The last Monsanto-owned patent for Roundup Ready soybeans will expire in 2014, and the last applicable third-party patent will expire in early 2015. That means independent seed companies will no longer owe trait royalty payment to Monsanto beginning in 2015. Farmers will have access to a generic trait offering beginning in the 2015 planting season.

Monsanto has had numerous discussions with farmers and agriculture trade groups in outlining our commitments to enable a clear pathway for a generic version of the first-generation Roundup Ready soybeans to be available after 2014. For example, the American Soybean Association, after considerable discussions with Monsanto, provided an update to their members in its October 2010 newsletter. As 2014 nears, we’ll continue having conversations with our agricultural stakeholders to ensure a smooth transition.

Here is what Monsanto has stated as its commitments to agriculture as the first-generation Roundup Ready patent approaches expiration:

• In the spring of 2015, there will be an opportunity for farmers to plant first-generation Roundup Ready seed saved from their 2014 harvest. This will be the case for Monsanto-developed varieties with the first-generation Roundup Ready trait because Monsanto has announced that it will not enforce its variety patents against U.S. farmers who choose to save and replant those varieties on their own farms after expiration of the trait patents. For varieties developed by other breeders, farmers should check with their local seed suppliers regarding any policy related to those seed companies’ seed varieties containing the Roundup Ready trait after patent expiry.

• We’ll maintain full global regulatory support for this first-generation technology through 2021, allowing for continued, uninterrupted exports of soybeans containing the first-generation Roundup Ready trait. We will continue to monitor and assess the planned use of this first-generation technology following patent expiration and work with appropriate stakeholders. The Biotechnology Industry Organization and the American Seed Trade Association are working to create seed industry standards to support a formal path to post-patent transitions and regulatory support for all traits.

• Because Roundup Ready soybeans are broadly licensed, all seed companies that currently sell the first-generation Roundup Ready trait will have the option of selling it in 2015. They will be assessing farmer interest and their own business opportunity.

• Licenses for the patent already run through the expiration of the patents. Interested seed company licensees will continue working with their first-generation Roundup Ready soybean products after the license and patents expire.

• Seed company licensees that choose to work with Genuity® Roundup Ready 2 Yield® technology will be able to continue to sell varieties with the first-generation Roundup Ready trait. There is no need for them to stop selling the Roundup Ready trait in order to sell the new trait. They can offer the first-generation trait, the newer Roundup Ready 2 Yield trait, both or neither trait, if they so desire.

• Universities will also be able to offer soybean varieties containing the Roundup Ready trait. A number of universities have been breeding with the Roundup Ready soybean trait for a number of years, and they will be able to continue this both now and following expiration of the patent.

We welcome any questions and comments farmers and stakeholders may have related to patent expiration. For more information on the patent expiration on Roundup Ready soybeans, please visit the Monsanto web site.

But he can’t deliver those tidbits of information to everyone on a personal basis every day. That’s why he uses Twitter—a social media outlet that allows people to share thoughts in 140 characters—as one of his communication tools to update farmers and his followers on crop conditions and updates.

“There’s a lot of information out there for a farmer to digest when he gets back to office after a day in the fields,” said Marlow, or USAgMan, as he is known on Twitter. “I’m trying to do something with tweeting where I can reach somebody with a simple, text-like message. I try not to make it complicated. I compare it to calling and leaving a voice mail about what I saw today.”

Many of Marlow’s tweets encourage farmers to scout for insects or to keep an eye out for diseases. For example, on Aug. 10, Marlow noted, “Stink bugs hit S. Texas soys (sic) hard last month need to scout in N. Tx and Okla as they migrate north. They pierce pod, allow fungi to enter.” On Aug. 17, he wrote, “Goss’ Wilt starting to show up in corn on corn in Texas Panhandle. Occurance (sic) is a bit random.”

