Archived News

January 2010

'Bt brinjal will not cause any harm to biodiversity'
28 January 2010 DNA India
Brinjal has no natural resistance to the stem borer (pest). Hence, there is a need to have a variant that is resistant to the pest. The alternative technology, other than conventional breeding, that helps achieve this is Bt.

GM Fears May Harm Needy, Says Scientist
28 January 2010 The New Zealand Herald
The US Government is among the biggest supporters of GM technology and many crops are owned by a US firm, Monsanto.

Monsanto to Establish Facilities at North Carolina Research Campus to Accelerate Research and Development of Flavorful, Nutritious Food
28 January 2010 Monsanto
Monsanto Company plans to become a part of the North Carolina Research Campus, a one-of-a-kind facility under development in Kannapolis, North Carolina, and a strategic alliance with the David H. Murdock Research Institute.

Monsanto Shareowners Reelect Board Members at the Company's Annual Meeting
26 January 2010 Monsanto
Monsanto Company today announced that at its annual meeting, shareowners elected four members of its Board of Directors to new terms.

Monsanto Named by FORTUNE Magazine as One of '100 Best Companies to Work For'
25 January 2010 Monsanto
Monsanto is the only agricultural technology company to make the top 100 list.

Three Monsanto Genuity Corn Traits Receive Mexican Import Approval
25 January 2010 Monsanto
Mexico, a major importer of U.S. corn grain and dried distillers grains, has given full regulatory authorization for importation of grain from three Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON) Genuity™ corn traits: Genuity™ SmartStax™, Genuity™ VT Triple PRO™, and Genuity™ VT Double PRO™.

K-State Ag Economist Studying Economic Impacts Of Drought-Tolerant Corn in Africa
25 January 2010 Kansas State University
Under this grant, Dalton’s research will calculate the potential impact on producers and consumers of maize developed through the Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) project led by the African Agricultural Technology Foundation in Nairobi.

Crop Biofortification Pushed to Meet Goals
24 January 2010 Manila Bulletin
Dr. Corazon Barba of the University of the Philippines-Los Baños (UPLB) said the country's drive to improve nutrition, reduce poverty and hunger rates and raise rural incomes can be met through biofortification.

Monsanto Executive Touts New Line of Corn Seed
22 January 2010 Trading Markets
This year, the Creve Coeur-based agricultural biotech giant expects to sell 4 million acres worth of a new line of corn seed called SmartStax, which contains eight genes to help control bugs and weeds.

Oversight Panel Sees Biofuel Crops Helping Chesapeake Bay Cleanup
21 January 2010 The New York Times
Farming more cellulosic biofuel crops in the Chesapeake Bay watershed could help improve water quality, according to a report released today by an intergovernmental panel overseeing the bay cleanup.

Green Light Again for GM Alfalfa in the USA
21 January 2010 GMO Compass
In the USA, the Department of Agriculture (USDA) intends to permit the cultivation of genetically modified (GM) alfalfa once more.

Biotech Program Netted Farmers $50 Million in Savings in 2009
21 January 2010 Agriculture Online
U.S. corn farmers participating in the program are estimated to have saved more than $50 million in premiums, and savings to taxpayers are estimated at more than $75 million in 2009, according to a report from Monsanto Company.

State to Decide on Crop After Agri Varsities Send Info
21 January 2010 Indian Express
Even as the state government is weighing all options before giving its nod to commercial cultivation of genetically modified brinjal or Bt brinjal, vegetable research scientists and biotechnologists from Anand Agriculture University (AAU) have already expressed their opinion in favour of its commercial cultivation.

Govt Official Lauds Bt Cotton
20 January 2010 Business Standard
Genetically modified cotton — commonly termed Bt cotton — has been a blessing, according to a senior government official.

Green Godfather Delivers Shocking and Heretical Message For The Future
20 January 2010 Bristol 24/7
GM was the only way we could achieve serious gains in yields to feed the world’s growing population, he said, but also brought other benefits such as peanuts which did not create allergies, rice which contained cholera vaccine and carrots with as much calcium as dairy products.

Monsanto Company Donates $50,000 to American Red Cross
20 January 2010 Monsanto
In response to the tragic earthquake in Haiti, Monsanto Company is supporting the American Red Cross with a gift of $50,000.

Deadline Approaching for Monsanto's Beachell-Borlaug International Scholars Program
20 January 2010 Monsanto
Monsanto Company and Texas AgriLife Research, an agency of the Texas A&M University System, remind students who are interested in improving research and production in rice and wheat that the application deadline for Monsanto's Beachell-Borlaug International Scholars Program is February 1.

Webinar Replay: Changing Role of Retailers and Dealers Explored
20 January 2010 The Farmer-Stockman
The advance of stacked trait crops is just the beginning with new traits ahead including drought tolerant crops.

