He recently received the Agri-Communicator Award at the Corn/Soy Expo, held in Wisconsin Dells. The award is given to a grower who tells agriculture’s story. The award is sponsored by Wisconsin Agri-View, and the recipient is chosen annually by The Wisconsin Corn Growers Association and the Wisconsin Corn Promotion Board.

What Cal has done to merit the award tells you a lot about people who are committed to agriculture.

·         He helped grow the ethanol industry by helping launch United Wisconsin Grain Producers, helped educate state legislators on the importance of the ethanol industry, and continues to serve on the UWGP board.

·         He’s a past president of the Wisconsin Corn Growers Association.

·         He serves on the Wisconsin Corn Promotion Board.

·         He served as a national director for the National Corn Growers Association for seven years. Before than, he was on NCGA’s services action team for six years.

·         He co-chaired the 2010 Commodity Classic, held last week  in Anaheim, California.

·         He’s attended a multitude of meetings, lobbied Congress, served on committees – all for his fellow corn producers specifically and for agriculture in general.

·         He’s a member of the Wisconsin Farm Bureau.

You can check the Agri-Vew story on Cal for more details about him and his wife Joanne.

If there’s one word you could use to describe Cal Dalton, it’s “serving.” And serving is a lot of hard work. Just like agriculture.

Cross posted from Beyond the Shows

Late last year, Monsanto worked to explain our intentions. Lately, several groups, including the American Farm Bureau Federation, have asked about the regulatory issues involved, because the scientific and export regulatory “estate” for a genetically modified trait like this one has to be maintained. If the estate is not maintained, farmers won’t be able to use the trait. We said last fall that we’d continue to maintain the “estate” for RR1 for at least three years after the patent expired.

Recently, we sought industry leadership to develop a comprehensive process for patent expirations for technologies like RR1 (there are a number of them going off patent after ours does in 2014). Early in February, the Food & Agriculture section of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), a trade association, agreed to take this on. We presented a draft concept on how we thought this could be achieved, involving both how to maintain the regulatory estate for technologies post-patent and guidelines for adding or “stacking” new traits to ones whose patents have expired.

But it’s still very early in the process. We think it’s a great idea to involve both farmers and government in this process at BIO, for two reasons. They both have a critical stake in the outcome, and their perspective and involvement is vital to achieving a comprehensive and balanced solution.

The 2010 Commodity Classic Show kicks off today in Anaheim, California. Classic (as its known to hip ag-sters) is the annual meeting of the nation’s corn, soybean, wheat and sorghum growers, hosted by the National Corn Growers Association, American Soybean Association, National Association of Wheat Growers, and the National Sorghum Producers.

We have a team of Monsanto employees at the show providing live coverage to growers back home to growers who don’t want to miss out on the action.

Be sure to check out the Commodity Classic hub on our Monsanto Web site during the show for event coverage. Attendees are tweeting live coverage of the event using the hashtag #classic10. You can also follow these Monsanto twitter accounts for coverage of Learning Center sessions – @MonsantoCo, @Kath_Monsanto, @KateOnline, Tyne_Ag.

We’ll also be posting photos and updates on the Monsanto Company Facebook page.

Here are some other great blogs and people to follow on-line for Classic coverage.

Blog Coverage

AgWired.com
NCGA’s Flickr page
NCGA’s Corn Commentary
NAWG’s Wheat World

Twitter Coverage

@cornfedfarmer
@Ken4Corn

@mpaynknoper
@INSoybean
@agissues2010

@agchick
@ASA_News2

@NECGA

@agriblogger

Roundup Ready technology contains in-plant tolerance to Roundup® agricultural herbicides, allowing growers to spray Roundup agricultural herbicides to kill the weeds without harming the crop.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned by talking with farmers, it’s that they have a great sense and appreciation of their farm’s history. And as a result, they have an even greater sense of how the present state of farming is better than it used to be.

Marvin Borg and Jeffrey Larson are two examples of that. Mention “weeds” and they both have stories that would make suburbanites happy that all they have to tend to is Saturday yard work.

“When I was young growing up on the farm, prior to herbicides, we used to walk the fields and pull weeds. One of the worst jobs ever,” said Larson, who farms corn and soybeans in west central Minnesota. His family farm turns 136 years old later this month (the homestead proclamation from President Ulysses S. Grant still hangs on the wall in his home). “It was the worst day when our grandfather would pull up in the truck and say, ‘We’ve got weeds to pull.’ We’d walk through grain fields pulling mustard.”