In Marlow’s area, crop diversity keeps him busy year-round. Oklahoma grows winter wheat and winter canola, and right when those crops are harvested in the spring, Oklahoma and Texas farmers are kicking into corn, soybean, sorghum and cotton planting seasons.

“We work well together in agriculture, sharing what is seen by farmers, dealers, field representatives and crop consultants,” he said. “That network provides a broad range of input to my tweets. By tweeting what we see, and where we see it, we can help farmers scout for the next issue and address it at a lower threshold, which holds up yields.”

Marlow learned about Twitter from Oklahoma farm broadcaster Ron Hays. Hays showcased new social media technologies during a speech, and Marlow became intrigued on how he could apply the media to his job.

“I looked at (the social media tools) and had to think of a way that made sense for me,” he said. “It took me a month and a half before I started with Twitter. I wanted it to be about providing information that can help farmers.”

He stresses that he doesn’t rely solely on social media to reach farmers: “You can’t replace personal interaction with customers.”

Marlow recently accepted a new position in his home state of Iowa, where he’ll be focused on two counties instead of two states. He still plans on tweeting and sharing information with growers.

Jerseyville is one of a handful of sites where biotech traits are tested in the field. Their performance and reaction to the conditions (much more variable than in a controlled setting like a greenhouse) are monitored and tracked throughout the season.

That’s why nearly a dozen researchers from St. Louis were on site early in July to check on their projects. It’s one thing to be able to see the traits perform in the greenhouse setting; it’s quite another to see how they react within different growing environments and genetic backgrounds said Oscar Sparks, Field Project Team Representative for the dicamba-glufosinate-glyphosate-tolerant corn project.

“The greenhouse and nursery provide an early indication of herbicide tolerance for event screening and decisions,” said Sparks. “Replicated field trials provide both efficacy and grain yield and determine if an event or constructs has met product concept.”

The Biotech Process

Plenty of things have to break right for a biotech pipeline candidate to make it to the field.

At the Chesterfield Village Research Center, Monsanto researchers run tens of thousands of plants that contain candidate traits—also known as events—through tests in the Discovery Phase of the research and development pipeline. This phase is where the researchers identify potential genes to be inserted into crops for traits. After insertion, the crop events are monitored in small-scale tests in a greenhouse to determine if the gene was expressed well—in other words, researchers determine if the gene of interest was inserted at a good place on the crop’s DNA and whether the event meets initial product concepts.

If the researchers are satisfied with results, the events graduate to the next step in the pipeline for more thorough testing. This stage is the first opportunity for researchers to monitor how the event reacts in a small field trial. The trials are conducted according to strict U.S. Department of Agriculture and stewardship requirements.

“The field screens kick out the events that don’t meet our requirements,” Sparks said. “We choose events for advancement that show promise and meet the product concept. We’ll evaluate those in future growing seasons.”

Excitement Builds

This part of the season is when researchers’ work picks up. It’s the middle of the growing season, and they’re learning more about how the events are responding to uncontrolled conditions.

For Marty Heppler, an entomologist who was studying lepidopteran pests’ reaction to the Corn Borer III pipeline events, the field work is the moment of truth for her research.

“It’s exciting because a lot of the varieties that we take to the field, we’ve been working with for several years,” said Heppler. “You develop an attachment to some traits. You get excited about going to the field. Some do great in the greenhouse, and then you’re excited to see how it does in the field.”

As I watched Sparks and Heppler and their teams in the fields, the attachment to the trials is evident. Nearly every plant is given at least an eyeball review, and some receive a closer inspection—a peek at the stalk or a quick check of the leaves.

And that’s why Jerseyville and the biotech farms are important to Sparks, Heppler and Monsanto researchers—they provide a “real-world situation,” Heppler said. Also, the abundance of experience within the research farm teams has been key for the ability to plant and evaluate so many events.

“The farms allow us to grow the crops all the way through maturity,” Sparks said. “We get to look at the agronomic and reproductive characteristics of the events and see how they may eventually help farmers in the coming years.”

