Who knew? I didn't. I don't think about food seeds being so valuable and, frankly, don't understand how theft of them could wreak so much havoc. Pot seeds, yes. Military secrets, absolutely! Corn seeds, huh?

Thank goodness this sort of mindset wasn't around at the beginning of ocean travel & exploration. Otherwise, we'd be missing out on a lot of goodies that were brought from other countries to be cultivated here.

Canadian among five wanted by FBI for agricultural espionage

OTTAWA — U.S. authorities have issued a wanted poster for a Canadian and four Chinese nationals accused of international industrial espionage by stealing agricultural seed and trade secrets from U.S. seed companies.

One of the men, Wang Hongwei, 44, is believed to be a resident of Quebec and a dual Canadian-Chinese citizen, say U.S. justice authorities.

Hongwei and five other men are charged with allegedly conspiring in 2011 and 2012 to steal “parent” line or “inbred” corn seed from Dupont Pioneer, Monsanto, and LG Seeds. After stealing the seed, the conspirators allegedly attempted to covertly transfer it to China, U.S. officials say.

The estimated loss on an inbred line of seed is approximately five to eight years of research and a minimum of $30 million to $40 million in related costs.

Court documents in the case read like an espionage novel with Chinese men found crawling on their knees in Midwest cornfields secretly stealing corn ears and federal agents obtaining court orders to tap the cellphone and bug the rental car of the CEO of Kings Nower Seed, a subsidiary of Beijing-based conglomerate DBN Group, according to The Associated Press

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/canad ... story.html

Only fair. After all we stole silk worms from China, even though their export was totally forbidden ....

Crap! You mean I could go to prison because of that thing stuck in my teeth!!!!!!!