I agree that it's not terribly astonishing - maybe that was a poor choice of word. The reason that I'm given pause isn't that it's a huge surprise, but for its

I agree that it's not terribly astonishing - maybe that was a poor choice of word. The reason that I'm given pause isn't that it's a huge surprise, but for its implications today: with state influence over agriculture, including via protection for companies like Monsanto via favorable IP law, I think it might be (but might not be) somewhat more relevant today than other aspects of Operation Mongoose.