Helping Farmers Fight Plant Diseases
Today is the deadline for the applications for the 2012 Monsanto Beachell-Borlaug International Scholars Program. We asked some of the current scholars to provide a perspective on what their experience has been with the program. More information can be found at Monsanto’s corporate web site. By Kebede Muleta Native country: Ethiopia Home University: Washington State [...]
Looking Ahead to the 2012 Corn Planting Season
By Ty Vaughn Corn Product Management Lead As winter quickly passes, we recognize that many growers are gearing up for spring planting and may have questions about our recommendations for corn rootworm (CRW) traited hybrids due to recent discussions and headlines about corn rootworm populations. Whether you are one of the few who experienced unexpected [...]
Beachell-Borlaug Scholars Speak Out
The deadline for applications for the Monsanto Beachell-Borlaug International Scholars Program (MBBISP) is Feb. 1. Monsanto established this program in 2009 in honor of two of the world’s most pre-eminent rice and wheat breeders, Drs. Henry Beachell and Norman Borlaug. Their lifelong work laid the foundation for the tremendous increases in rice and wheat production that [...]
Let’s End World Hunger
By Hugh Grant Chairman, President and CEO Hugh Grant, Monsanto’s chairman, president and chief executive officer, has written an article for the Reuter’s Davos Notebook on world hunger – and the opportunity we have to end it. Last year was a milestone year for raising awareness and advancing a global dialogue about [...]
Scholars Speak on the Beachell-Borlaug Program
The Monsanto Beachell-Borlaug International Scholars Program develops highly educated rice and wheat plant breeders who can serve as agricultural leaders. In 2009, recognizing the importance of rice and wheat in global food security, Monsanto pledged $10 million to improve yields in these crops as part of our commitment to sustainable agriculture. The program is named [...]
Wheat needs technological investments to ensure long-term sustainability
For thousands of years, wheat has been relied on as a key crop due to its versatility, nutritional value, and ability to be grown across a variety of climates and conditions. Even though overall wheat production gains have fallen behind corn and rice in recent years, wheat is the leading source of vegetable protein in [...]
Talking with a Beachell-Borlaug Scholar
Applications are currently open for Monsanto’s 2012 Beachell-Borlaug International Scholars Program (MBBISP). One of the 2009 scholars was Godwin Macharia, a citizen of Kenya who is working on his PhD at the University of Minnesota. We caught up with Godwin recently and asked him his experiences with MBBISP. Monsanto: Godwin, what area of research have [...]
What FFA Means to Me
By Vance Zacharias Note: This past summer, Monsanto presented an Ag Youth in the Spotlight Award to Vance Zacharias, son on of a North Dakota farmer. Vance is heavily involved in FFA at the local and state levels, and we asked him to tell us why he believes FFA is important to himself and to [...]
Despite Drought, Hope Remains for the Gold Finger Women
By E. Vancil Recently, three of us from Monsanto’s St. Louis offices had the opportunity to visit a group of women in a Kenyan village. The village is approximately three miles off the equator, and we came there to learn more about the challenges the women, and many more like them throughout Africa, face each [...]
November is National Adoption Month
By Connie Vivrett November is National Adoption Month, and as the mother of three adopted children (a seven-year old daughter from China and sons from Korea aged three and two), I tend to get a little emotional at times as the Thanksgiving holiday approaches. I’m frequently reminded of how thankful my husband and I are [...]
Horn of Africa: Geldof, Bono and Seale
By Jeffrey Seale In the fall of 1984, while I was in college, BBC correspondent Michael Buerk did a television news report about the Ethiopian famine. A young Irish musician named Bob Geldof saw the report and decided to do something. He assembled popular British rock stars, under the name Band Aid, to record “Do [...]
The Buzz on Sweet Corn
By John Headrick Recently, there has been a lot of buzz about one of Monsanto’s latest technology innovations, biotech sweet corn, or what we call Seminis Performance Series™ Sweet Corn. It has the potential to create sustainable improvements in sweet corn farming through the better use of resources and less reliance on pesticides. Although this [...]
