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 [...]
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. [...]
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.
There and Back Again
Thoughts from Saltire Foundation intern Kitty, at the end of her 8-week internship at Monsanto’s global headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, on what she gained, and what she’s taking back to Scotland with her.
The Leaving of St Louis
After an eight-week internship at Monsanto’s global headquarters, Rory–an intern from Scotland’s Saltire Foundation–reflects on the life-changing experience.
Innovation Conserves Water in Hawaii
Water is a limited resource. According to FAO, agriculture is the world’s largest consumer of water. Between now and 2050 the world’s water supply will have to feed and create livelihoods for an additional 2.7 billion people. It is essential to identify ways to preserve this precious resource. The Monsanto team in Hawaii took this challenge to heart, and were able to conserve 11 million gallons of water annually.
We’re all in this together…
I’m the youngest of seven children. Before I was born in Ireland, my parents and six older siblings lived in Zambia for a number of years and three of them were even born there. They often talk about their time spent in Africa and my brother Ronan’s adamant claims of “Afro-Irishness” still amuse me to this day. This is perhaps one of the main reasons why I have always been intrigued by the African continent and its peoples – my family loved their time in Zambia and their stories and tales about the friends they met and the things they experienced do well to paint a pleasant picture of life there.
Producing More Vegetables in Peru
A huge challenge for today’s agriculture is producing more, using less resources. And at Monsanto, we are working hard to do our part. Our employees in Peru are an incredible example of this. The team at Monsanto’s Homefarm ICA vegetable seed production site looked at their entire site and through agronomic and production changes were able to increase vegetable yields almost 1,000 percent.
The Scottish Are Coming! The Scottish Are Coming!
One of Monsanto’s interns from Scotland’s Saltire Foundation blogs about her first eight days at Monsanto.
New Experiences, Perceptions & Lessons
Monsanto has two interns from Scotland’s Saltire Foundation spending their summer with us. The Saltire Foundation is an independent charitable organization representing a new vision for Scotland, providing invaluable opportunities through experience, learning and business networking. This is the first blog from Rory, one of the interns. Both interns will be blogging their insights on St. Louis, Monsanto, agriculture and anything else that strikes their fancy during their stay throughout the coming weeks.
Indian Farmers Producing More, Conserving More and Improving Lives with Better Technology
Through innovative technology and a partnership between farmers, Monsanto and an Indian NGO, farmers are growing more, on the same amount of land, using less seed and less water. This is improving farmer’s lives, and the lives of those in the surrounding communities.
Golden Tower Pepper Improves the Lives of 30,000 Chinese Growers
Hongge Cai is a 49-year-old Chinese grower who used to feed his family by working on a two-hectare parcel of land growing corn. He, his wife, and two sons barely survived on $2,000 a year. But switching to a hybrid pepper on their farm improved their lives-along with 30,000 others.
Gothenburg Learning Center Highlights Agricultural Conservation
By Sara Duncan Water limitations are constant constraints to western agricultural production. In 2008, Monsanto pledged to reduce, by one-third, soil, land, water and energy resources required to produce a unit of its corn, soybeans and cotton crops between 2000 and 2030. Using a combination of advanced breeding, biotechnology and improved farm-management practices, the company [...]
The Future of Food
As a Brit living in the United States, I have immensely enjoyed all the attention my former stomping grounds have been receiving lately due to the Royal Wedding. Watching my future king walk down the aisle, and having my American friends and family celebrate with me, was incredible and exciting. So when His Royal Highness [...]
The 9 Billion-People Question
Last week, The Economist Magazine published an extensive series of articles with the summary title of “The 9-billion people question: A special report on feeding the world.” The articles examine what is going to be required to feed more than two billion additional people by 2050. A few selected quotes from the report’s introduction: • [...]
Agriculture Biotech Means More Yield, Less (Greenhouse)Gas
I have it on my long to-do list to start a series about yield and why it matters. I’ve made the point with some of my colleagues that although yield is a positive term for farmers, it doesn’t resonate much with the general public. That’s because 1) it’s primarily agriculture terminology and 2) our American [...]
Muscatine Ag Students Take Hands On Learning to the Extreme
By Kate Most farmers don’t have to worry about getting the crops in and making time for their algebra homework but at the Muscatine Ag Learning center in Muscatine, IA, the students face that very time crunch. The Muscatine Agriculture Learning Center is a unique center that serves Muscatine High School and the community college. [...]
What’s for dinner in 2050? Monsanto Talks Ag & Food at Fortune Brainstorm Green
This week in Southern California, a diverse group of political, not-for-profit organizations and business leaders are sitting down at Fortune Brainstorm Green to brainstorm ideas and approaches on how to work together to feed, clothe and fuel human activity and to do so in a sustainable way.
Optimism in an Out of Office Message
Friday afternoon I was trying to reach a coworker. I looked on the office instant messaging system and a rush came over me – there was an out of office message saying he was planting just outside of Corpus Christi, Texas. Immediate reaction? Pick up the phone and call to see how it’s going! It’s [...]
There Isn’t an Off-season in Farming
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 [...]
Mike Williams: Managing a Hundred Details, Often All at Once
Mike Williams in another Monsanto employee who works to support customers like Dave Morris. Dave is a farmer/dealer in southeastern Minnesota, and his operations are supported by a network of Monsanto people. Mike sits in an office building in suburban St. Louis, about 350 miles from the Morris farm. But what he does, often daily, [...]
Fashion Tips from Beltwide
By Jillian Cross posted from Beyond the Shows I never imagined that I would learn about fashion at the Beltwide Cotton Conference. Don’t get me wrong, I KNOW where my clothes come from and what they are made of, but Cotton Inc. has surprised me again. If you are anything like me, you have seen the colorful [...]
How Does One Live Through Their First Beltwide?
I know the question itself sounds overly dramatic. I didn’t use that title for emphasis either. I’ve been to the Beltwide Cotton Conference every year for two decades now. It’s a conference that can test physical and mental strength. After all these years, I still remember my first Beltwide. I was in graduate school working [...]