If you’re not, this video courtesy of reporter Mike Brooks at WICS in Springfield, Ill., gives you a good background on detasseling and why seed companies like Monsanto do it.

Detasseling Corn Alive and Well – Fox 55/27 Springfield, ILL

This Twitter search stream gives you a bit more, um, color, about what detasselers are saying this summer.

I was at the corn field while Mike was interviewing Monsanto employees and the workers. The detasseling is quite impressive. I’m not certain I could handle a whole month of detasseling, let alone a week.

A machine trimmed the tassels the previous day. Then, the next day a group of 20 or so workers walk down a half-mile row of corn and picks out the tassels missed by the machine. Then the crews turn down the next row and do it again. They cover the mile in about 45-50 minutes.

And as you may have noticed in the video, the crew is wearing long-sleeve shirts, pants, gloves, glasses and hats with safety nets on the front. In 90-degree heat. And 80 percent humidity. Water breaks are frequent.

The attire is necessary for safety reasons. Corn leaves have sharp edges and can give you a paper-cut-like scrape. Monsanto has a nurse at each of our facilities to provide training and support Monsanto’s personnel that are on site at each detasseling field, in case there is an emergency.

Thanks to all of the crews across the Corn Belt that are helping seed companies like Monsanto produce the best seed for the 2011 crop year!

Do you have a detasseling memory or story to share?

Recent Detassling Stories:

Summer Jobs: A lesson in Corn Detasseling – NPR

Iowa’s Corn Crop Too Tall for Some Teens to Detassel – Des Moines Register

Precision planting! Sean and Pat have nearly the identical form

Monday began with a rain shower in the St. Louis area. No planting at the Jerseyville farm for the next two days, I thought. After getting settled in at work, I sent an email to the crew at the farm, asking, “Do you think you’ll get in the fields later this week?”

To my surprise, the farm planned on hitting the fields. Research associate Joe Kinser replied immediately, “We caught a shower here this morning, but I think we will plant a few small fields in the 1 to 4 p.m. time frame at Jerseyville today. Let me know when you’re planning on coming out.”

After a quick check of schedules with videographer and photographer Chris, I decided this was my best chance to experience my first planting. Chris and I each drove home to change into quasi-proper farm attire: jeans, baseball cap and tennis shoes (and yes, I realize that I need a good pair of boots instead of Asics for the farm). Then we hurried over to Jerseyville.

The weather had improved quite well—sunny, mid-70s, good wind—to dry the fields. The planting crew was more than happy to be outside planting than inside doing paperwork. It was around 2 p.m., and there was enough planting to finish out the day—a 4-acre field and a 1-acre field.

Research planting is quite a bit different than conventional farm planting. The plots are planted as two rows about 23 feet long. The trial seeds come in small packets containing approximately 100 seeds, and two people—in this case, Pat Kalaher and Sean Evans—sit on the back of a planter with a box holding the packets (if you collected baseball cards, it’s a box very similar to the ones that held hundreds of cards and all of your doubles of Jose Oquendo, Jody Davis and Greg Gagne).

When the planter starts, Pat and Sean dump one packet into a tube, one on each side of them. The tube siphons the seeds into two rows to be planted. They have about 7.7 seconds to reach into the box, grab a packet, rip it open, dump the seeds and then throw away the packet. About 15 feet separate each plot in the field. If Sean and Pat take more than the 7.7 seconds, the plots will creep into the extra space, and the field will not be uniform.

For all the computer technology involved in this process (GPS, automatic trips to signal the planter to begin planting a trial, etc.), the most important part hinges on humans for precision.

In the tractor cab, Joe Kinser’s job is a bit easier this year. The tractor has autosteer, easing some strain. In previous years, Joe had to steer the tractor and try to keep an eye on two monitors—one that keeps track of his progress in the field and the other that tracks each seed in each plot. Now, he can pay better attention to the plots to ensure each one is planted correctly.

