Another Incorrect Report from Natural News
Last Friday, the online publication Natural News, published by Mike Adams, the “Health Ranger,” got caught up in a mistaken internet report on Monsanto supposedly leaving the United Kingdom. The publication eventually had to post a correction. You can read our report here. Today, Natural News has another incorrect report, claiming that the FDA is not [...]
ISAAA: Biotech Crops Up 8 Percent in 2011
The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA) has reported that biotech crops reached 160 million hectares in 2011, an increase of 12 million hectares or 8 percent over 2010. Since first introduced in 1996, according to ISAAA, the increase in plantings to date makes biotech crops “the fastest adopted crop technology in [...]
The Story That Was and Wasn’t
It’s Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2012. You’re doing a Google search on genetically modified crops in Europe. One of your search results is from the U.K.’s Daily Mail web site – an announcement that Monsanto is closing wheat breeding stations in the United Kingdom, France, Germany and the Czech Republic. You look at the article’s date: [...]
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 [...]
Monsanto’s Annual Shareholder Meeting
Today was the annual shareholder meeting for Monsanto Company. I’ve been to several of these before, both here at Monsanto and for other companies. I can remember the first one I went to… it really didn’t match my expectations. I’m not sure what I expected – maybe something like the excitement in “Mr Deeds.” Although [...]
An Incredible Learning Experience With Farm Bureau
For the last few years, I have had an opportunity to go to the annual meeting of the Farm Bureau. A group of us have also enjoyed being able to share the experience in real-time (thanks to Twitter) and with a bit of reflection on the AFBF meeting blog. This year, I wrote 1-2 blog [...]
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 [...]
Getting to Know the Farm Bureau
This week as millions of Americans went back to work after the New Year‘s holiday, thousands of men and women who kept working straight through the holidays began packing and finalizing schedules to have friends and family care for crops and livestock. Many of these farmers worked through the holidays but find the American Farm [...]
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 [...]
What Do You Say?
What do you say? What do you say to man who risks a good portion of his family wealth every year, so you can eat? What do you say to the man who starts working at 4 a.m. and doesn’t stop until he tumbles into bed bone-tired? What do you say to the family who [...]
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 [...]
Catholic Relief Services and the Horn of Africa
In 1943, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) was formed to help resettle war refugees in Europe. Established by the U.S. Catholic bishops, the agency focused on helping people recover from a conflict that resulted in the deaths of tens of millions, and tens of millions more displaced and made homeless. Almost 70 years later, CRS has [...]
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 Voice in the Cab
He’s the voice in the cab. He gets up with the farmer long before dawn. She’s chatting while the farmer gets the first pot of coffee of the day going. He’s talking about the business. She gives an update on the weather. He notes the current prices on the commodities exchange. She’s talking about comments [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Shoulders Broad Enough for 7 Billion
Here’s a quiz: what are three most populous countries in the world? (Answer below*) Today, based on various estimates by a host of authorities, the world’s population has reached seven billion people. The number staggers the imagination, and a lot of people are trying to explain or illustrate what “seven billion” means or looks like. [...]
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 [...]
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, [...]
Drought and The Horn of Africa: The Need is Great
Nobel Peace Prize and father of the Green Revolution Norman Borlaug often talked about what he called the “traveling geography of hunger.” Fueled by a drought called the worst in 60 years, hunger has moved to the geographies in the Horn of Africa. Drought and famine in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia have left more [...]
