to American farmers. Globally, while Monsanto is one of the largest commercial seed companies, what we offer is less than five percent of the world's seeds.