The 4-acre field took about an hour to complete. I think the crew said they go about as half as fast (2-3 miles per hour) as a conventional planter.

While Chris and I waited for the 1-acre field to be planted, we visited a field of planted in the past 7-10 days. Site Manager Wally Bates gave us a couple quick lessons in germination, soil compaction and how the site selects fields for the trials. This field has some products trialing the nitrogen use efficiency traits, which are designed to help plants use nitrogen more efficiently by either boosting yield under normal nitrogen conditions or stabilizing yields in low-nitrogen conditions. Here’s an image of corn that just emerged that day:

The afternoon was going about as well as it could—for me and the planting team. Then, before we left Jerseyville, we were reminded that Mother Nature holds the cards. Lightning strikes created spokes across the sky. Chris and I bolted to outrun the storm. Minutes after we left, a hailstorm hit the site. That’s not a good thing for corn fresh out of the ground.

This . . .

from Wally can lead to this . . .

and then this . . .

After a check of the corn on Tuesday morning, the Jerseyville farm team reported the emerged corn did not avoid hail damage. Leaves were either torn completely off or damaged. The good news is the growing point is still underground and the farm team thinks the corn will recover.

While the differences between a research farm and conventional farm planting are easy to see, the technology and hard work behind each are the same. I still want to visit a conventional farm for planting, but this experience was well worth it to continue my ag education.

Monsanto employees will be following the 2010 crop season from beginning to end on the Monsanto.com Crop Season site.

I’m happy to say that I get the honor of being a contributor to this coverage. I’ll provide reports on Monsanto’s research farms and what their experiences are through the course of the year—in particular, how our researchers find the best biotech traits that will eventually be planted by farmers 8 to 10 years from today.

Last week, I visited our Jerseyville, Ill., research farm to learn more about how these farms prepare for planting.

If you follow social media sites, farmers are sharing their personal planting and farm stories via Twitter (#plant10), blogs (Martin Farms), Facebook (Weeks Enterprises) and YouTube (Gilmer Dairy Farm). Many Monsanto researchers grew up on farms and have their own stories to share, too.

Like most farmers, our employees are just as excited for planting to start. For Sean Evans, a research associate at Monsanto’s Jerseyville farm, planting brings back memories of helping his dad and family in the field.

“Everyone was involved in some aspect in the operation,” said Evans, one of five Evans children. “We all had different jobs. It was always my job to make sure that dad had enough seed in the planter. I ran back and forth to the truck and loaded the planter up.

“The other job I had, I’d always help my mom bring dinner to dad, and we’d all eat our meals on the back of the tailgate. I get a kick out of doing that now too. It brings back the memories.”

One thing that Evans remembers most about planting (besides that dad—and only dad—ran the planter) is that his dad never let on how quickly things had to get done.

“Everything took a little more time back then, but I was a kid, so I don’t feel the urgency that I do now,” Evans said. “My dad never let that urgency trickle down to us

Jeff Taylor, a Monsanto site manager at the Troy, Ohio, farm, said the anticipation to hit the fields has carried over from his personal farming experience to his job.

“The best memory I have from either growing up farming or working for Monsanto is the ‘itch’ you feel to start planting around the first of April when the weather begins to warm up,” said Taylor. “Every day that the weather is warm and dry is so limited and valuable. Farmers make every effort to maximize the opportunity that day creates in order to finish planting in a timely manner. There is also an extremely satisfying feeling of accomplishment when each day is done and seed is in the ground. Having children of my own, I liken the feeling to watching your child start their first day of school. Planting really symbolizes the beginning of the journey, whether it’s raising a crop or producing research data.”

While a Monsanto research farm is slightly different from a commercial farm—planting progress is measured in tens of acres instead of hundreds; fields are planted in side-by-side rows instead of 12, 18 or 24 at a time; and our farms are regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture—Taylor said the “rush” he feels to get the seed for his farm in the ground and the season under way is similar to how customers feel.

