British citizens and British companies have been important partners to Monsanto since the day the company was founded in 1901. Raw materials imported from England fuelled the company's first factory, which made products for the food and pharmaceutical industries.

Monsanto's roots in the UK have grown from 1919 when the company entered into a partnership with R.A. Graesser Chemical works in Ruabon, Wales.

Today, resulting from the proposed year-end merger between Monsanto's previous parent company Pharmacia Corp. and pharmaceutical company Pfizer, the company benefited through a "spin-off" from Pharmacia which allowed Monsanto to become an independent, stand-alone agricultural leader once again. This announcement did not change Monsanto's strategic direction as the company had been operating as a separate entity since an initial public offering of Monsanto Co. shares on the New York Stock exchange in the autumn of 2000. Click here.

Monsanto is acknowledged as unique with its blend of agricultural seeds, traits, and chemicals - such as the herbicide Roundup - in providing integrated solutions to farmers around the world. As a leading world-wide provider of technology-based solutions and agricultural products which improve farm productivity and food quality, the company employs some 16,000 people in over 100 countries. To check the current share price on the New York Stock Exchange, where Monsanto is a member of Standard and Poor's benchmark top 500 stocks index click here.

Genetically modified plants are already grown extensively in other parts of the world, particularly in the USA, South America, China and Canada. They have only recently been introduced in Europe and are not grown commercially in the UK.

In March 2000, full farm scale trials (FSTs) of three GM crops across England and Scotland were given the go-ahead by Government. An independent committee of scientists agreed that 15 fields of modified oilseed rape, 16 fields of GM maize and 25 fields of mixed GM sugar and fodder beet would be planted in the spring and autumn. All FSTs were monitored regularly to check for the expected positive and any potential negative impacts on biodiversity. Biodiversity in this instance includes countryside wildlife, animals, birds, etc. within and around the crop.

For explanation of the 2002 Farm Scale Evaluation trials, click here.

A few genetically modified foods and products containing genetically modified ingredients are available in the UK. These include products containing ingredients from imported genetically modified soya and maize. Most hard cheese is now manufactured using a genetically modified enzyme called chymosin in place of rennet taken from calves' stomachs, thereby making it suitable for vegetarians. From 1996-9, 1.8 million cans of the world's first GM processed whole food - tomato puree - were successfully sold in two supermarkets nationwide in the UK. Neither the cheese nor the puree were Monsanto products, but as this science develops, there are likely to be many more improved products with direct customer benefits available.

To learn about our non-biotech, conventional agricultural products in the UK, please explore the Seed & Crop Protection website. In addition, visit our Frequently Asked Questions and Biotech Primer or, if you prefer, you may use the Comments & Questions form to request that materials be sent to you via email.

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Monsanto UK Ltd.
Cambridge CB2 2LQ
England
tel. 01223 849200

Monsanto UK Ltd moved to its present site in Trumpington, Cambridge following the purchase of Plant Breeding International of Cambridge (PBIC) in 1998. In June 2004 we announced the successful sale of the cereals business of PBIC to French plant breeding company, RAGT (http://www.ragt-semences.com/default_ang.asp)

Monsanto UK Ltd develops new varieties of Oilseed rape for UK agriculture, and markets a range of Monsanto crop protection products (see www.monsanto-ag.co.uk)