Print This PageSustainability Management 2009 Q&A
In This Section
Sustainability Management 2009
Monsanto Mississippi River Partnership Project
Monsanto and CI Partner to Conserve Biodiversity
Biotech Soybeans Spur No-Till Farming in U.S.
Biotech Seeds Reduce Pesticides, Cut Emissions
Produce More
Helping farmers meet the needs of a growing planet.
Improve Farmers' Lives
Increasing incomes and standards of living.
General Questions
- Q: With the US Government soon to be $9 trillion in debt, how will this effect inflation, land prices, commodity prices, etc? Is high inflation in our near future? (Scott A. Evans, KS)
- A: Provided by Rich Pottorff: “Economic theory would indicate that the deficit spending associated with the stimulus bill will ultimately cause inflation. However, near term the concern is deflation. The consensus is that this recession/downturn will be prolonged, lasting into 2010 or longer and inflation won’t be a problem until then at least. Ultimately, higher inflation will depend on a strong rebound in demand, something that seems at least questionable at this point in the cycle.”
Speaker / Company Specific Questions
Monsanto
- Q: When a gene is inserted, do other genes get knocked out or off? i.e. – Do gene chains get longer? (Glenn Larson, NE, Corn)
- A: Provided by David Fischhoff: “When genes are inserted into a plant, they insert randomly into the genome, and each insertion of a gene is called an “event”. As part of the process of characterizing a new trait, we study the insertion site of each event. Only events that have not knocked out an existing plant gene get advanced towards commercialization. In this way, all the plant’s own genes are maintained when a new trait is developed.
Since insertion events are random, each time we introduce a new trait, the location of the new event for the new trait is at a different location from already existing events, so gene chains do not get longer. To stack multiple traits, we breed together parent lines containing the desired separate events. A somewhat newer approach that is now being used is to combine the genes for more than one trait onto a single piece of DNA, in a so-called “vector stack”. When events are made with these vector stacks, the genes for the two traits reside next to one another (for example Roundup Ready and rootworm resistance in Monsanto’s YieldGard VT), but each gene still acts independently.”
- A: Provided by David Fischhoff: “When genes are inserted into a plant, they insert randomly into the genome, and each insertion of a gene is called an “event”. As part of the process of characterizing a new trait, we study the insertion site of each event. Only events that have not knocked out an existing plant gene get advanced towards commercialization. In this way, all the plant’s own genes are maintained when a new trait is developed.
- Q: Are you going to raise prices again? (US Farmer)
- A: Provided by Bob Reiter: “Monsanto continues to focus on creating additional value for the grower through the seeds we sell. As our breeding efforts and biotechnology traits increase the productivity of plants produced from those seeds we carefully evaluate the total increased value of the crop produced. We price our products to share a substantial part of the value with the grower. As the value that our seed products bring to the farm increases it can be expected that the cost of our products will increase in a manner consistent with our pricing philosophy.”
Rich Pottorff
- Q: Given the global trends in grain stocks & land acre requirements to meet future demand, how can agriculture begin to work with urban/city planning committees to minimize or reshape policies on urban growth into key farming areas? Ex. Chicago
- A: Provided by Rich Pottorff: “This is a tough question and the answer depends on how much the different parties want to protect farmland. Some communities and even states have designed easements that require than farm land remain in agriculture. Local zoning could accomplish the same objective. But city planners have to be on board with the idea of protecting farm land. Otherwise economics will favor development and cities will continue to expand into high producing areas. There is no one answer to the question but the key is working together and a shared vision of the desired outcome.”
- Q: What do trend line yields look like in other countries (Argentina, Brazil, FSU, etc) for the near future? (John W. Scharf, NE, Corn & Soybeans)
- A: Provided by Rich Pottorff: “Argentina’s corn yield is rising at about 2% per year. Brazil’s corn yield is close to 2.25% per year. Brazil’s soybean yield growth has nearly stopped – rising at only a 0.4% rate over the last 9 years. Using the 1992 through 2008 period yield growth is about 1.4% per year. Asian rust has probably been a key factor in that plus weather has been pretty bad the last couple of years. Argentina’s soybean yield growth is about 1% per year. FSU’s corn yield growth is very strong – at about 4% per year this decade. Wheat yield growth has accelerated to around 2.5% per year. Yields continue to increase in almost all regions of the world, with a very few exceptions – eg corn yields in Japan, wheat yields in India, east Asia, and Australia’s – due to serious droughts the last couple of years.”
Danny Rogers
- Q: In this precision ag era, what are the barriers that are keeping us from real-time soil moisture monitoring and remote pivot controls that respond to soil moisture status? (Corby Jensen, MO, Corn)
- A: Provided by Danny Rogers: “I don’t believe there are a lot of technical barriers (there still may be economic barriers) that would prevent the incorporation of real-time soil water measurement into an irrigation program that could control a center pivot operation as wireless telemetry technology allows that kind of information transfer from a sensor site(s) to a controller. The barriers to using soil sensors are the same as before – that is the calibration/interpretation of a sensor for a specific field soil type and depth of placement and selecting representative sensor locations within a field are still issues. There is also new technology/sensors being researched and used to “read” the crop. These techniques also show promise and could be use to control irrigation.
The technology for remote control of the center pivot is already commercially available and used by a number of producers in Kansas. So that control could be governed by software. We promote ET or climatic based irrigation scheduling which is also a real time scheduling procedure. Information from ET, soil water, or other crop readings can be used to make a scheduling decision which can be written into a software program, which could automatically control the irrigation system. However, I am not aware of anyone who has turned total irrigation scheduling control to a computer.“
- A: Provided by Danny Rogers: “I don’t believe there are a lot of technical barriers (there still may be economic barriers) that would prevent the incorporation of real-time soil water measurement into an irrigation program that could control a center pivot operation as wireless telemetry technology allows that kind of information transfer from a sensor site(s) to a controller. The barriers to using soil sensors are the same as before – that is the calibration/interpretation of a sensor for a specific field soil type and depth of placement and selecting representative sensor locations within a field are still issues. There is also new technology/sensors being researched and used to “read” the crop. These techniques also show promise and could be use to control irrigation.