“There is a high sense of urgency when the calendar gets past the first part of May to push to get the plots planted in order to produce the highest yield and be comparable with our customer’s results as well,” he said. “It’s a great feeling knowing we are involved in developing the future products helping our customers produce more and being able to test them in their fields and local environments, which few other companies can say.

Evans recognizes the urgency level too. Timely planting helps to generate good data for crop research.

“We know time is of the essence,” he said. “Even though we’re pressed with tighter deadlines for when seed is coming back, we still have to turn it around in time to generate data. You never feel like you’re going to get there, but I know within 10 days we’ll be planting. It makes it hard when it’s nice weather and everyone is planting right now though.”

Learn more about Monsanto’s research farms and their preparations for spring planting season in the three-minute video above.

Monsanto employees will be following the 2010 crop season from beginning to end on the Monsanto.com Crop Season site.

Every nine out of 10 years, Iowa farmer Dave Sieck expects the Missouri River to stay in its banks near his farmland in Glenwood, Iowa, about 15 miles south of Council Bluffs. But lately, it’s been a rough run. This is the third year in a run some Sieck and Midwest farmers are facing the threat of flooding.

“It’s a never-ending battle, especially on the bigger rivers,” he said. “We plan on losing a crop once or twice every 10 years.”

Heavy snow totals in the fall and winter and a quick rise in temperatures this spring are leading to massive snow melt. It’s more water than the river banks can handle along the Red River in North Dakota and Minnesota; the Missouri River in Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri; and the Mississippi River in Iowa, Illinois and Missouri.

For Sieck, the possibility of flooding means he has to start thinking about his planting plans, even though planting is about 4 to 6 weeks away for west central Iowa (Minnesota, South Dakota and North Dakota might begin planting in the 6 to 8 week timeframe). He has 40 percent of his land in the river bottoms. Tillage options, fertilizer application, crop selection and hybrid seed selection are a few of the many variables that now come into play.

“I have a lot more costs insuring this ground than regular ground, so I have to manage my inputs better,” Sieck said. “I’m sitting here thinking ‘what can I do to manage risk?’ Do I put triple-stack hybrids on ground that has a high incidence of flooding? Probably not. I start to manage my hybrids now. I’ll plant cheaper hybrids on the ground that may flood.

Flooded ground presents other challenges, too. More than likely, Sieck is forced to abandon no-till farming in the floodplain because flooding brings new sediment, which means he breaks out tillage equipment like the field cultivator and disk.

The flooding just doesn’t affect the river bottoms. The water table also rises for the land just above the floodplain or behind the levees.

“For the ground in the first and second terrace, I start looking at what impacts does the high river have for holding water on the ground,” Sieck said. “In saturated ground, water starts to stack up in water table. There’s surface water sitting on ground that can’t get to river, and sediment sits on the soil and the crop can’t get up.”

The wet ground thus impacts Sieck’s crop mix and seed selection. Does he take a risk and plant corn, knowing there may be a chance of another flood in late spring (a “Father’s Day Surprise,” as Sieck calls it)? Or does he wait until the “Surprise” passes and plant soybeans? If that’s the case, then he needs a soybean variety that has some disease resistance.

“The timing of when you plant is critical,” he said. “Do you go out as soon as you can and plant it? But then you might have to replant if flood conditions arrive. If you plant it later, you take the risk you may not have as good of yields. Or you may have to switch from corn to beans.

“There’s so much money involved, you want to make sure you get it right.”

Getting it right is tougher, with seeds, fertilizer, fuel and land costs rising. Sieck sits on the board of the Missouri River Recovery Implementation Committee, a group that meets to discuss the goals of taking care of the needs of wildlife in the floodplain. Sieck and another farmer represent the interests of farmers in eight states.

“A farmer’s whole job is to manage and mitigate risks that Mother Nature throws at you and hope to get a high-quality crop that you can sell and make money,” Sieck said.

