About
- 2002: The Monsanto Company is spun off from Pharmacia as a separate company.
- 2003: Pfizer acquires Pharmacia.
- Pharmacia Corporation = Merger of Pharmacia & Upjohn Inc. and Monsanto in 2000. Monsanto, agricultural chemical division. Searle, pharmaceutical division.
- Pharmacia & Upjohn Inc. = Merger of Pharmacia AB and The Upjohn Company in 1995. Global headquarters relocated from UK to US in 1998.
- Member of CropLife International.
- Member of The Corporate Council on Africa.
Business
2011
- Donations: St. Louis County Library Foundation, $250,000; Montana Grains Foundation, $25,000; Kenya Red Cross, $400,000; St. Louis Public Library Foundation, $500,000; Alabama Forestry Foundation, $50,000; University of Missouri, $100,000; The Missouri Agriculture Disaster Relief Fund, $100,000; North Carolina Agricultural Tornado Assistance Program, $20,000; American Red Cross St. Louis Area, $100,000.
- Acquisitions: Beeologics, focused on biological research; Divergence Inc., privately-held St. Louis-based biotechnology research and development company.
- Agreement to extend existing 3-year research collaboration with GrassRoots Biotechnology for an additional 2 years through January 2014. Alliance focused on the design and development of promoters that enable crops to express trait genes that enhance and protect yield. (Promoters are segments of DNA that determine when and where a trait gene is expressed).
- Agreement with Atlas Venture to enter a multi-year collaboration to explore investment opportunities in early-stage life sciences technology companies. Interests and potential growth areas include genomics, informatics and biology.
- Agreement with Sapphire Energy Inc. to enter a multi-year collaboration that will leverage algae-based research platform to discover genes that could be applied to agriculture, particularly in the field of yield and stress.
- New agreement with BASF to collaborate on the advancement of dicamba tolerant cropping systems.
- New office and warehouse facility in Leamington, Ontario, to help serve the needs of its De Ruiter protected culture growers in the region.
- New 15,000 square-foot corn breeding facility in Othello, Washington.
- New faculty chair in soybean breeding within Iowa State University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Students will join a group of more than 50 Monsanto Fellows in Plant Breeding across 8 universities.
- Opened new 26,000 square-feet corn breeding facility in Flora, Mississippi.
2010
- Licensing agreement and R&D collaboration with Stokes Bio Limited to help accelerate the pace of new advancements in plant breeding.
- Facilities at North Carolina Research Campus become a part of one-of-a-kind facility under development in Kannapolis, North Carolina, and strategic alliance with the David H. Murdock Research Institute.
- Completion of Glyphosate Plant Expansion at Luling, Roundup agricultural herbicide production.
- New $2.4 million, 26,000-square-foot, corn breeding station in Flora, Mississippi.
- Acquisition, from Pfizer Inc., of the Chesterfield Village Research Center, 1.5 million-square-foot research center with 250 laboratories, 108 plant growth chambers and 2 acres of greenhouses.
- Haiti: $50,000 to the American Red Cross; 1st shipment of more than 60 tons of conventional hybrid corn and vegetable seeds through donated shipping, logistic and distribution services provided by Kuehne + Nagel and UPS; 2nd shipment of 70 tons of hybrid, conventional corn seed; Further donation and distribution of up to an additional 345 tons of conventional hybrid corn seed anticipated over the next 12 months.
- Expansion and increasing investments in collaboration with BASF to develop higher-yielding and stress-tolerant crops to include a fifth crop (corn, soy, cotton and canola). The original collaboration (2007) dedicated a joint budget of potentially $1.5 billion, the new agreement results in a potential additional investment of more than $1 billion by the companies over the life of the collaboration. Around 2012, the companies expect to introduce the world's first genetically modified drought-tolerant corn, pending regulatory approvals.
- Wheat breeding technology collaboration agreement with InterGrain Pty Ltd.
- 3 year collaboration with AgraQuest Inc. to develope seed treatment products to control nematodes, disease and insects, and enhance plant growth and yield, using AgraQuest's collection of microbes.
