Global Issues

• White Maize in South Africa
  

  In recent weeks, some South African maize farmers have reported variations in pollination in three white maize hybrids sold by Monsanto during the 2008/2009 growing season. The three hybrids contain either Roundup Re...

• Is Monsanto Going to Develop or Sell "Terminator" Seeds?
  

  Through modern biotechnology, it may be possible to develop crops that will not produce viable offspring seeds or that will produce viable seeds with specific genes switched-off. Gene Use Restriction Technology (GURT...

• Farmer Suicides in India – Is There a Connection with Bt Cotton?
  

  If you search the Internet for Monsanto, you will likely come across claims that failure of our Bollgard cotton seed products has caused many farmers in India to take their own lives. Not everything you see or read o...

• Pigs and Patents
  

  In 2007, Monsanto sold Monsanto Choice Genetics to Newsham Genetics LC of West Des Moines, Iowa. The transaction was completed in November 2007, and Monsanto is no longer in the swine breeding business.

Saved Seed / Farmer Lawsuits

• Why Does Monsanto Sue Farmers Who Save Seeds?
  

  Monsanto patents many of the seed varieties we develop. Patents are necessary to ensure that we are paid for our products, and for all the investments we put into developing these products. This is one of the basic r...

• Follow-up to Monsanto Farmer Lawsuits
  

  In an earlier article addressing "Why Monsanto Sues Farmers Who Saved Seeds," we promised to follow up with information on specific cases where we could. To help put these cases in proper context, we first need to de...

• Percy Schmeiser
  

  If you’ve heard much about agricultural biotechnology, you’ve potentially heard of Percy Schmeiser. Schmeiser is a Canadian canola farmer who Monsanto successfully sued for patent violation after unlicensed Roundup R...

• Pilot Grove Co-op
  

  In 2004, Monsanto received an anonymous phone call claiming the central Missouri-based Pilot Grove Cooperative Elevator, Inc. was cleaning Roundup Ready soybeans and helping farmers save patented seed. After a full i...

Food / Product Labeling

• What’s the Problem with Labeling Genetically-Modified (GM/GMO) Foods?
  

  Since genetically-modified (GM/GMO) crops came onto the market, there’s been a lot of debate about whether foods containing ingredients from GM crops should be labeled. Some people believe it’s a right-to-know issue,...

• Milk Labeling – Is Monsanto Opposed to Truth in Labeling?
  

  In many states, the labeling of milk has become a hot topic of debate. In the last year or so, several state legislatures have taken up the topic of how milk should be labeled relative to the use of recombinant bovin...

• Consumer Reports' Errors on Milk Labeling
  

  In the Viewpoint section of Consumer Reports' July 2008 edition, the author misrepresented several aspects of Monsanto’s involvement in the dairy industry, including milk labeling, cow health and consumer health.

• Aspartame/Nutrasweet
  

  Monsanto no longer makes aspartame, the artificial sweetener found in products such as Equal and NutraSweet. In 1985, Monsanto purchased G.D. Searle & Company and created a subsidiary, the NutraSweet Company, which h...

Biotech / GMO Safety and Advantages

• Sorting Out The Facts Behind Stacks
  

  For over a decade, one choice that farmers consider when they select next year's seed is whether to use a "stack." Although every plant naturally contains thousands of genes and is a highly complex "stack," in this ...

• The NewLeaf Potato
  

  In 1995, Monsanto completed U.S. regulatory authorizations for NewLeaf™ potato, a Russet Burbank potato improved using biotechnology to provide protection from the Colorado potato beetle. Canadian authorization was...

• Genuity™ Roundup Ready^® Sugarbeets
  

  On September 21, 2009, U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey White ruled that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will have to complete an Environmental Impact Statement for Roundup Ready sugarbeets. This ruling f...

• Food Safety
  

  Opponents of GM crops often describe them as "untested" and "unsafe." This is simply untrue. To better illustrate this, we have broken the very broad question of GM crop safety into a number of sections that, togethe...

• Do GM Crops Increase Yield?
  

  Since the advent of biotechnology, there have been a number of claims from anti-biotechnology activists that genetically-modified (GM) crops don't increase yields. Some have claimed that GM crops actually have lower ...

• Do Monsanto Corn Products Reduce Fertility in Mice?
  

  On November 11, 2008 the Austrian Federal Ministry for Health, Family and Youth released a report on three studies assessing the impact of biotech corn on reproduction.

• Monsanto's Biofuels Story -- Food and Fuel: It’s not an "either/or" equation
  

  Stories about rising food prices and shortages in parts of the developing world have raised the question: is it appropriate to use food crops for biofuels production?

• Drought and Agriculture
  

  Leading scientists around the world have studied climate change issues for years. Monsanto’s senior scientists and some leading academics recently took a deep look at the data, the trends and the implications for agr...

• Roundup Ready Alfalfa Court Case
  

  Roundup Ready alfalfa completed review by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), was approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and went on the market in 2005. However, a federal lawsuit was filed in earl...

• Should Crucial Technology be Patentable?
  

  A May 2008 report from a Canadian group called ETC (formerly RAFI) criticizes patents on biotechnology traits that would help meet climate change challenges. It equally criticizes government and non-government organi...

Monsanto Business Practices

• Answering Department of Justice Questions
  

  Monsanto has received questions from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) this year regarding competition in the seed industry. These questions come at a time when the DOJ and U.S. Department of Agriculture are stud...

• Innovation and the Competitive Seed Market
  

  There has recently been increased attention to Monsanto’s role in the agricultural seed market. There is no question Monsanto is the recognized industry leader in biotech traits. Anti-biotech activists, and more rece...

• HR 875: Monsanto's Dream Bill – Or Just an Internet Rumor?
  

  In March 2009 a blog post entitled Monsanto's Dream Bill – HR 875 created some ripples in the blogosphere and beyond. Several newspapers and even a radio station have picked up on it, and Monsanto has gotten a number...

• How Monsanto Prices Seeds
  

  When it comes to seed, Monsanto’s pricing is based on the value our products deliver compared to other available seed products. We price our seed annually with a goal of making farmers more profitable using our produ...

• Does Monsanto Have Undue Influence on Governments?
  

  Monsanto has long been an advocate for improving agriculture with the tools of biotechnology. We believe biotechnology can help make agriculture more productive and sustainable. Forty years from now there will be an ...

• Monsanto Business Practice in Indonesia
  

  You may have seen articles or stories claiming Monsanto engaged in improper activities in Indonesia. The truth is that Monsanto did act incorrectly in Indonesia between 1997 and 2002. This involved a series of illega...

• What are the Implications of the Quanta v. LG Supreme Court Ruling?
  

  On June 9, 2008 The Supreme Court ruled on a patent case between Quanta Computer and LG Electronics. Some have speculated that this ruling negates or somehow weakens patents and licensing agreements relative to seeds...

• Diversity at Monsanto
  

  Monsanto operates worldwide with locations in 71 countries and customers in many more. To be successful in so many locations globally, we know that diversity must be ingrained into the very fabric of our company.