Following the 2003 war and invasion of the United States (U.S) war on Iraq, the U.S. government appointed diplomat Paul Bremer, as the head of the occupational authority in Iraq. Bremer issued several Orders for a "rebuilding" effort, one of which was Order 81, aimed at reforming Iraq's seed industry - previously centralized and resulting in a rich seed variety over the pre-war years.

Under the new Order, farmers were prohibited from saving, sharing, or replanting harvested seeds, leading to reliance on major corporations such as Monsanto, Cargill Inc., and Dow Chemical. As a result, since 2005, Iraq has only been able to provide 4% of its seed needs. Hence, with the new regulation, farmers were forced to buy seeds from suppliers, mainly from Monsanto, which without warning, would charge royalties when crops were found to contain their patented genetic material.

Therefore, Order 81 allowed Monsanto to promote the benefits of its seeds to a suffering population without warning farmers of the potential financial risks.

https://ejatlas.org/conflict/order-81s-effect-on-agriculture