OK, so there are trade secrets in coffee-flavored products, fishing clothes, and comedy clubs, but surely not on the farm (the vegetable farm, not Stanford University :))…
Of course there are! Last year an imaging scientist at Monsanto admitted to stealing a copy of Monsanto’s “Nutrient Optimizer” platform and trying to bring it to China the next day after leaving Monsanto. The platform helps farmers increase productivity.
He worked for the Chinese Academy of Science’s Institute of Soil Science, and was arrested when he returned to the US two years later.
He was sentenced to 29 months in prison and a fine of $150,000, although it could have been as high as 15 years and $5 million!
Source:
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/chinese-national-sentenced-economic-espionage-conspiracy