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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Tag Archives: Technology

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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 human food and a major staple crop in many world areas.

Although the need for wheat continues to increase with the growing global population, wheat acres planted in the U.S. have fallen significantly during the past three decades, due in large part because farmers often … Full Article »

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Originally published
December 2, 2011 by Monsantoco

Farmers Signing Technology Use Agreements

Over the last few days I’ve seen people tweeting about Monsanto’s Technology / Stewardship Agreement (MTSA). Tweets send you to a video of two people discussing the agreement and now there is a commentary on Huffington Post. There seems to be a lot of shock that a liability statement is included in the document, and the overreactions about the extent of the liability borne by Monsanto and the farmers is amazing to me. But then again, I first heard about the agreements in 1995 when they were introduced and I read them shortly after. I’ve had dozens of discussions with … Full Article »

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Originally published
March 3, 2011 by Janice Person

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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:

• “At the start of 2011 the food industry is in crisis. World food prices have risen above the peak they reached in early 2008.”
• “The end of the era of cheap food has coincided with growing concern about the prospects of feeding the world. … Full Article »

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Originally published
March 2, 2011 by Glynn Young

When Farmers Are Your Business, What Does Your Business Meeting Look Like?

It’s not the first annual shareholder meeting I’ve ever been to and it won’t be the last. This one was a little bit different for me – it was the first one I’d been to since joining Monsanto.

My previous experiences with annual shareholder meetings at a previous job were fairly formulaic. There are specific things that are required and a specific process through which that needs to be done. Votes to be tallied and input to be received. They were dry and I was hoping this one would be better.

I asked my colleague who was organizing the meeting … Full Article »

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Originally published
February 1, 2010 by Janice Person

Bruce Drager: Serving Farmers as a Technical Resource

On Dec. 2, I talked with farmer/dealer Dave Morris about his farming operations in southeastern Minnesota. Since then, I’ve been talking with Monsanto people who support what Dave does on his farm. Some help from more than a thousand miles away; others, like Bruce Drager, are somewhat closer.

Bruce is Monsanto’s Technology Development Representative (TDR) for southern Minnesota, and his responsibilities include working closely with Dave Morris. “I’m a technical resource for Dave,” Bruce says, “and I provide support for both his seed dealership and farming operations.” Dave is one of Bruce’s “cooperators,” meaning that he provides a testing area … Full Article »

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Originally published
January 20, 2010 by Glynn Young