Though Folta previously denied ties to the rich and powerful agricultural and chemical industry, hundreds of documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Request Act (FOIA) by the non-profit U.S. Right to Know (USRTK) group implicates him and other university faculty and staff in gross collusion with the biotech industry.

Chair of the Horticultural Sciences Department, Folta spent years relentlessly defending Big Ag, traveling on their dime as he engaged in lavish and frequent trips around the country promoting GMOs, leading USRTK and other clean food advocates to question his motives.

The FOIA requests delivered and confirmed what many have long suspected: Folta and other academics employed by taxpayer-funded institutions are colluding with the biotech industry to manipulate public opinion on GMOs and lobbying Congress to pass legislation favorable to Big Ag's patented seeds and pesticides.
 

Big Ag: "Independent scientists" are most effective at swaying public opinion

The emails offer a rare glimpse inside the vicious PR strategies of Big Ag, as Monsanto and other industry execs provide detailed instructions to university scientists, attempting to create game plans that they hope will ultimately dismantle the anti-GMO movement.

Their efforts focus particularly on states considering GMO-labeling laws but are also intent on pressuring Congress to prohibit states from enacting such laws through the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act, a.k.a. the DARK Act, or Denying Americans the Right to Know what's in their food.