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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What RR1 Patent Expiration Means for Farmers

The patent for the original Roundup Ready (RR1) soybean trait is set to expire in 2014. That fact has raised all kinds of interest and questions, starting first with what it means for farmers.

Late last year, Monsanto worked to explain our intentions. Lately, several groups, including the American Farm Bureau Federation, have asked about the regulatory issues involved, because the scientific and export regulatory “estate” for a genetically modified trait like this one has to be maintained. If the estate is not maintained, farmers won’t be able to use the trait. We said last fall that we’d … Full Article »

The Difference Two Weeks Can Make

In comments submitted to the Department of Justice and the USDA, Pioneer Hi-Bred calls rival seed company Monsanto’s dominance in the corn and soybean trait markets “an overwhelming monopoly.”

Brownfield Ag Network, Jan. 12, 2010

DuPont Chief Executive Ellen Kullman told analysts that President Paul Schickler and his Pioneer team “delivered on their commitment to improved profits and market share.”

“We expect the same results this year,” Kullman said.

The $13 billion U.S. seed industry is embroiled in what Kullman described Tuesday as “an incredibly competitive period.”

Schickler on Tuesday exulted in the company’s market share gains of … Full Article »

Monsanto Response to Associated Press Article Regarding Anti-Competitive Claims

This weekend’s Associated Press article on Monsanto’s licensing agreements with companies missed the mark on the real facts behind our business and our licensing approach, including:

  • Our business has grown tremendously over the years thanks to a number of factors – an early investment in biotechnology, adding new approaches to historic breeding, and a decision to broadly license the results of those investments to anyone who wanted them, including our biggest direct competitors. We understand this scale of success brings scrutiny.
  • The growth of our business cannot be attributed to any forced use by customers or to blocking any competitors.
  • Full Article »

DuPont vs. Monsanto – A Tale of Two Companies

By Jerry Glover

Over the last couple of days, Monsanto and DuPont have been in the news. So what’s this all about? Is it just some spitting match between two competitors? A complicated legal wrangling? Or is it something else entirely?

There’s a lot of history here.

Thirty years ago, Monsanto and DuPont were both chemical conglomerates, and both had agricultural divisions primarily making and selling pesticides. As the science of biotechnology began to develop, the two companies took very different paths. Monsanto bet the farm on biotech and its application in agriculture. DuPont consciously chose not to invest in … Full Article »