Print This PageMonsanto Executive Finds Motivation in the Farming Life
“Agriculture is my life.”
Growing up a farmer, Brett Begemann dreamed of one day running his family’s farm, but life had different plans for him. Today, as executive vice president global commercial for Monsanto, Begemann relies on his own experiences, as well as those of people he’s met around the world, to inspire himself to make a difference. Here he reflects on the past, the present, the future and how he hopes to continue to improve the lives of so many around the world through biotechnology and Monsanto.
Brett Begemann, Executive Vice President
Global Commercial
I grew up on a farm in Western Missouri where we farmed corn, soybeans and wheat. We also raised cattle and hogs. We didn’t have much hired help, so my dad, my brother and I did virtually everything on the farm. Planting crops, spraying chemicals, chopping weeds, harvesting fields, fixing equipment, taking care of the livestock – I’ve done it all.
Agriculture is my life, and as a young man I had every intention of returning to the family farm. As a farmer I was used to our crops being at the mercy of Mother Nature, but I wasn’t prepared for my career to be as well. I graduated from college in 1983, a hard year for agriculture in Missouri because of drought conditions. It was the wrong time to be going home to expand the farming operation, so I went to work for Monsanto with the expectation that I’d return to the farm in a couple of years. Those couple of years passed, and I’ve had plenty of opportunities to return home, but I’m still here almost 25 years later because I enjoy changing people’s lives through agriculture, and that’s what I believe we’re doing at Monsanto.
Growing up on the farm
Growing up I experienced an infestation of corn rootworm that was so bad we lost our entire crop. We even were forced to sell a lot of hogs because buying corn to feed them would have been too expensive. This is probably the worst experience a farmer can go through with rootworm, and I’ve lived it. Today’s farmers don’t have to go through these situations because of the YieldGard Rootworm trait.
I’ll also never forget spending summer days walking bean fields and chopping endless weeds so we could have good yields at harvest. Teenagers today don’t know this experience because of Roundup Ready technologies. The first time I walked a field of Roundup Ready soybeans I was convinced somebody cheated and hand-weeded the field. In all my years in agriculture I’d never seen a field that clean, and today farmers can count on clean soybean fields year after year, thanks to Monsanto’s research and technology.
My experiences on the farm motivate me every day. They’re invaluable as I think about selling products that will make a difference in someone’s life. I understand farmers and how they make their decisions. I recognize what’s of value to them. I am one. I know how volatile farming can be and how a successful or failed crop can make or break your year. Unfortunately, even the best farmer can’t create stability and control all the variables, so when we can control some of those for them, it makes a huge difference. But it’s not only my own experiences that motivate me – it’s also those I’ve witnessed around the world.
Brett with Indian cotton growers
Touching people’s lives around the world
When I think about making a difference, I think about India. Nowhere in the world has Monsanto completely changed the livelihood of farmers the way we have there. When you’re a farmer who survives on one hectare of cotton and through the use of Bollgard technology can double the productivity of that land – all while maintaining or reducing costs – you’ve changed your livelihood. You now have a scooter to get to the next village. You can now send your children to school. These are life-changing events, and with Bollgard cotton now growing on 14 million acres in India, that’s a lot of lives changed.
I often meet people who are not enamored with biotechnology. When I talk to these people, I tell them the story of one of my first international experiences with Monsanto. I was watching a woman in China spray insecticide on a field – insecticide that would protect her crop against the same pests Bollgard cotton would. She wore no protective clothing – no goggles, no gloves, no protection of any kind. She came out of the field and immediately tended to her small infant who was waiting nearby. I couldn’t help but shudder at the scene, thinking of what that woman and that child were being exposed to without her wearing protective clothing, and knowing it could all be prevented with proper chemical handling practices or - more conveniently - the use of biotechnology. So many people don’t understand that millions of people get up every day and live that way, and this is the kind of stuff we can change and are changing. When people tell me biotechnology is bad, I think about that day, and I say biotechnology may not be the answer, but it’s far better than that answer.
Looking to the future
Agriculture is one of the more exciting fields to be in today, and I believe we’re just at the tip of the iceberg of the excitement that’s going to be created. Technology’s never touched this industry the way it has in the last 10 years, and we’re only at the beginning of what we can do.
I’ve had the luxury of working in international business and seeing the world’s poorest of the poor using the most sophisticated agricultural technology available today. I’ve seen the difference it makes in their lives, and that’s what keeps me here. Our products are making a difference in people’s lives, in both the industrialized and developing countries of the world. That’s incredibly rewarding, and that’s why I still work for Monsanto rather than running my family farm in Western Missouri. Maybe I’ll get back there once I retire, but for now I’m busy being inspired by farmers all over the globe.