2009
- Agreement with South Dakota State University to create a new Ph.D. research fellowship program in plant breeding. Monsanto commits $1 million over 5 years for the program.
- $10 Million to rice and wheat research program administered by Texas AgriLife Research, an agency of the Texas A&M University System, for the next 5 years. Texas AgriLife Research also receives the largest private donation of cotton technology, including about 4,000 cotton molecular markers and associated information.
- The Water Utilization Learning Center, a $6 million facility designed for studying cropping systems comprised of world class genetics, agronomic practices and biotech traits including water-use efficiency technologies such as drought-tolerant cropping systems.
- Acquisition of the assets of WestBred LLC, a Montana-based company that specializes in wheat germplasm, the crop's seed genetic material.
- Sale of global hybrid sunflower seed business to Syngenta for $160 million.
- The U.S. Bureau of Land Management begins distribution of a draft Environmental Impact Statement regarding a proposal by P4 Production LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Monsanto Company, to open one of North America's most environmentally advanced phosphate mines.
- Monsanto among top rated businesses for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender workers according to a report by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, the nation's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization.
- Acquisition of Pfizer's Chesterfield Village Research Center located in Chesterfield for $435 million. Pfizer continues to have operations at Chesterfield Village through a lease agreement, primarily performing Biotherapeutic Pharmaceutical research. The site was originally built by the former Monsanto Company for approximately $150 million and opened in 1984.
- The Beijing research center (first biotechnology research center opened in China) participates in early-stage bioinformatics and genomics research, and serves as a base for collaborations with Chinese scientists. (Other research centers: United States, Brazil and India).
2008
- Acquisition of Marmot S.A., which operates Semillas Cristiani Burkard, a privately-held seed company headquartered in Guatemala City, Guatemala.
- Acquisition of Aly Participacoes Ltda., CanaVialis S.A. and Alellyx S.A., from Votorantim Novos Negocios Ltda. and its sister company, Votorantim Industrial S.A., both part of the Brazilian industrial conglomerate Votorantim Participacoes S.A.
- Acquisition of De Ruiter Seeds Company.
- Sale of POSILAC bovine somatotropin brand and related business to Eli Lilly and Company.
2007
- $2 Billion credit facility. The bank syndication was led by J.P.Morgan Securities Inc. and Citigroup Global Markets Inc., as co-lead arrangers and joint bookrunners.
- Share subscription agreement with Devgen.
- Investment increase in Mendel Biotechnology Inc.
- Newsham Genetics acquires Monsanto Choice Genetics.
- Acquisition of Agroeste Sementes S.A. (Brasil).
2006
- Holding company: International Seed Group Inc.
- Acquisition of Delta and Pine Land Company.
2005
- Acquisition of Seminis Inc. and Emergent Genetics Inc.
- American Seeds Inc. acquires NC+ Hybrids Inc., headquartered in Lincoln, Neb.
- Sale of Monsanto Enviro-Chem Systems Inc. to MECS Inc., formed by the Enviro-Chem management team and an outside investor.
- American Seeds Inc. acquires 4 companies that are the shareowners of the CORE Group, including Fontanelle Hybrids, Stewart Seeds, Trelay Seeds and Stone Seeds. Also acquires Specialty Hybrids, a leader serving the Eastern Corn Belt.
2004
- Holding company for mostly corn and soybeans: American Seeds Inc.
- Monsanto's American Seeds Inc. subsidiary acquires Channel Bio Corp. and its three seed brands: Crows Hybrid Corn, Midwest Seed Genetics and Wilson Seeds.
2000
- NutraSweet Company is sold to J.W. Childs and Equal is sold to Merisant.
1999
- Pharmacia acquires SUGEN.
1998
- The original Monsanto purchases DeKalb Genetics Corp. and creates the porcine genetics subsidiary Monsanto Choice Genetics.
1997
- Acquisition of Calgene, biotech research company.