Biotechnology is Key to Food Security in Africa.
20 January 2010 Newstime Africa
For over a decade farming has witnessed some transformations through; soil and water conservation, minimum tillage, improved crop varieties such as the Drought Resistant varieties, and agro forestry, farmers have efficiently utilized the scarce rainfall to increase land productivity.

GM Crops Surging Ahead in SA
20 January 2010 Fin 24
Genetically modified (GM) crops are surging ahead in South Africa, where during the 2009/10 planting season it is estimated that 10% more white maize and 14% more soybeans have been planted, Andrew Bennett, Monsanto's technology development manager for GM crops in Africa, said on Wednesday.

DNA Sequence Offers Promise For Soybean Industry
19 January 2010 Northwestern University
The soybean’s genetic sequence could also help scientists develop varieties that produce a greater yield.

China Completes Cassava Genome Sequencing for Energy Use Research
18 January 2010 China Daily
The genome sequencing can shed light on the cassava plant as a source of biomass energy. It also lays the foundation for enhancing cassava's ability to grow on barren soil and resistance against drought, said Peng Ming, head of the Biology Institute of the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences.

Transgenic Potato Variety 'Elizabeth' Already Sold in Russian Market
18 January 2010 Potato Pro
The potato variety was developed by Russian scientists using the Monsanto 'gene insertion technology', which makes the variety resistant to Colorado beetle.

Gene Breakthrough Unlocks Pink Tomatoes
15 January 2010 NutraIngredients
Researchers from the Plant Sciences Department at the Weizmann Institute report that a mutation on gene called SIMYB12 is responsible for producing these pink tomatoes.

Bangladesh-India Agreement on Agri-biotech Exchange
15 January 2010 Crop Biotech Net
Both countries will exchange technologies and scientists to build and improve capacity to develop GM and hybrid crop varieties to combat salinity, drought and submergence problems.

Journalists from East Africa Complete Training on Science Reporting
15 January 2010 Crop Biotech Net
Through lectures, interactions with scientists and fellow colleagues, followed by field visits to local laboratory facilities, the journalists were able to understand the potential of biotechnology to improve livelihoods.

IITA Receives USD 2.4 Million to Develop Virus-Resistant Cassava Plants
15 January 2010 Crop Biotech Net
The project "aims to identify the DNA markers associated with the resistance genes in these varieties and integrate marker-assisted selection into cassava breeding programs," the IITA said in a press release.

Public Opinion About Agric Biotech - Learn from the Italians
15 January 2010 Crop Biotech Net
The report noted that Italians showed a dramatic increase in support for biotech food.

Stream of Innovations Will Aid Water Security
14 January 2010 The National Newspaper
GMO crops use substantially lower amounts of fertilisers, pesticides and water.

Organic Farmers Must Embrace GM Crops if We are to Feed the World, Says Scientist
13 January 2010 The Times
Herbicide-tolerant GM crops, for example, can encourage “no-till” farming that reduces carbon emissions.

Stocks That Give You Everything You Want
13 January 2010 Motley Fool
Interestingly, I noticed both Monsanto and PotashCorp in this screen as well, suggesting that they have more than a few characteristics I like to see.

USDA Scientists, Cooperators Sequence Soy Genome
13 January 2010 USDA
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists are part of a team that has sequenced the majority of the soybean genome, providing an unprecedented look into how this important legume crop converts four critical ingredients--sunlight, water, carbon dioxide and nitrogen--into protein and oil, the basic building blocks for many consumer products.

Monsanto Highlights New Pipeline Leads, Trial Expansion in Annual Research and Development Presentations
12 January 2010 Monsanto
Presenting on Monsanto's R&D pipeline in the wake of its record-breaking update of 11 projects moving forward last week, Steve Padgette, vice president of biotechnology, and Chief Financial Officer Carl Casale will discuss future technologies and the company's efforts to continually strengthen its pipeline with investors in New York today and Boston tomorrow.

Monsanto Launches 'Game-Changers'
12 January 2010 Farm Chemicals International
Monsanto says the North American launches of its new genetically modified (GM) crop traits mark the beginning of an explosion of high-impact products.

GM Moves Beyond Resistance
12 January 2010 Farm Chemicals International
While these yield-increasing products are continually being refined, researchers are now developing GM products focused on dietary requirements.

British Researchers Develop GM Potato
12 January 2010 Farmers Guardian
A trial to develop genetically modified potatoes that would save British growers more than £40 million a year has been successful, initial results have revealed.