Without crop protection methods, weeds grow among crops. The weeds and crops compete for light, water and nutrients. And during harvest, weeds can wreck a combine or at least slow progress in the field. To minimize weeds, farmers and families pull weeds by hand or till the soil several times before planting.

The development of crop protection chemicals, like Roundup®, has changed farming for the better, Borg said.

“Farming has really changed. We virtually wore out the soil from all the tillage because we didn’t have other ways of controlling the weeds,” said Borg, who farms in Nebraska with his sons and their families. His family farm turned 126 years old on Feb. 28. “2,4-D came along and that was a big help. One of the farms that my dad bought was virtually covered with creeping jennies. We walked from one of the farm to other and never stepped off a creeping jenny patch. Right now, I don’t think you can find a plant of it in the field. You might along the creek. We just eliminated the problem.”

Larson said crop protection and biotech crops, like Roundup Ready^® soybeans, which allow the soybeans to survive an application of glyphosate, have helped his farm reduce its fuel consumption.

“One thing that Roundup and biotech crops have given us is the ability for lot fewer passes across the field,” he said. “Our crops don’t compete with weeds. We only do one tillage pass in the fall, and one in the spring. It has eliminated a lot of trips across field, saving fuel, time and erosion.”

Erosion is the biggest difference Borg has seen on his farm. The 80-year-old farmer said he believes his family was one of the first in the area to adopt no-till farming—the practice of leaving crop residue on the soil and not running a tractor over the soil to turn it up. That was nearly 50 years ago.

“As weed chemicals came along, it became an advantage to control the weeds in the no-till fields,” Borg said. “I do know a couple fields in particular that were, well, the neighbors would call virtually worthless. They called it ‘The Great American Cat Box’ because the dirt would blow everywhere. When we started leaving residue on the top, that halted the problem.

“I can see we’re really holding the moisture a whole lot better than we used to do. We used to waste a lot of moisture.”

Larson said he has two pieces of farm equipment in his shed that would be considered relics now thanks to biotech and crop protection: the moldboard plow and his “Smucker Super Sponge Weed Wiper.” And yes, with a name like that, I’ll let Larson explain that one:

“The Weed Wiper would hold a 10 gallon tank of Roundup mix, and you could adjust it from six and a half inches to two and a half feet off the ground. There was a big sponge with lines feeding a 10 foot section that would get the Roundup to point of dripping. We had different weeds to control—milkweed and Canadian thistle. Milkweed was waxy on top, and the herbicide would run off it. The underside is more vulnerable, and it was a very effective tool to get to the underside. And farmers didn’t have any exposure to applicators. But now, that tool is in the shed because of biotech crops.”

The moldboard plow is one tool that’s no longer used either on Larson’s farm.

“We’re all minimal till farmers now,” Larson said. “I can’t tell you the last time a moldboard plow has been across our field. Long ago, my grandfather would dig the field, let the weeds pop up, do it again, then disk it and then plant. It was a constant battle to keep control of the weeds. They’re a lot tougher than the crops. Roundup and biotechnology has truly changed way we farm, both in effectiveness and fewer costs.”

As new farming practices and technologies come along (such as crop protection, no-till, biotech, etc.), farmers like the Borgs and Larsons adapt to improve and sustain their farms’ operations. Adapting is a key reason why each farm has been in operation for more than 125 years. And when the next breakthrough or technique arrives, the Borg and Larson ancestors and other farmers might look back on the early 2000s with the same feelings as their fathers did for the 1950s: thank God we don’t do it that way anymore.

Monsanto employees survey the damage to a building after the earthquake in Chile over the weekend.

Charitable giving is an element of good citizenship. Today, Monsanto was named one of the 100 Best Corporate Citizens. It’s a nice recognition for the company, but I chose to focus on the global citizenship of our employees.

On this past Saturday morning, I checked my Facebook account over a cup of coffee and saw a post from a work colleague:

“Thinking of all our Monsanto Chile employees and hoping that everyone is safe.”

That’s how I found out about the earthquake in Chile. And like my co-worker, my thoughts immediately fled to the couple of hundred Monsanto employees we have in the region. Were they okay? Were they accounted for? (We’ve contacted most, but are still trying to get in contact with a few employees.) Next, I thought about Chilean farmers and the ag industry. How was this going to affect them? And finally I thought, how can I help?

