Monsantoco PostsBill Johnson is a breeder with Seminis, the Monsanto global vegetable seeds brand for open field crops. He breeds squash for key vegetable markets around the globe.
Bill explains the importance of breeding squash to meet different cultural expectations and shares his lifelong passion for squash, which equals the passion he sees from vegetable growers who are committed to producing the best possible products.… Full Article »
Bill McCarthy, is a breeder with Seminis, the Monsanto global vegetable seeds brand for open field crops. He breeds a variety of peppers, including mini-peppers.
Bill talks about the various benefits peppers offer to consumers and his commitment to helping make vegetable growers more productive by delivering sustainable products that are more robust and require fewer pesticides to thrive.… Full Article »
James Frantz is a tomato breeder with Seminis, the Monsanto global vegetable seeds brand for open field crops. 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 and Monsanto breeders are adapting products to match the unique growing conditions and disease pressures found across diverse regions.… Full Article »
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.… Full Article »
By Sara Duncan
Imagine increasing productivity by 1,000 percent without adding hours to the day. In just two production cycles, Monsanto employees in Peru increased the yield of cucumbers by 985 percent at their Homefarm Ica vegetable seed production site. The team also more than doubled the yield of melons, watermelons and tomatoes, tripled the yield of lettuce, and increased the yield of seedless watermelon by almost 700 percent. How did they do it? They looked at their farm and made production changes to make it more efficient.
“When I became Ica’s site manager, I realized–based on my previous De … Full Article »
By Sara Duncan
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. Recently, Cai and his wife experienced one of the many joys of parenthood: their eldest son was accepted into college.
They were proud, but concerned about how to pay for tuition when they could barely get through day-to-day life.
Until, Cai happened to see a field demonstration about growing a certain type of pepper with potential. He borrowed money from his relatives, … Full Article »
If there is something good to come out of the Internet chatter on Monsanto’s donation of hybrid seed to Haiti, then perhaps it is this: More discussion and explanation of the difference between heirloom and hybrid seeds.
George Ball wrote a guest column for the Des Moines Register called “A Juicy Debate: Hybrids vs. Heirlooms.” Ball is a past president of The American Horticultural Society and chairman of the W. Atlee Burpee & Co.–well known for the line of Burpee Seeds sold in big box stores around the country. Fair disclosure: Monsanto sells some of its Seminis brand … Full Article »
It’s been four months since the ground shook in Haiti. A few weeks after that catastrophic event, the World Economic Forum was held in Davos, Switzerland, to discuss a variety of global issues, including the outlook for agriculture. Monsanto CEO Hugh Grant and Executive Vice President Jerry Steiner attended the event and had conversations with attendees about what could be done to help Haiti. Monsanto had already donated money, but it was clear that a donation of our products—corn and vegetable seeds—could really make a difference in the lives of Haitians.
Simple directive, but complex in execution. … Full Article »
Investor presentations are always good fodder for news around here. Today’s release previewed what our leadership will discuss at investor meetings over the next two days. A few items caught my attention:… Full Article »
That’s sustainable agriculture.
And that’s what Monsanto is all about.
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I heard Monsanto Employees Control USDA, FDA, etc