- Acquisition of Asgrow agronomics seed business, Holden's Foundation Seeds L.L.C. and Corn States Hybrid Service L.L.C., supplier of high quality foundation seed for the corn seed industry.
- The original Monsanto spins off its industrial chemical and fibers business as Solutia Inc.
Before 1997
- 1996: Monsanto acquires the plant biotechnology assets of Agracetus.
- 1985: Monsanto purchases G.D. Searle & Company and creates a subsidiary, the NutraSweet Company, which handled both NutraSweet and Equal.
- 1984: The Life Sciences Research Center opens in Chesterfield, MO., United States.
- 1982: Acquisition of Jacob Hartz Seed Co., known for its soybean seed.
- 1981: A molecular biology group is set up and biotechnology is firmly established as Monsanto's strategic research focus.
- 1975: A cell biology research program is established in the Agricultural Division.
- 1960: The Agricultural Division is established.
Products
2011
- For 2012, more than 300 Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield soybean varieties to be offered by national and regional seed brands, as well as by more than 100 independent seed companies.
- Agreement with Bayer CropScience to deliver Acceleron Seed Treatment Products with Poncho/VOTiVO.
- Collaboration agreement with Amvac Chemical Corporation (subsidiary of American Vanguard Corp.) that broadens Roundup Ready PLUS weed management platform in the United States to include Impact herbicide beginning in the 2012 crop season.
- USDA's Risk Management Agency approves Genuity Smartstax RIB Complete for Pilot Biotechnology Endorsement program.
- N.C. State University's Plants for Human Health Institute at the N.C. Research Campus receives extensive cabbage germplasm collection from the United States, Europe and Japan, for its research program.
- USDA authorizes spring planting of Genuity Roundup Ready sugar beets and resumption of the sale and planting of Roundup Ready alfalfa.
2010
- Approval from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for the sales of new formulation of acetochlor for early post-emergence use in cotton and soybeans (MON 63410 Herbicide).
- Team with Schnucks to bring St. Louis consumers EverMild onions, new U.S. grown sweet onion variety.
- New licensing agreement with Dow AgroSciences on Roundup Ready 2 Yield Soybean Technology.
- Beneforté broccoli, result of a collaboration between Apio Inc. and Monsanto's Vegetable Seeds division to develop broccoli and cauliflower varieties that possess unique, desirable consumer traits such as improved nutrition, flavor, color, texture, taste and aroma.
- New Weed Management Platform Under the Roundup Ready PLUS Brand.
- Agreement with Makhteshim Agan Group as key partner of selected off-patent molecules to support Roundup Ready PLUS weed management platform.
- Long-term agreement with Sumitomo Chemical Co. Ltd. and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Valent U.S.A. Corporation, as strategic partners in Roundup Ready PLUS weed management platform in the United States. Further collaboration on weed management opportunities with Sumitomo Chemical's flumioxazin products in other countries such as Brazil and Argentina. Valent herbicides covered under the agreement include the growing line of preemergence residual herbicides such as Valor SX, Valor XLT, Gangster and Fierce, a new product pending registration, along with the Select branded post-grass herbicides in the United States.
- Agreement with FMC Corporation that broadens Monsanto's Roundup Ready PLUS weed management platform in the United States to include the growing line of soybean preemergence residual herbicides, including Authority First DF, Authority MTZ DF, Authority XL, and Authority Assist.
- Launch of new encapsulated formulation of acetochlor designed for cotton and soybean acres (MON 63410 Herbicide)available widely for 2011 as Warrant Herbicide.
- Introduction of new Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield soybean varieties with aphid tolerance in 2011.
- Acetochlor premix formulation for pre-emerge and post-emerge use in corn marketed as TripleFLEX Herbicide for the 2011.
- ARMtech Insurance Services, operating subsidiary of Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd., announces additional risk management tool with Biotech Yield Assurance for the 2011 growing season.
2009
- New joint-licensing agreement with BASF to accelerate the development of the next-generation of dicamba based weed control chemistry products.