Roundup Ready technology contains in-plant tolerance to Roundup® agricultural herbicides, allowing growers to spray Roundup agricultural herbicides to kill the weeds without harming the crop.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned by talking with farmers, it’s that they have a great sense and appreciation of their farm’s history. And as a result, they have an even greater sense of how the present state of farming is better than it used to be.

Marvin Borg and Jeffrey Larson are two examples of that. Mention “weeds” and they both have stories that would make suburbanites happy that all they have to tend to is Saturday yard work.

“When I was young growing up on the farm, prior to herbicides, we used to walk the fields and pull weeds. One of the worst jobs ever,” said Larson, who farms corn and soybeans in west central Minnesota. His family farm turns 136 years old later this month (the homestead proclamation from President Ulysses S. Grant still hangs on the wall in his home). “It was the worst day when our grandfather would pull up in the truck and say, ‘We’ve got weeds to pull.’ We’d walk through grain fields pulling mustard.”

Without crop protection methods, weeds grow among crops. The weeds and crops compete for light, water and nutrients. And during harvest, weeds can wreck a combine or at least slow progress in the field. To minimize weeds, farmers and families pull weeds by hand or till the soil several times before planting.

The development of crop protection chemicals, like Roundup®, has changed farming for the better, Borg said.

“Farming has really changed. We virtually wore out the soil from all the tillage because we didn’t have other ways of controlling the weeds,” said Borg, who farms in Nebraska with his sons and their families. His family farm turned 126 years old on Feb. 28. “2,4-D came along and that was a big help. One of the farms that my dad bought was virtually covered with creeping jennies. We walked from one of the farm to other and never stepped off a creeping jenny patch. Right now, I don’t think you can find a plant of it in the field. You might along the creek. We just eliminated the problem.”

Larson said crop protection and biotech crops, like Roundup Ready^® soybeans, which allow the soybeans to survive an application of glyphosate, have helped his farm reduce its fuel consumption.

“One thing that Roundup and biotech crops have given us is the ability for lot fewer passes across the field,” he said. “Our crops don’t compete with weeds. We only do one tillage pass in the fall, and one in the spring. It has eliminated a lot of trips across field, saving fuel, time and erosion.”

Erosion is the biggest difference Borg has seen on his farm. The 80-year-old farmer said he believes his family was one of the first in the area to adopt no-till farming—the practice of leaving crop residue on the soil and not running a tractor over the soil to turn it up. That was nearly 50 years ago.

“As weed chemicals came along, it became an advantage to control the weeds in the no-till fields,” Borg said. “I do know a couple fields in particular that were, well, the neighbors would call virtually worthless. They called it ‘The Great American Cat Box’ because the dirt would blow everywhere. When we started leaving residue on the top, that halted the problem.

“I can see we’re really holding the moisture a whole lot better than we used to do. We used to waste a lot of moisture.”

Larson said he has two pieces of farm equipment in his shed that would be considered relics now thanks to biotech and crop protection: the moldboard plow and his “Smucker Super Sponge Weed Wiper.” And yes, with a name like that, I’ll let Larson explain that one:

“The Weed Wiper would hold a 10 gallon tank of Roundup mix, and you could adjust it from six and a half inches to two and a half feet off the ground. There was a big sponge with lines feeding a 10 foot section that would get the Roundup to point of dripping. We had different weeds to control—milkweed and Canadian thistle. Milkweed was waxy on top, and the herbicide would run off it. The underside is more vulnerable, and it was a very effective tool to get to the underside. And farmers didn’t have any exposure to applicators. But now, that tool is in the shed because of biotech crops.”

The moldboard plow is one tool that’s no longer used either on Larson’s farm.

“We’re all minimal till farmers now,” Larson said. “I can’t tell you the last time a moldboard plow has been across our field. Long ago, my grandfather would dig the field, let the weeds pop up, do it again, then disk it and then plant. It was a constant battle to keep control of the weeds. They’re a lot tougher than the crops. Roundup and biotechnology has truly changed way we farm, both in effectiveness and fewer costs.”

