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Beyond the Rows is a Monsanto Company blog focused on one of the world’s most important industries, agriculture. Monsanto employees write about Monsanto’s business, the agriculture industry, and the farmer.

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A Science Pioneer’s Journey in Agriculture Featured Article

Dr. Robb Fraley grew up on a farm in Illinois. There, he developed his love for agriculture and his desire to help science make farming easier for farming families. His dream of combining science and agriculture first came to fruition in 1996 with the commercial launch of Roundup Ready® soybeans – a product he developed along with three other Monsanto scientists and an effort that led to them receiving the U.S. National Medal of Technology in 1998.Today, as Monsanto’s executive vice president and chief technology officer, he’s responsible for the products in our R&D pipeline. Today, Secretary of State John … Full Article »

Tags: Monsanto, R&D, Robb Fraley, science, Technology, World Food Prize

Originally published
June 19, 2013 by Monsantoco

Monsanto Commits an Additional $3 Million to Continue International Scholars Program Featured Article

Monsanto announced today that it is committing an additional $3 million to the Monsanto’s Beachell-Borlaug International Scholars Program (MBBISP), funding the program through 2016.

Speaking to international students, academic advisors and agricultural leaders at the International Food and Agribusiness Management Association (IFAMA) Conference in Atlanta, Monsanto Chairman and CEO Hugh Grant announced the additional commitment to fund the program, focused on training the next generation of global rice and wheat breeders.

To date, the MBBISP program has supported 52 students from 21 different countries. With today’s additional commitment announcement of $3 million, Monsanto’s total program investment equals $13 million and … Full Article »

Tags: Beachell-Borlaug, Breeding, Hugh Grant, IFAMA, rice, scholars, scholarships, Wheat

Originally published
June 18, 2013 by Monsantoco

Something Smells, and It’s Not the Pigs Featured Article

A study is published in the Journal of Organic Systems. It claims to find a connection between genetically modified feed (corn and soybeans) for pigs and the pigs developing an increase in uterine weight and severe stomach inflammation.

The first thing to be noted is that the study is announced by simultaneous press releases – by GM Watch and Sustainable Pulse, two advocacy organizations opposed to GM food.

The second thing to be noted is that the lead author’s web site is devoted to anti-GM food reports, and happens to have a link on the home page to … Full Article »

Tags: Andrew Kniss, Cami Ryan, Corn, David Tribe, Fourat Janabi, GM, GM feed, Journal of Organic Systems, Mark Hoofnagle, Mark Lynas, Reuter's, science, Soybeans, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, study

Originally published
June 13, 2013 by Monsantoco

From Gothenburg to St. Louis: The Work of Monsanto Featured Article

The following post is by Brennan Costello currently serves as the Central Region Vice President at the National FFA Organization. He attends the University of Nebraska-Lincoln majoring in agribusiness. Costello recently visited Monsanto and is providing his perspective on that visit.

‘Man, they are sure doing a lot of work over there.’ I had this thought as I traveled down Highway 47 past construction crews working on a new Monsanto facility being built just south of my hometown of Gothenburg, Nebraska.

They were doing a lot of ‘work’ constructing the facility, but the real work that would happen at the … Full Article »

Tags: Ag education, Ag Youth, Agriculture, Brennan Costello, farm youth, FFA, Gothenburg, Monsanto, National FFA, water utilization

Originally published
June 10, 2013 by Monsantoco

I’m Chris, and I feed my kids food made from GMO crops Featured Article

By Chris
Information Technology

In the run up to the March Against Monsanto, I, along with a few dozen of my colleagues, had our names and work phone numbers posted to the internet. Mine were probably lifted from a news release I distributed two jobs and seven years ago.

Predictably, this posting resulted in some calls. Interestingly, the first two callers both mentioned my kids. The first asked whether I feed my kids foods made from GMO crops. Well, yeah. I eat these foods, and my kids eat these foods (and, yes, contrary to internet mythology, these foods are served … Full Article »

Tags: biotech, employee, march, Monsanto, phone calls, safety

Originally published
June 5, 2013 by Monsantoco

Monsanto Provides Validated Test Method for GM Wheat to Regulatory Authorities Featured Article

Monsanto reiterated its full support to the U.S. wheat industry and regulatory authorities in the United States and wheat importing countries following the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s reported detection of the original Roundup Ready wheat trait, technically referred to as the MON71800 event, growing in a single unplanted field in Oregon.

Monsanto has provided a validated testing method for the original Roundup Ready wheat trait to the USDA, and, more recently, to government regulators in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and the European Union as requested. The method will provide these governments with the opportunity to precisely and accurately test for the … Full Article »

Tags: GM wheat, Monsanto, Oregon, Roundup Ready, testing, validation, Wheat

Originally published
June 4, 2013 by Monsantoco

Washington Post: “Dealing with Oregon’s Rogue Wheat” Featured Article

Yesterday, the Washington Post published an editorial about the report of GM wheat being found in Oregon.

“It’s a sign of the extreme sensitivity over genetically modified foods in some parts of the world that the discovery of a patch of pesticide-resistant wheat in Oregon was enough to convince Japan and South Korea this week to halt some imports of the crop from the United States,” the Post said. “The move might allay the fears of some East Asian consumers, at the expense of U.S. farmers and to the detriment of the warmer trading relations the two Asian governments seek … Full Article »

Tags: biotech, GM wheat, Monsanto, Oregon, safety, Washington Post

Originally published
June 3, 2013 by Monsantoco

Monsanto fully supports USDA and wheat industry, conducts investigation into reported GM wheat detection Featured Article

Monsanto noted it remains committed to working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. wheat industry to get to the bottom of the reported detection of Roundup Ready wheat earlier this week in a single field in Oregon.

The company is in the process of conducting its own investigation into the matter and is prepared to take actions once the investigation results are known to ensure that its farmer customers and the broader wheat industry remains strong.

In order to provide information on this reported detection, its own investigation, its wheat technology and wheat business, the company … Full Article »

Tags: FDA, GM wheat, investigation, Monsanto, Oregon, USDA, Wheat

Originally published
May 31, 2013 by Monsantoco

Monsanto Position on GM Cultivation in Europe Featured Article

We have a robust business selling high-quality, conventional corn, oilseed rape and vegetable seeds to our farmer customers in Europe.

We’ve been telling people in Europe for several years now that we’ll only sell biotech seeds where they enjoy broad farmer support, broad political support and a functioning regulatory system. These conditions apply only to a few countries in Europe today, primarily Spain and Portugal.

As Hugh Grant, our CEO told the Financial Times in 2009, “Europe’s going to make up its own mind in its own time.”

The only GM trait grown in Europe today is a corn resistant … Full Article »

Tags: Biotechnology, Business, corn borer, Europe, GM, GM crops, Monsanto

Originally published
May 31, 2013 by Monsantoco

Monsanto’s Statement on the USDA Report on GM Wheat in Oregon Featured Article

On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that it was investigating a detection of genetically modified, glyphosate-resistant wheat in Oregon. Monsanto issued a statement on the report, saying that the company will work with the USDA to get to the bottom of the reported detection, and that there are no food, feed or environmental safety concerns associated with the presence of the Roundup Ready gene if it is found to be present in wheat.

The full Monsanto statement can be found at Monsanto.com. We’ve also included it in full following the timeline below.

The statement by the USDA … Full Article »

Tags: APHIS, GM wheat, Monsanto, Oregon, timeline, USDA, Wheat

Originally published
May 29, 2013 by Monsantoco

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