Monsanto files patent applications in 160 countries covering specific stretches of genetic material found in ordinary pigs, material the company's researchers identified rather than invented. The film lays out what that would mean in practice: if the patents are granted, any farmer whose pigs carry the marked genes owes Monsanto money, the same arrangement already in place for farmers growing the company's genetically modified maize. Breeders and farmers respond with DNA tests showing the genes in question have existed in their herds for generations, arguing the patent claims ownership of nature rather than a new discovery. The film traces how deep the company's reach already runs into patent offices and into farmers' operations in the United States, many of whom depend on Monsanto seed and feed with few alternatives left. It also raises an unresolved question hanging over the whole system: rising reports of infertility in animals fed genetically modified maize in both the US and Europe, with no research yet settling what, if anything, that means for the humans eating the meat and milk that follow.