Monsanto employees are likely to give. How do I know? Because they’ve given before. So far, Monsanto employees globally have donated in excess of $100,000 of their own money for Haitian disaster relief. Not only that, but the Monsanto Fund has matched that donation dollar for dollar through its Global Disaster matching gifts program. The Monsanto Fund is the philanthropic arm of the Monsanto Company.

Here’s how it works. In the case of a catastrophic  disaster, Monsanto employees globally can make a donation of up to  $1,000 to a qualifying not-for-profit organization that’s been vetted by the Monsanto Fund. Once I make my donation, I notify the Monsanto Fund and make a request for the dollar-for-dollar match. So if I contribute $100 to the American Red Cross for example, the Monsanto Fund will also make a $100 donation to the organization.

That’s for a catastrophic  disaster. But, as a U.S. employee, I can make donations throughout the year (up to the $5,000 limit) to other qualifying not-for-profit organizations and request a match. This doesn’t have to be disaster related.

Monsanto Company and Monsanto Fund also participate in charitable giving. In 2009, Monsanto Company and Monsanto Fund made combined donations of $27.4 million independent of its employee contributions.

It’s now become second nature for me to check the matching gifts program before I make any donation. Why not stretch my dollars further with the help of my employer? That’s smart giving.

Here are some examples of how Monsanto employees globally have given to catastrophic disaster relief in the past. In each case, the Monsanto Fund matched employee donations.

If you are an employee, how have you used your match in the past? I’ve supported colleagues riding in the MS150 bike race as part of our Monsanto Mavericks team in addition to contributing to an organization my family participates in – Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Missouri.

Janice's nephew tries out a cotton picker for size in 2002. He’s grow a lot since then in both size & awareness in agriculture.

This past weekend was the big farm show here in my backyard, Memphis, TN.  This one is usually abbreviated as the Gin Show though and that tends to get unique looks or comments from folks.  And next month there’s a gin show in Texas.  And yes, with my sense of humor, I’ve been known to joke about being on point for the limes (far easier to carry in a backpack than tonic would be!)  But I love that shows like this one give me a chance to talk to my non-farm connected friends and family about agriculture.

So what is a gin show?  It’s a cotton thing.  And yes, it relates to the cotton gin, not the alcohol.

Eli Whitney is the brilliant mind behind the cotton gin.  After the cotton gin was developed, the Southern U.S. was able to mechanize the processing of cotton in a way that would have incredible impacts on our economy.  While the history of cotton is something I relish in learning about and sharing, let me get back to today and what the gin show is about.

This year, US farmers are expected to plant 10 million acres of cotton.  The fact is, cotton gins are very specialized equipment and there are only about 700 cotton gins in the country, according to the National Cotton Council.

The gin shows in Memphis and Texas probably started as a way to give ginners a chance to see the latest equipment and meetings were held to talk about topics of interest to ginners.  The shows have grown over time and now include representatives from hundreds of companies that farmers and ginners buy products from.   For many, it’s a chance to talk about our industry or show people what the cotton business is about.  I had a chance to talk to farmers, crop consultants, media, etc about what is happening with cotton and our business.

Talking with the farmers who plant our seed or use our products is a major motivator for me.  I love to hear what they are doing on the farm. I see the gin show as a great part of my education and I love to share that experience with others.

With the gin show being right in my hometown, I had the chance to bring my niece & nephew along several times.  We talk about how the different machines are used and how farmers produce our food, fiber, feed and fuel.  Since they don’t get to farms as often as we’d like, some of these urban events can really help us reinforce what they’ve learned before.  And having gone to the gin show for years, they look forward to seeing equipment, talking to a few farmers and picking up some swag.  They are becoming great advocates for agriculture.  I think I’ll wait to teach them about the limes and tonic later though.

We would love to hear about some of the events that let you and members of your community learn about ag.  Please leave a comment here – you never know who may be in your area interested in learning a thing or two.

Cotton farmers in Africa inspect their crop. In Burkina Faso, a country in West Africa, biotech cotton increased from 8,500 hectares to 115,000 hectares.

This week’s ISAAA report is at first glance, not surprising: yes, the “how much?” question is always the lead, and as in other years, the report says more and more farmers around the world are planting biotech crops.*
But more interesting to me, are the answers to the “where?” and “what?” questions. As in, where are farmers planting biotech crops and what are they planting? Reviewing the list, I see countries that I haven’t seen before as well as new products that I haven’t heard of (blue roses anyone?). Here’s some tidbits that caught my eye. Also, I should note that Monsanto is a sponsor of ISAAA.