As new farming practices and technologies come along (such as crop protection, no-till, biotech, etc.), farmers like the Borgs and Larsons adapt to improve and sustain their farms’ operations. Adapting is a key reason why each farm has been in operation for more than 125 years. And when the next breakthrough or technique arrives, the Borg and Larson ancestors and other farmers might look back on the early 2000s with the same feelings as their fathers did for the 1950s: thank God we don’t do it that way anymore.

Elizabeth McKillip, daughter of Monsanto employee Brian McKillip, is raising her lamb, Speckles, for an FFA competition later this summer. Elizabeth is a current member of the Muscatine FFA Chapter, and Brian is an alum of the same chapter.

National FFA Week is upon us, and it’s a great time to celebrate the contributions that past members have made and current students are making. At Monsanto, we have hundreds of employees who are FFA alumni. This week, I spoke with four Monsanto employees about their FFA experiences and how the organization has had a lasting impact on their lives and careers.

Michele Grevie, who works at Monsanto’s Woodland facility and is an alumna of the Woodland High School FFA Chapter in Woodland, Calif., said she got involved in FFA because of her family’s ag background.

“Most of my family is involved in farming: my dad, brother and uncle all still farm,” Grevie said. “You always saw FFA-sponsored functions around school. And there were so many people in school involved in FFA. I wanted to learn what was so exciting and learn what my family thought was so exciting about farming.”

Cara Smith, who also works at the Woodland campus as a seed specialist and is an FFA alumnae of the Lompoc, Calif. Chapter, said a general ag class is what got her to join FFA.

“My family lived in the suburbs – no agriculture background whatsoever,” she said. “I took a general ag class as an elective in my freshman year, and FFA seemed like a fun club to join. I have to say now that I loved my experience, and it helped me focus on an ag career.”

For Brian McKillip, who works at the Monsanto Muscatine facility in Muscatine, Iowa, in the information technology department and is an alum of the Muscatine FFA Chapter, FFA has been a family affair. His son is a Muscatine Chapter alum, and his daughter is currently a member of the chapter. He said he is more involved now with FFA—because the organization offers his children more opportunities and Monsanto is heavily involved with the local chapter

“The FFA kids really step up to the plate,” McKillip said. “I’ve heard so many good compliments about the kids who are in FFA. I’m grateful that my children have chosen to be involved with the organization. Because of their experiences, my daughter wants to be either an ag teacher or practice ag law, and my son is studying Farm Management at Muscatine Community College.”

McKillip said the Muscatine Ag Learning Center, which Monsanto donated $250,000 to, is the hub of activity for the local FFA chapter and gives students a better opportunity to learn about agriculture.

“The Ag Learning Center is close to town and allows kids to ride their bicycles or take public transportation to it,” McKillip said. “Students used to have to drive an hour to raise livestock. Now there’s a place 10-15 minutes away to raise animals or study crops. My daughter spends at least 20 hours per week there.”

For Hillary Lee Chan, an alumna of the Delta Chapter in Clarksburg, Calif., and a crop specialist at Woodland, FFA provided the skills she needed in college and at Monsanto.

“I truly believe FFA gave me the foundation I needed to succeed in college and played a major role in getting me to where I am today,” she said. “The experience I gained, the skills I learned, the friends I made and the networks and relationships I formed through my involvement in FFA are priceless to me.”

Mark Reiman, an alum of the Butte, Neb. FFA Chapter and an agronomist at the Gothenburg Water Utilization Learning Center, said FFA allowed him to explore new areas of ag and lead him to his current role at Monsanto.

“Prior to FFA, I hadn’t looked at agriculture outside of farming the land,” Reiman said. “But through FFA, you learn about agribusiness and ag sciences in contests, and you learn more about wide range of jobs in agriculture. FFA introduced me to agronomy, and I was about to pursue research around crops. That opened a new world to me and eventually, it led me to Monsanto.”

