It was clear from the get-go: We were going to be heavily monitored. At one point I counted the communications reps ringing our meeting room — there were 20, one for each fellow. Anytime we went anywhere, someone was watching, including a steady line of minders between the meeting room and the bathroom (one fellow was pretty sure a handler followed him in).

It was a funny tension, between throw-open-the-doors access and a tightly scripted stage show. Outside our meeting room was a video control center, manned by guys wearing all black. A bank of monitors appeared to be monitoring... us. When I asked if I could photograph that control room, there were five minutes of consultations before a rep cheerily said, "Yes, sure, why not heh heh!" Haspel called the whole operation "Orwellian," loudly and often.
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The day started with a speech by chief technology officer Robb Fraley, the de facto general in Monsanto's newfound charm offensive. He introduced one of Monsanto's biggest talking points of the day — the need to feed nine billion people by 2050 (with the corollary that GMOs are vital to accomplish this). Fraley has a soft-spoken approach that can read as folksy authenticity; just let your Uncle Robb tell you how it is. But again, this was a tough crowd. Later, one seasoned ag reporter called it the "standard Fraley talking points," only modified to stump for a newly unpopular merger. Another fellow told me I should read the book Lords of the Harvest, which paints Fraley as a ruthless corporate warrior. And Haspel was seen later in the hallway, confronting a visibly unhappy Fraley with a laundry list of Monsanto's flaws.
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The fellows certainly took every opportunity to ruffle feathers. There were scads of tough questions, about Monsanto's staff lacking diversity, about its role in creating superweeds, about established links between Roundup and cancer. Most of these questions were evaded with varying levels of dexterity; one exception was when Bjerga repeatedly hammered Monsanto CEO Hugh Grant (yes, Hugh Grant) about global patents. We all noticed when the outwardly genial Grant — who speaks with a Scottish lilt — momentarily transformed into a terrifying bulldog. "You could tell [Grant] just wanted to swat Alan like a fly!" Haspel gleefully noted later.