Bill Gates and his agribusiness industry partners are proposing to transform the food we eat and how we make it. We take a closer look at what’s on their menu: genetic engineering -- and patenting -- of everything from seeds and food animals, to microbes in the soil, to the processes we use to make food.
The Gates-backed Ginkgo Bioworks, a start-up that makes “custom organisms,” just went public in a $17.5 billion deal; it plans to produce GMO yeast that can add flavors, scents and textures to a wide range of ultra-processed foods. The Gates Foundation meanwhile backs efforts to expand monoculture farming in Africa, experiments to genetically engineer cows, and gene drives that can eradicate a species.
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