- Launch of Project SHARE (Sustainable Harvest - Agriculture, Resources, Environment), a pilot project in association with the Indian Society of Agribusiness Professionals.
- Launch of Genuity.
- Updated research and technology agreement signed in 2007 with Devgen. Monsanto has broader rights to Devgen technology and Devgen receives €20 million in cash.
- 4 year research and licensing agreement with Hunan University focused on identifying novel plant genes with attributes such as higher yield, drought resistance and enhanced nitrogen utilization.
- Commercial agreement with Drexel Chemical regarding patents Monsanto owns on the manufacture, use and sale of certain types of glyphosate based herbicides. Drexel agrees to cease selling potassium salt glyphosate formulations in the U.S. in the future.
- Two-year collaboration with Protabit LLC to develop new tools for protein design and optimization.
- Collaboration agreement with Dole Fresh Vegetables Inc. to develop new products. The five-year collaboration will focus on broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce and spinach. Plant breeding will be used to improve the nutrition, flavor, color, texture, taste and aroma.
- Agreement with Bayer CropScience to cross license their respective herbicide tolerance traits in canola on a non-exclusive basis for commercialization within their respective branded canola seed businesses.
- Non-exclusive research and commercial license agreement with France-based Cellectis S.A., a biotechnology company specialized in genome engineering, for broad use of its meganuclease technology in plants. Meganucleases are molecular scissors that can be directed to a single site in the genome of a plant cell, thereby allowing a wide range of precise genome modifications, including gene stacking, gene knock-out as well as modulation of gene function to develop new traits. Under the agreement, Monsanto will have access to Cellectis' intellectual property on meganucleases and its custom meganuclease production platform.
- Collaboration with Huazhong Agricultural University to further the development of novel traits such as higher yield, drought resistance and nitrogen use efficiency.
2008
- Exclusive agreement with Bayer CropScience on a new cutting-edge fungicide seed treatment for corn.
- Collaborative agreement with Mendel Biotechnology Inc. to enhance the development of Mendel's BioEnergy Seeds & Feedstocks business.
- Landec Corporation and Monsanto announce that Monsanto's vegetable seed company, Seminis Vegetable Seeds Inc., and Landec's food subsidiary, Apio Inc., have entered into a collaboration agreement to develop novel broccoli and cauliflower products for the exclusive sale by Apio in defined market segments and channels.
- Exclusive agreement with BASF for a new fungicide seed treatment solution for soybeans in the U.S. The new product contains BASF's top-selling fungicide F500, the same active ingredient found in Headline fungicide.
- Agreement with China National Seed Group Corporation to expand their investments in CNSGC-DEKALB Seed Company Ltd.
- Collaborate with Archer Daniels Midland Company and Deere & Company on research to explore technologies and processes to turn crop residues into feed and bioenergy products.
- Research and development collaboration with Evogene Ltd. focused on identifying key plant genes related to yield, environmental stress and fertilizer utilization.
- Asgrow Brand AccuSure seed count system introduced for Roundup Ready 2 Yield soybeans.
- Agreement with Plant Health Care Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Plant Health Care, for the commercialization of harpin-based technology as a seed treatment in Monsanto's major row crops and vegetables.
2007
- Agreement with The Solae Company to develop and market Omega-3 products.
- Long-term joint research and development and commercialization collaboration in plant biotechnology with BASF.
- Agreement with Chromatin Inc. to advance gene stacking technology.
- Long-term business and license agreements with Bayer CropScience for key enabling agricultural technologies.
- License agreement with Senesco Technologies Inc.
- Collaboration on research for insect control with Athenix Corp.
- Monsanto collaborates with FOSS A/S to develop analytical tools for soybeans.
- Monsanto and Evogene Ltd. collaborate on nitrogen use efficiency research.
- Cross-licensing agreement with Dow AgroSciences LLC, a subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company, aimed at launching SmartStax, the industry's first-ever eight-gene stacked combination in corn.
2006
- Roundup Ready Flex cotton is introduced.