• China (Cotton, tomato, poplar, papaya, sweet pepper) – Two products were recently issued biosafety certificates by the Chinese government: rice protected from the rice borer insect (Bt rice) and a maize product that is more easily digestable by pigs and chickens (phystase maize). Both products were developed in China through public sector financing and resources.
• India (cotton) – 87% of India’s farmers, approximately 5.6 million of them, planted Bt cotton in 2009.
• Costa Rica (cotton, soybean) – First reporting of biotech crops solely for the seed export market
• Burkina Faso (cotton) – Biotech cotton increased from 8,500 hectares to 115,000 hectares. That’s a growth of 1,350 percent, equaling 29% of Burkina Faso’s total cotton acreage
• Brazil (soybean, maize, cotton) – Brazil surpassed Argentina as the second largest grower of biotech crops globally (behind the U.S.) The acreage nearly quadrupled over 2008 from 5.6M hectares to 21.4M hectares.

Overall, the growth of biotech crops has been substantially higher in developing nations such as China. According to the report, almost half the global area of biotech crops (46%) is planted in developing countries, yet that number is planted by 13 of the 14 million farmers who grow biotech crops. The other 1 million farmers in industrialized nations account for the other half of the global area.

The ISAAA report also predicts the where, what and when for future growth:

• Japan - blue roses in commercialization stages now
• Pakistan – insect-protected cotton in 2010
• Malawi, Kenya, Uganda and Mali – potential adoption of biotech cotton and/or maize
• Philippines – golden rice before 2012
• Bangladesh and India – golden rice before 2014

The report also notes the development of other small area biotech crops such as potatoes with pest and/or disease resistance, sugarcane with consumer and farmer-focused traits and disease-resistant bananas. Additionally, the report states that China may be the first country to approve biotech wheat as early as five years from now.

For an executive summary of the report, click here.

*The answer to how much is 134 million hectares (330 million acres) in 25 countries. That’s 7 percent more than in 2008, which was counted at 124 million hectares (308 million acres).

Elizabeth McKillip, daughter of Monsanto employee Brian McKillip, is raising her lamb, Speckles, for an FFA competition later this summer. Elizabeth is a current member of the Muscatine FFA Chapter, and Brian is an alum of the same chapter.

National FFA Week is upon us, and it’s a great time to celebrate the contributions that past members have made and current students are making. At Monsanto, we have hundreds of employees who are FFA alumni. This week, I spoke with four Monsanto employees about their FFA experiences and how the organization has had a lasting impact on their lives and careers.

Michele Grevie, who works at Monsanto’s Woodland facility and is an alumna of the Woodland High School FFA Chapter in Woodland, Calif., said she got involved in FFA because of her family’s ag background.

“Most of my family is involved in farming: my dad, brother and uncle all still farm,” Grevie said. “You always saw FFA-sponsored functions around school. And there were so many people in school involved in FFA. I wanted to learn what was so exciting and learn what my family thought was so exciting about farming.”

Cara Smith, who also works at the Woodland campus as a seed specialist and is an FFA alumnae of the Lompoc, Calif. Chapter, said a general ag class is what got her to join FFA.

“My family lived in the suburbs – no agriculture background whatsoever,” she said. “I took a general ag class as an elective in my freshman year, and FFA seemed like a fun club to join. I have to say now that I loved my experience, and it helped me focus on an ag career.”

For Brian McKillip, who works at the Monsanto Muscatine facility in Muscatine, Iowa, in the information technology department and is an alum of the Muscatine FFA Chapter, FFA has been a family affair. His son is a Muscatine Chapter alum, and his daughter is currently a member of the chapter. He said he is more involved now with FFA—because the organization offers his children more opportunities and Monsanto is heavily involved with the local chapter

“The FFA kids really step up to the plate,” McKillip said. “I’ve heard so many good compliments about the kids who are in FFA. I’m grateful that my children have chosen to be involved with the organization. Because of their experiences, my daughter wants to be either an ag teacher or practice ag law, and my son is studying Farm Management at Muscatine Community College.”

McKillip said the Muscatine Ag Learning Center, which Monsanto donated $250,000 to, is the hub of activity for the local FFA chapter and gives students a better opportunity to learn about agriculture.

“The Ag Learning Center is close to town and allows kids to ride their bicycles or take public transportation to it,” McKillip said. “Students used to have to drive an hour to raise livestock. Now there’s a place 10-15 minutes away to raise animals or study crops. My daughter spends at least 20 hours per week there.”