There was a common theme among these Monsanto employees too: the ag teachers who guided them.

“In FFA, I was definitely closer with my ag teachers, because it seemed as if they are more involved,” Grevie said. “They were there thorough thick and thin. They would go to field with us and help with chores. They put in a lot of extra work and time.”

“My ag teachers were very good mentors,” Smith said. “I learned a lot about team work and responsibility from them.”

Chan and Smith have similar advice for current FFA members: get involved.

“The only advice I can give to students currently involved in FFA is to get more involved,” Chan said. “There are endless possibilities within the FFA organization, and you will never know what you’re capable of until you try.”

“My advice for current FFAers is to get involved and have fun,” Smith said. “Take advantage of any learning opportunity or experience that you can. I sometimes wish now that I had taken an ag mechanics class and learned how to weld!”

To see the impact FFA made on other Monsanto employees, see our National FFA page on Monsanto.com

After washing his combine after harvest, Nebraska farmer Leland Uden takes time to pose for a picture with his daughter. Cleaning the combine is just one of the many chores Uden and many other farmers have to knock out during the fall and winter months.

During the cold days of February, Nebraska farmer Leland Uden sometimes recalls a joke he’s heard from his non-farming friends:

“I wish I could be a school teacher in the summer and a farmer in the winter.”

Uden’s winter to-do list proves at least the farmer part of that joke isn’t true. A farmer’s job doesn’t stop at harvest. Here’s what Uden has been up to since his crop was harvested in November:

• Check, clean and store harvest equipment
• Till fields until the ground freezes
• Fence fields
• Meet seed sales representatives
• Order seed
• Attend meetings (cattle, marketing and agronomy)
• Attend farm show to see new equipment and products
• Meet with accountants
• Visit with landlords and discuss rents
• Shop for a semi-tractor and trailer
• Visit with equipment dealers about trading equipment
• Trade tractors
• Attend auctions
• Get soil samples and discuss fertilizer needs
• Order and book fertilizer and fuel
• Set marketing plans for 2010
• Check planting equipment
• Handle daily chores
• Take care of livestock
• Prepare for calving season

He probably missed a thing or two, too. Most of his chores prepare him for the 2010 planting and crop year.

“I’d rather have the work done now and then be able to take a day or two off, compared to playing catch up later,” Uden said.

Uden farms 1,250 acres and has 125 head of cattle in south central Nebraska. He began farming in 1990. He’s taken over the fourth generation family farm from his dad, who is now semi-retired.

It’s hard to believe, but planting season will get under way soon. Uden hopes to apply fertilizer in mid-March and get the planter rolling in mid-April. That’s why it’s necessary to work on the planter and make sure the rest of the farm is ready to go for one of the busiest times of the year.

“Once the ground thaws, you can do tillage work,” he said. “Usually, fertilizer work begins in March, around the 15^th or 20^th. If there’s still snow on the ground, it might be the first of April. We’ll run from 8 in the morning to 10 at night.”

If the weather cooperates, planting begins in his area around April 20. A few days before, he and his dad will get the planter set for a trial run.

“You want the planter in tip-top shape,” Uden said. “Anything that creates delays, that costs money. You want to get the crop planted as timely as possible.”

Though 2009 was a challenging year, Uden is ready for 2010. Like most farmers, he loves what he does and has the optimism that this year will be better than the last.

“It takes a lot of investment, both financially and emotionally, because it’s your livelihood,” he said. “We had some corn last year that was hailed on three times. One day you have a beautiful crop and the next day you don’t have one. It takes the wind out of your sails a bit when that happens; just one of the challenges of farming.”

“I do this for love of the job. I like to look out at the beautiful crop . . . and I have a lot of pride in that. And in my cattle too. God has blessed me with a wonderful career.”