- Bollgard II insect-protected cotton with Roundup Ready Flex, a stacked second-generation product, is introduced.
2005
- Vistive low-linolenic soybeans is introduced.
- YieldGard Plus with Roundup Ready Corn 2, the first triple-trait technology, is introduced.
- 10th season that biotech crops were planted throughout the world. The billionth acre was planted and harvested.
2004
- Research and development agreement with Devgen N.V..
- Collaboration agreement with Divergence Inc. to develop nematode-resistant soybeans.
- YieldGard Plus corn, stacked version of 2 YieldGard products in 1 seed product, introduced.
2003
- YieldGard Rootworm insect-protected corn introduced.
- YieldGard Rootworm insect-protected corn stacked with Roundup Ready Corn 2 introduced.
- Bollgard II insect-protected cotton, a 2nd-generation trait product in cotton, introduced.
2002
- Monsanto becomes the first company to identify and market specific corn hybrids that can yield more ethanol per bushel.
- Processor Preferred Soybean varieties are introduced.
Before 2002
- 2001: Roundup Ready Corn 2, a second-generation trait product, is introduced.
- 1999: Roundup Ready Corn and YieldGard Corn Borer insect-protected corn stacked with Roundup Ready Corn are introduced.
- 1998: YieldGard Corn Borer insect-protected corn is introduced.
- 1997: Roundup Ready Canola and Bollgard insect-protected cotton stacked with Roundup Ready Cotton are introduced.
- 1996: Roundup Ready Soybeans and Bollgard insect-protected cotton are introduced.
- 1994: Posilac, bovine somatotropin for dairy cows, Monsanto's first biotechnology product to be approved in the U.S.
- 1987: Monsanto conducts the first U.S. field trials of plants with biotechnology traits.
- 1982: Monsanto is the first to genetically modify a plant cell.
- 1976: Roundup herbicide is introduced.
- 1968: Lasso herbicide is introduced.
- 1964: Ramrod herbicide is introduced.
Markets
2010
- European Union authorization for corn technology combinations Genuity VT Double PRO and YieldGard VT Triple.
- Full regulatory authorization in Mexico for importation of Genuity SmartStax, Genuity VT Triple PRO, and Genuity VT Double PRO.
- Full regulatory approval for Genuity VT Triple PRO corn in Argentina.
- Full regulatory approval for insect-protected and glyphosate-tolerant Bt Roundup Ready 2 Yield soybeans from the National Technical Biosafety Committee in Brazil.
2009
- Completed regulatory submissions in the U.S., Canada, Japan, Mexico, and Korea for the world's first biotech drought-tolerant corn product developed together with BASF.
- 80.000 hectáreas cultivadas con la variedad MON 810 representan más del 22% del cultivo de maíz en España y suponen una producción mayor que la del conjunto de los otros 6 países comunitarios que liberan semillas modificadas genéticamente para la producción de cereal.
- SmartStax, all-in-one corn trait platform, receives registration from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and regulatory authorization from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
- Monsanto Company and Dow AgroSciences LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company, receive full Japanese regulatory approval for importation of grain produced from SmartStax.
- Approval from the Agriculture Ministry and Minister of Environment in Mexico to plant small-scale field trials of its corn traits in Sonora, Sinaloa and Tamaulipas. Monsanto corn technologies NK603 (Roundup Ready Corn 2), MON 89034 x NK603 (YieldGard VT PRO and Roundup Ready Corn 2) and MON 89034 x MON88017 (Genuity VT Triple PRO) conducted by local researchers.
- European Union authorization of YieldGard VT Pro (MON 89034) and YieldGard VT Rootworm/RR2 (MON 88017).
2008
- The United States Department of Agriculture deregulates MON 89034, a new insect protection technology to be sold as YieldGard VT Triple PRO. Key international import approvals for MON 89034 have been achieved in Japan, Mexico, Canada and Colombia.
- Regulatory approvals for Roundup Ready 2 Yield soybeans in Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan, the Philippines and Taiwan.
