About “Beyond the Rows”

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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Recipe for Recycling Old News – Food & Water Watch’s Latest Report Featured Article

Cookbook by Food & Water Watch and Reuters.

Recipe: “Biotech Ambassadors: Diplomacy or Marketing” by Food & Water Watch

Ingredients:  Wikileaks reports that were released in 2010 and reported on ad nauseam for months in 2011.

Instructions: Marinate for 3 years; repackage in a newish looking report replete with anti-biotech and anti-Monsanto dogma; finish with wire service report that neglects to inform readers that this is old news.

Aftertaste: bad.

Serves: Food & Water Watch.

What Monsanto provided to the Reuters reporter: “We are aware of Wikileaks reports which were released in 2010 that mention … Full Article »

two corn ears

Experts Review the Safety of GM Corn Featured Article

Monsanto is committed to ensuring that our products contribute to a safe, healthful and reliable global food supply. Our families and our communities rely on us and the various experts involved in testing and reviewing the safety of the crops we produce. We take that responsibility to heart.

Biotech crops have been reviewed and tested more than any other crops in the history of agriculture and have been shown to be as safe and nutritious as their conventional counterparts. In addition, each of Monsanto’s products has undergone many years of research, field trials and comprehensive testing before submission for regulatory review. … Full Article »

small corn

ISAAA Releases 2012 Report on Global Biotech Crops Featured Article

The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA) recently released its report on the Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops 2012. Two significant developments were noted.

First, developing countries now dominate in plantings of biotech crops. “For the first time since the introduction of biotech/GM crops almost two decades ago,” the report said, “developing countries have grown more hectares of biotech crops than industrialized countries, contributing to food security and further alleviating poverty in some of the world’s most vulnerable regions.”

Developing countries accounted for 52 percent of the total global plantings of biotech crops in 2012, … Full Article »

small corn

EU Says French Report Fails to Meet “Acceptable Scientific Standards” Featured Article

The European Food Safety Authority has reviewed a study allegedly linking GM corn to cancer that was released in September, and determined that it fails to meet “acceptable scientific standards.” 

The study, conducted by the University of Caen (France) researcher Gilles-Eric Seralini and others, claimed that laboratory rats fed a Monsanto GM corn variety and/or Roundup herbicide developed cancer. Pictures of rats with huge tumors inundated the internet, and widely tweeted and posted on Facebook. 

In addition to the review by the European Union agency, separate reviews were done by Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands – and … Full Article »

Wagner family shucking sweet corn on their farm

VIDEO: A Farm Family’s Obsession is Sweet Corn Featured Article

This is my first summer living in the Midwest and although I had spent a lot of time in St. Louis the last several years, I didn’t really “get it.” Lots of things were familiar and the differences, well I didn’t spend much time on. Slowly though, I am beginning to appreciate the differences.

One big difference?

It seems like people here love sweet corn every bit as much as Southerners love tomatoes. Now don’t get me wrong, I have always loved the taste of sweet corn, especially when it was fresh from the garden. And I know many … Full Article »

Transitioning Biotech Traits to “Generic Status” – RR1 Soybeans Featured Article

Monsanto is working with industry groups, in consultation with seed companies and farmer organizations, on mechanisms to transition proprietary biotech traits to so-called generic status to enable access to technology and farmer choice. 

This is a key issue in our industry right now, and the discussion has been generated in part by Monsanto’s first-generation Roundup Ready (“RR 1”) soybean trait because the last U.S. patent on that trait will expire in early 2015. Farmers and seed companies that want to continue to work with the trait will have to address the regulatory implications of that decision. 

Sustainability of Biotech Trait Full Article »

small corn

GM Sweet Corn: Can’t Get Enough of It! Featured Article

By Paul Lilley
Technology Development Crop Lead 

Because I’m the Technology Development Crop Lead for sweet corn (and a few other crops too), I get to enjoy as much fresh sweet corn as I want. For several years, we’ve been testing our GM sweet corn in our fields and on select farmer’s fields. We do this to ensure that each new GM variety not only grows well, yields well and helps prevent insect damage, but also tastes just as good as our well-liked, traditional sweet corn varieties that have been around for years. 

For the farmers who tested our sweet … Full Article »

Whitney and Raegan

I Love Sweet Corn Featured Article

By Connie Vivrett
Corporate Marketing & Communications Team

Many years ago, my husband and I lived in Iowa. Each summer, we couldn’t wait to head to the Iowa State Fair and take in the sights. Having been raised in an urban area, the Iowa State Fair was like a living, contemporary museum of the best Iowa rural life had to offer. But for all the fancy tractors and insanely large vegetables, one of my favorite scenes, one that just really brought home for me all that was “Iowa,” was the free corn on the cob. When I saw those ladies … Full Article »

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Sweet (Corn) Talking Featured Article

By Carly Scaduto
U.S. Vegetables Communications Manager

One of the great things about my job is that I get to talk to our customers about their experiences with some of our newer vegetable products, including our biotech (GM) sweet corn. Many of our customers even blog about their experiences and thoughts surrounding our products. 

They all share common feelings about biotech (GM) sweet corn: they love sweet corn and are very comfortable growing biotech sweet corn, eating it themselves and sharing it with their family and friends. 

Here’s a taste of what farmers are saying about our biotech (GM) sweet Full Article »

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Monsanto GM Sweet Corn: Debunking False Claims Featured Article

By Kelly Clauss
Monsanto Public Affairs

As a wife and mother of two, I often use the Internet to find new healthful recipes and learn more about the foods – especially the nutrition of the foods – I purchase and serve my family. Sometimes finding good sources of information can be challenging.
For example, over the past several months, activists have been circulating misinformation about farmers choosing to plant and grow a biotech (or GM) sweet corn seed from Monsanto: a seed that enables farmers to reduce their use of insecticides by as much as 85 percent.

To make it … Full Article »