The complex story of Monsanto

Mathieu Asselin

Mathieu Asselin made an extensive study of the company Monsanto

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The multinational producer of agricultural chemicals, Monsanto, not only poisoned many farm grounds, but the company also threatened the farmers with multiple lawsuits. Meanwhile, Monsanto sells its products with gleaming slogans like: “Without chemicals, many more millions would go hungry”. French documentary photographer, Mathieu Asselin, made an extensive study of their cruel policy and the devastating results for men and the environment. This resulted in the publication of the unsettling book, Monsanto: A Photographic Investigation. Asselin: “They are an important part of the problem of hunger in the world.”

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His father, Jean Claude Asselin, an ecologist, told Mathieu about the policies of Monsanto, specifically about the farmers' lawsuits in the USA. “I started exploring, and so I realised the story was large and had many layers. There was also the film, The World According to Monsanto, directed by Marie-Monique Robin, that helped me to structure my book.”

Mathieu Asselin started a year’s-long exploration of the topic, reading texts and delving into internet sites with valuable information on the producer of agricultural seeds and herbicides. As a result of this in-depth research, he consciously gave his book the subtitle: a Photographic Investigation. “I think the word 'investigation' is of utmost importance; it summarises my interest in photography. I am not interested in a series of pictures or photography only. For me, the research and the story come before photography itself. Even though photography is essential, it is a consequence of the story. I don’t believe in a series of photos that are supposed to explain themselves. Photography by itself cannot give explanatory context and the information that you need to understand the topic.”

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I am not interested in a series of pictures or photography only.

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© Mathieu Asselin | Monsanto: A Photographic Investigation

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Photos as witnesses

In the book, Monsanto appears to be a very aggressive company. They polluted Alabama with PCB, polychlorinated biphenyls, which they used as a food preservative. The severe health risks which they caused were discovered later by the population of Anniston. Monsanto appeared to have been aware of the risks. In a sober documentary style, Asselin photographed abandoned houses, parks, garages and gas stations in Anniston, Alabama, using photography as a witness of the past contamination. “I made photographs of the houses as witnesses, and I also used archives and documents to show the problem. I use a mix of many different tools. But of course, photography had the power to show how it looks like. I use images as an entry point to understand the story, and together with texts, I create an all-round description of the problem.”
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Could you say that those ‘witness photographs’ show the truth of the denied contamination? According to Mathieu Asselin, photography does not yield truth. Instead, photography gives a point of view. “I choose what to photograph, according to the story I want to tell. The texts and the photos are talking to each other. I never talk about the concept of ‘truth’, but I tell mostly about facts. In terms of truth, you can talk about different perspectives or visions on what is true or not. You can have your own opinion, your own truth, but you cannot have your own facts."
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You can have your own opinion, your own truth, but you cannot have your own facts.

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Born without arms

Agent Orange, also produced by Monsanto, is a very toxic defoliant used by the American army in the Vietnam war, which made them able to see the movement of the enemy troops. Asselin photographed the victims in Vietnam, who suffered from Agent Orange, like the girl, Thuy Linh, 21 years old, who is a third-generation victim with genetic malformations. She was born without arms. “Agent Orange affects generation after generation. On one side, it is a huge ecological disaster and on the other side a huge humanitarian disaster. The worst thing is that the American government collaborated with Monsanto in using their product for warfare. Monsanto and the US government used the ‘revolving doors’: they exchanged employees. As a result, the government is infiltrated by Monsanto employees. The government said that Agent Orange was a human way to win the war because they did not need to bomb at random, but the long-term effects are disastrous.”
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Hunger of the world

One of the most used herbicides is the glyphosate Roundup, used worldwide to exterminate weeds and all the other plants that feed off crops. It's true that glyphosate kills weeds, but it can kill the crops as well. To avoid this, Monsanto genetically modified soybeans and other seeds. “The problem is that the weeds are getting resistant to the glyphosate. So, now you have a kind of superweed that is very resistant. This is a headache to companies like Bayer. So, they now produce even more powerful kinds of glyphosates. So, more and more chemicals are needed now.”
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“Without chemicals, many more millions would go hungry,” says a Monsanto campaign text in 1977, a text published in big letters at the end of the book. Asselin combats this slogan vehemently. “They are an important part of the problem of hunger in the world. They profit from an economic system that sustains hunger. One of the main causes of hunger in the world is economic inequality. Monsanto does everything to keep the status of the inequality. As a western multinational, they want to teach the farmers of third world countries how to grow their crops. Monsanto wants to implement a capitalistic system in those countries. For example, in India, the farmers are obliged to buy Monsanto seeds each year. The basis of the problem is their claim of a patent and ownership of the seeds, which are, in fact, natural resources. This is an insane philosophy! In this way, seeds become a capitalist commodity instead of a public human heritage. The farmers do not have the rights nor the capability to reuse the modified seeds for the next crop because Monsanto produced terminator seeds that sterilise themselves.”
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Seeds become a capitalist commodity instead of a public human heritage.

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Aggressive company

The problems farmers in the USA face are lawsuits. Monsanto has been persecuting scientists, lawyers, academics and journalists for years. The company claims that they have illegally used genetically modified seeds. Many of those farmers say that they have never used those seeds. “It is a way of Monsanto to force farmers to buy their seeds. They create fear as a commercial tool. Monsanto has many lawyers working for them 24 hours a day, so the farmers would never win any lawsuit.”

Since 2019, Monsanto belongs to a German company known as Bayer, a less aggressive company. “They take more care about the way they handle these problems. Bayer is more aware of the environment until it does not affect their revenues. My theory is that all these corporations try to slow down the real change that needs to be done. The changes need to be more radical. But, instead, they adopt the policy of green-washing their products.”
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The problems farmers in the USA face are lawsuits.

Did Asselin himself have any trouble after he published his book? “I didn’t have much trouble with Monsanto after publishing the book. They have bigger fish to catch than me. Going after a photographer is not a very good PR for them. It would be counterproductive. Moreover, I have been cautious of what I put in the book, not out of fear but as a journalistic attitude. Everything in my book is fact-based. I never contacted Monsanto because I knew that every request would come back with a beautiful story about their products. But all the good products they made do not justify the wrongdoing of the company. At the beginning of the book, I put their fairy-tale-like advertisements and publicity, which was my way to give a voice to Monsanto.”
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The complexity of the story

The book Monsanto: A Photographic Investigation has been embraced in many circles, as well as in the photography world as outside. “My work would not mean anything if it was isolated in the field of photography. I try to inscribe it in education and general debates as much as possible. The work must become a part of a larger field of studies and discussions. My project has been embraced by the journalistic bubble but also by the art bubble and the academic bubble. So, it became a universal work. I was even invited to the school of social studies in Paris to talk about the work with the PhD students.”
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It is not just telling a story; it is about understanding the complexity of the story.

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Mathieu Asselin finds that on its own, his work is not effective enough, but the stream of publications, broadcasts and public talks and debates around the book creates a cumulative effect. “My work has also become a topic of discussion about photography and representation. It has become a sort of reference about photography, helping the discussion about documentary photography. We need other forms in photography than just photos, claiming they are a truthful witness. We see the limitations of photography as an isolated art form. Through photos only, you cannot fully understand an issue. You can use storytelling in photography, but you cannot tell complex issues by just storytelling. It is not just telling a story; it is about understanding the complexity of the story.”
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