2007
- La Unión Europea aprueba importación, procesamiento y uso de YieldGard Taladradora de Maíz (MON810), apilado con el rasgo Roundup Ready Maíz 2 (NK603), para uso alimenticio y como pienso.
- El Comité Tecnológico Nacional de Bioseguridad de Brasil aprueba el producto contra insectos MON 810 de Monsanto, conocido YieldGard, para su uso comercial en Brasil.
- The Argentina Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food approves the stacked corn trait product containing the insect protection trait YieldGard Corn Borer with Roundup Ready Corn 2 technology.
- U.S. soybean exports: European Union, 10%; China, 38%.
- Record sales of $8.6 billion.
2006
- La Comisión Europea autoriza el uso del maíz protegido contra plagas de taladro Yieldgard de Monsanto (MON 863) y productos procesados con él como comida e ingredientes de comida bajo la normativa Novel Foods Regulation.
2004
- La Comisión Europea aprueba el uso del maíz Roundup Ready NK603 de Monsanto y sus derivados bajo el reglamento Nº 258/97 sobre nuevos alimentos y nuevos ingredientes alimentarios.
- Crecimiento del 293% en beneficios netos.
2003
- El Ministerio de Agricultura Pesca y Alimentación da su autorización para incluir en el Registro de Variedades Comerciales el maíz Bt MON 810, resistente a insectos, aprobado por la UE en 1998. Desde 1969, Monsanto está presente en España.
Commitment
- Doubling yields in core crops by 2030 compared to a base year of 2000, while reducing the amount of inputs required per unit produced by a third.
- Monsanto currently invests more than $2 million a day in research in order to meet this commitment to global agriculture.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Monsanto was founded in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1901, by John Francis Queeny, a 30-year veteran of the pharmaceutical industry. He funded the start-up with his own money and capital from a soft drink distributor, and gave the company his wife's maiden name. The company's first product was the artificial sweetener saccharin, which it sold to the Coca-Cola Company. It also introduced caffeine and vanillin to Coca-Cola, and became one of that company's main suppliers. In 1919, Monsanto established its presence in Europe by entering into a partnership with Graesser's Chemical Works at Cefn Mawr in Ruabon, Wales to produce vanillin, salicylic acid, aspirin and later rubber.
In its second decade, the 1920s, Monsanto expanded into basic industrial chemicals like sulfuric acid, and the decade ended with Queeny's son Edgar Monsanto Queeny taking over the company in 1928.
The 1940s saw Monsanto become a leading manufacturer of plastics, including polystyrene, and synthetic fibers. Since then, it has remained one of the top 10 US chemical companies. Other major products have included the herbicides 2,4,5-T, DDT, and Agent Orange used primarily during the Vietnam War as a defoliant agent (later proven to be highly carcinogenic to any who come into contact with the solution), the excitotoxin aspartame (NutraSweet), bovine somatotropin (bovine growth hormone BST), and PCBs. Also in this decade, Monsanto operated the Dayton Project, and later Mound Laboratory in Miamisburg, Ohio, for the Manhattan Project, the development of the first nuclear weapons and, after 1947, the Atomic Energy Commission.
Monsanto began manufacturing DDT in 1944, along with some 15 other companies. The use of DDT in the U.S. was banned by Congress in 1972, due in large efforts to environmentalists, who persisted in the challenge put forth by Rachel Carson and her book Silent Spring in 1962, which sought to inform the public of the side effects associated with the insecticide. In 1947, an accidental explosion of ammonium nitrate fertilizer loaded on the French ship S.S. Grandcamp destroyed an adjacent Monsanto styrene manufacturing plant, along with much of the port at Galveston Bay. The explosion, known as the Texas City Disaster, is considered the largest industrial accident in US history, with the highest death toll. As the decade ended, Monsanto acquired American Viscose from England's Courtauld family in 1949.
In 1954, Monsanto partnered with German chemical giant Bayer to form Mobay and market polyurethanes in the US. In the 1960s and 1970s, Monsanto became one of 10-36 producers of Agent Orange for US Military operations in Vietnam.