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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.avatar Monsantoco Posts

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USDA Intends to Prepare EIS on Dicamba- and 2,4D Tolerant Crops Featured Article

On Friday morning, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Inspection Service (APHIS) issued a statement of its intent to prepare two environmental impact statements (EIS) regarding the regulatory status of Dicamba-tolerant and 2,4D-tolerant crops.

Here’s Monsanto’s statement:

Monsanto to Cooperate With USDA on EIS for Next-Generation Dicamba Weed-Control Technologies, Remains Focused On Bringing New Benefits to U.S. Farmers (May 10, 2013)

Monsanto said today that it will cooperate with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) as it prepares an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on the company’s next-generation dicamba weed management … Full Article »

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Originally published
May 10, 2013 by Monsantoco

WaterforFood2013GlobalConference-River1

Water for Food Conference: Now What? Featured Article

By Melinda
Online Team

Solar-powered cameras and underground sensors and drones. Oh my!

This morning’s session of “Cool Tools & Technologies for Water and Agricultural Research” had me geeking out at the Water for Food Conference. Photographers, computer scientists and engineers are thinking outside of the box when it comes to applying technology in agriculture and the environment. In fact, they are taking these hi-tech gizmos directly to the cornfields and river basins to research.  I’d like to cover these topics in more detail at a later date in order to focus more attention on each individually. … Full Article »

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Originally published
May 9, 2013 by Monsantoco

WFFC_2013_OpeningPanel

Water for Food Conference: From Mirrors to Windows Featured Article

By Melinda
Online Team

“Resilience” is the buzzword that has been part of the sustainable conversation lately, so it is no surprise that it is tied into the conference theme, “Too Hot. Too Wet. Too Dry: Building Resilient Agroecosystems.” Christo Fabricius, leader at the Sustainability Research Unit at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in South Africa, delivered an overview this morning discussing the “three intertwined concepts in resilient agroecosystems: thresholds, adaptability and transformability.”

Then, Charles Hibberd, dean of the Cooperative Extension Division at University of Nebraska-Lincoln, presented a great explanation of how extension functions to provide … Full Article »

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Originally published
May 8, 2013 by Monsantoco

WFFC_2013_OpeningPanel

Water for Food Conference: Go Big or Go Home Featured Article

By Melinda
Online Team

Early this morning, Roberto Lenton, Founding Executive Director of the Robert B. Daugherty Water for Food Institute at the University of Nebraska welcomed a large audience to the Water for Food 2013 Global Conference in Lincoln, Neb.  We didn’t waste any time getting down to business, either.

Jeff Raikes, CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, moderated an impressive panel of international water expertise: (Paul Hicks, Catholic Relief Services, Latin America and the Caribbean Region; Aditi Mukherji, International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, Nepal; Karen Villholth, International … Full Article »

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Originally published
May 7, 2013 by Monsantoco

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Too Hot, Too Wet, Too Dry Featured Article

By Melinda
Online Team

I’m visiting Lincoln, Neb., for the first time ever next week to attend the 2013 Water for Food Global Conference, “Too Hot, Too Wet, Too Dry: Building Resilient Agroecosystems,” on May 5-8 at the Cornhusker Marriott.

I’m actually really excited to be attending.  Maybe “too” excited? I have my agenda of speakers scheduled out like I would for the musicians’ sets at a music festival. I even rented a professional camera.  And, above all, I’m already packed, which is an impressive time frame for me when it comes to work trips and my previous fire-drill approach.

My … Full Article »

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Originally published
May 3, 2013 by Monsantoco

Zarate Plant 3

The La Plata Storm: Solidarity and Networking Pay Off Featured Article

On April 2, a violent storm struck the city of La Plata in Argentina. More than a foot of rain (200 ml) poured down on the city. More than 60 people died, and more than 150,000 were directly affected. Damages were estimated to exceed US $600 million.

The people at Monsanto’s Zarate Plant, plant contractors and Red Cross volunteers came together to help the storm victims.

On April 5, employees, their families and contractors donated and labeled 190 boxes of clothes. Volunteers classified and sorted clothes and food donated, and packed them in boxes. The labeling of the clothes was … Full Article »

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Originally published
May 2, 2013 by Monsantoco

Online news

The Curious Case of the Paper That Isn’t Featured Article

On Jan. 15, the physics journal Entropy received a paper for possible publication. The paper was entitled “Glyphosate’s Suppression of Cytochrome P450 Enzymes and Amino Acid Biosynthesis by the Gut Microbiome: Pathways to Modern Diseases,” and claimed that glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup and many other herbicides, was responsible for a host of diseases, including autism, Alzheimer’s, obesity, anorexia nervosa, liver disease, reproductive and developmental disorders, and cancer.

The paper was authored by Anthony Samsel, an independent researcher in New Hampshire, and Stephanie Seneff, who works in at MIT in the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. … Full Article »

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Originally published
April 30, 2013 by Glynn Young

Helping to Fight Hunger in America Featured Article

Since June 2010, Monsanto employees in the Americas have accomplished more than 100,000 hours of volunteer service to agencies and organizations of all kinds. And MonsantoTogether, the company’s program for coordinating employees with volunteer opportunities, reports that the company has provided more than $500,000 to the organizations employees volunteer for.

One example is what Monsanto employees did in Centralia, Ill.

 
… Full Article »

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Originally published
April 29, 2013 by Monsantoco

afghan 4 fire burning

I Woke Up to a Big Boom – It Nearly Blew Me Out of My Bed Featured Article

By Brian Russell
Monsanto Public Affairs

Sergeant Derek Logsdon lay on his bunk trying to sleep. It was April 15, 2012, and Logsdon had just returned from a mission debrief following two weeks of back-to-back missions at Forward Operating Base Finley-Shields, in Nangarhar, Afghanistan.

Logsdon was going to have tower guard duty that night, so he needed to catch some shut-eye while he could. It was early afternoon.

“It’s not easy to sleep that time of day on a military base – it’s hot, it’s bright, it’s loud, people are coming and going,” said Logsdon, then a member of the … Full Article »

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Originally published
April 26, 2013 by Monsantoco

Another Bogus “Study” Featured Article

A paper published this month in the physics journal Entropy attempts to claim that glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup herbicide,  is connected as a cause, or a link in a chain to a cause, for numerous diseases, including autism, Alzheimer’s, obesity, anorexia nervosa, liver disease, reproductive and developmental disorders, and cancer. With no new data, a piecemeal approach, and low scientific quality, the paper is less a scientific paper and more sheer hypothetical speculation.

The authors, Anthony Samsel and Stephanie Seneff, have strong connections with the anti-GM activist community. Samsel describes himself as helping “those who are victimized by … Full Article »

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Originally published
April 25, 2013 by Monsantoco