The Horn of Africa: The Work by the World Food Program
The World Food Program USA (WFP USA) has a simple, descriptive mission statement – fighting hunger worldwide. The statement is simple, but the programs to accomplish it are complex, and they are global. They range from short-term immediate relief like providing food to the hungry to longer-term projects like irrigation systems aimed at reducing and [...]
Beachell-Borlaug Scholar Applications Now Open
Since 2009, Monsanto has sponsored the Beachell-Borlaug International Scholars Program to develop highly educated rice and wheat plant breeders who can serve as agricultural leaders. The program is named in honor of Drs. Henry Beachell and Norman Borlaug, two of the world’s pre-eminent rice and wheat breeders. The program, administered by Texas AgriLife Research at [...]
Volunteers Are Recognized
Ten Monsanto employees and one former employee were recognized recently for caring enough about their community to spend precious time volunteering. And the recognition came from a fairly high level. The President’s Volunteer Service Award is issued by the Points of Light Institute and the Corporation for National and Community Service on behalf of the [...]
Video: Passionate About Cucumbers
Nischit Shetty is a breeder with Seminis, the Monsanto global vegetable seeds brand for open field crops. He breeds pickling and slicing cucumbers. Nischit provide insights into the various stakeholders for cucumbers – such as pickle manufacturers for whom he needs to develop vegetable products to precise specifications – as well as his commitment to continuing the important sustainable agriculture work of fighting disease in vegetables.
Horn of Africa: I Know the Challenges
By Zellipah Githui I cannot remember exactly when I started farming. But I know that by first or second grade I knew how to plant corn and potatoes and milk cows. I was also taking care of my brother—who is three years younger than me—and working with my mother on our farm in Central Kenya, 141 [...]
FFA: Nurturing Seeds Called Young People
By Greg Wildhaber Dayton, Oregon FFA Chapter Ag Sales Coach I am the FFA Ag Sales coach from Dayton, Oregon. Four students from Dayton, a small farming town with one blinking light, are $1,000 richer because of Monsanto. And, also because of Monsanto’s continuous contribution to the FFA and Ag Sales Career Development Event, thousands of [...]
Video: Passion for Sustainable Squash & Supporting Growers
Bill Johnson is a breeder with Seminis, the Monsanto global vegetable seeds brand for open field crops. He breeds squash for key vegetable markets around the globe. Bill explains the importance of breeding squash to meet different cultural expectations and shares his lifelong passion for squash, which equals the passion he sees from vegetable growers who are committed to producing the best possible products.
Bringing Expertise to the FFA Convention
Seeking the best and brightest role models to inspire the next generation of agricultural professionals, the National FFA recently invited several Monsanto employees to judge competitions at its national convention last week in Indianapolis, Ind. The judges included; John Raines, Monsanto Customer Advocacy Lead; Lisa Massa, U.S. Business HR Lead; Greg Bomleny, Pre-Commercial Corn Mfg [...]
Video: Producing More Peppers Sustainably
Bill McCarthy, is a breeder with Seminis, the Monsanto global vegetable seeds brand for open field crops. He breeds a variety of peppers, including mini-peppers. Bill talks about the various benefits peppers offer to consumers and his commitment to helping make vegetable growers more productive by delivering sustainable products that are more robust and require fewer pesticides to thrive.
Helping in the Horn of Africa
We’ve been reading reports about how the drought and famine situation is the Horn of Africa has been easing, but the short- and long-term needs for between 12 and 14 million people are still serious. We caught up with Kinyua M’Bijjewe, Monsanto Corporate Affairs in Africa, and asked him for an update. For more information, [...]
Video: Sustainable Tomato Breeding Helps Meet Demand
James Frantz is a tomato breeder. He gives us some background on the popularity of the tomato and how this popularity makes for challenging opportunities to help tomato growers meet constant demand by providing them the agriculture tools to grow consistent, sustainable products across various season and geographies. Disease resistance is one of those important sustainable agriculture tools.
Video: Passion & Innovation Bring Benefits to Producers & Consumers
Ken Kmiecik breeds beans for Seminis, the Monsanto global vegetable seeds brand for open field crops. Ken discusses the implications of disease resistance on grower success – in providing higher agriculture yields and ensuring that vegetables look appealing to consumers – and talks about his own history of becoming involved in agriculture and how much he enjoys the constant challenges in his role with vegetables at Monsanto.