Sunflower Genome Holds the Promise of Sustainable Agriculture
12 January 2010 Genome British Columbia
A new research project, largely funded by Genome Canada through the Government of Canada, Genome BC, US Departments of Energy and Agriculture, and France’s INRA (National Institute for Agricultural Research), will create a reference genome for the sunflower family – currently the world’s largest plant family, containing 24,000 species of plants, including many crops, medicinal plants, horticulture plants and noxious weeds.

Plant Breeding and GM Will be Crucial to UK Food Strategy
12 January 2010 The Journal
Plant breeding is tipped to be the most important production development for agriculture in the 21st Century, with genetically modified (GM) species expected to play an important part in sustainable food production.

GM Crops to be Planted in Britain Again This Year
11 January 2010 The Daily Telegraph
Prof Beddington said GM must be looked at as a possible technique for boosting food production, whilst reducing the use of chemicals and water.

Britain To Host GM Crops Again In 2010
11 January 2010 Farm Chemicals International
The UK government has recently licensed a number of research projects into breeding genetically modified (GM) plants in the laboratory, reports the Telegraph, with several institutions conducting field trials.

Micro RNAs Can Turn Genes Off
10 January 2010 Science Daily
Biologists at the University of Freiburg, Germany, around Lecturer Dr. Wolfgang Frank und Professor Dr. Ralf Reski from the Chair Plant Biotechnology have discovered that such micro RNAs also come into direct contact with genes, effectively turning off the genes in the process.

Green Fields: Monsanto's New Idea May Make Detasseling of Corn Obsolete
10 January 2010 The Des Moines Register
What is left of a longstanding Corn Belt rite - detasseling - may end for good when Monsanto brings to market what it calls its "Roundup Hybridization System" for corn.

GM Wheat Means Hope for Celiac Sufferers
09 January 2010 Food Safety News
The advantages of genetically modified foods range from pest resistance, disease resistance, herbicide tolerance, cold tolerance, drought tolerance, improved nutrition, and pharmaceutical uses.

‘Transgenic Rice Will Hit Fields Soon’
07 January 2010 The Hindu
Head of the department of biotechnology, University of Kerala, G.M. Nair, who chaired the session, said the development of transgenic varieties that could withstand various kinds of adversity would make a sustainable green revolution possible in India.

The Plant That Doesn’t Feel the Cold
07 January 2010 John Innes Centre
Publishing in the journal Cell, they have now identified a thermometer gene, which could be crucial for breeding crops able to cope with the effects of climate change.

Butterflies and Moths Barely Affected, Even With Large-Scale Cultivation of Bt Maize
07 January 2010 GMO Safety
The impacts on butterflies and moths calculated using the model were very small.

Monsanto Delivers on Q1 Guidance, Confirms Full-Year Earnings Per Share and Cash Flow Targets
06 January 2010 Monsanto
Monsanto Company has delivered on its financial targets for the first quarter of 2010, which ended Nov. 30, 2009, and recommitted to its full-year guidance.

Monsanto Announces Record 11 Project Advancements in Annual Research and Development Pipeline Update
06 January 2010 Monsanto
Among the record 11 project advancements are the first biotechnology product with a direct consumer dietary benefit and two of the largest commercial product launches in the company's history.

OFC 2010: Investment in Research Vital
06 January 2010 Farmers Weekly
Key future technologies are also expected to include GM; nanotechnology - microscopic materials that can improve production; genomics, particularly in livestock; and new water and soil technology including hydroponics.

IAA Foundation Receives $50K from Monsanto Fund
05 January 2010 Illinois Farm Bureau
The Monsanto Funds gift will match other funding and in-kind support to continue a program of Illinois Agriculture in the Classroom (IAITC).

Gene Rice on its Way in China
05 January 2010 New Scientist
Previous experimental field trials of GM rice varieties in China, including the two now poised for commercialisation, showed that they benefited poor farmers and decreased their exposure to harmful pesticides.

Call For Drastic Action or the Britons of 2030 Will Run Out of Food
04 January 2010 Daily Express
The report by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs also concludes that the public must accept genetically-modified food.

'Can We Feed the World Without Damaging It?'
04 January 2010 The New York Times
Despite the somewhat theoretical thrust of their argument, the couple's position is echoed by a recent report by Britain's Royal Society, which called for a "sustainable intensification" of agriculture using GM crops.

Future Jobs: What Might You be Doing?
04 January 2010 Science So What
New-age farmers will grow crops and keep animals that have been genetically engineered to increase the amount of food they produce and to include proteins that are good for our health.

New Hope Emerges for Local Cotton Industry
03 January 2010 The Philippine Star
Agriculture officials are confident that the country’s adoption of the Bt cotton technology from China and India will help boost the local cotton industry and rev up Philippine agriculture in the next few years.

Cleaning up the Gene-Pool
01 January 2010 Indian Express
In agriculture, biotech-derived products include the development of new genetically modified (GM) crops that are high yielding and pest-resistant.