For Hillary Lee Chan, an alumna of the Delta Chapter in Clarksburg, Calif., and a crop specialist at Woodland, FFA provided the skills she needed in college and at Monsanto.

“I truly believe FFA gave me the foundation I needed to succeed in college and played a major role in getting me to where I am today,” she said. “The experience I gained, the skills I learned, the friends I made and the networks and relationships I formed through my involvement in FFA are priceless to me.”

Mark Reiman, an alum of the Butte, Neb. FFA Chapter and an agronomist at the Gothenburg Water Utilization Learning Center, said FFA allowed him to explore new areas of ag and lead him to his current role at Monsanto.

“Prior to FFA, I hadn’t looked at agriculture outside of farming the land,” Reiman said. “But through FFA, you learn about agribusiness and ag sciences in contests, and you learn more about wide range of jobs in agriculture. FFA introduced me to agronomy, and I was about to pursue research around crops. That opened a new world to me and eventually, it led me to Monsanto.”

There was a common theme among these Monsanto employees too: the ag teachers who guided them.

“In FFA, I was definitely closer with my ag teachers, because it seemed as if they are more involved,” Grevie said. “They were there thorough thick and thin. They would go to field with us and help with chores. They put in a lot of extra work and time.”

“My ag teachers were very good mentors,” Smith said. “I learned a lot about team work and responsibility from them.”

Chan and Smith have similar advice for current FFA members: get involved.

“The only advice I can give to students currently involved in FFA is to get more involved,” Chan said. “There are endless possibilities within the FFA organization, and you will never know what you’re capable of until you try.”

“My advice for current FFAers is to get involved and have fun,” Smith said. “Take advantage of any learning opportunity or experience that you can. I sometimes wish now that I had taken an ag mechanics class and learned how to weld!”

To see the impact FFA made on other Monsanto employees, see our National FFA page on Monsanto.com

Monsanto Senior Scientist Dannette Ward with members of the Clyde C. Miller Academy FFA Chapter.

Who knew the FFA was so cool? I certainly didn’t, growing up in suburban St. Louis where my high school had 1,500 kids but no FFA chapter (or any agricultural education, for that matter). I didn’t even know that farming—or agriculture—was a career option.

But now, agriculture is hot because of a renewed interest in where, how, and by whom food is produced. This week’s USA Today reports on urban FFA chapters. According to the National FFA Organization, 34% of their members live in urban or suburban areas.  The story profiles an urban St. Louis FFA chapter at the Clyde C. Miller Career Academy (CCMA). Monsanto’s own Dannette Ward works with the chapter.

The blue jackets worn by FFA students are familiar at Monsanto since a number of our employees are former FFA members, as well as several members of our leadership teams. But me? Well, I never had a blue jacket, and darn it, I’m a bit jealous.

To learn more about what I missed out on in my own high school experience, I called up Andre Hall, treasurer of the FFA chapter featured in USA Today, as well as the chapter advisor, Stephanie Mohr.

“You look at the name [FFA], and you think ‘oh, they’re going to become farmers,’” says Andre. “But it’s much more than farming. They teach you the skills you need to become successful.”

Andre is enrolled in the agricultural biotechnology “pathway” at his school (every student has a major in one of 12 pathways). He plans on becoming a plant biologist one day. As part of his curriculum, he interns two days a week at Monsanto in our genetic purity lab. The lab tests commercial seed to ensure quality as well as make sure that the right seed and traits are in the right bag.

Stephanie Mohr leads the agricultural biotechnology pathway at CCMA and introduced Andre to FFA. To join FFA you must be enrolled in an agricultural education class. FFA is an intra-curricular program, says Stephanie, meaning there are components of the program conducted in-class.

Stephanie herself is a fourth generation FFA member. “I came from a farming family,” she says. “I joined FFA because it was something I wanted to be a part of. The FFA students were well-respected kids in school. They had great leadership and public speaking skills.”

Chapter Advisor Stephanie Mohr checks in on plants in the school’s greenhouse. The students grow plants for sale in chapter fundraisers.

Joining FFA means you will attend regular meetings—Andre’s chapter meets once a month—attend leadership and career-development events, perform community service,  fund raise, attend state-level and national-level FFA meetings and participate in competitions.

What kind of competitions? There are a variety, according to Stephanie. Some are strictly ag-based, for example, agronomy (seed and plant identification) and poultry (evaluate and handling unhatched eggs, identifying different breeds of chicken) contests. But others involve rituals (parliamentary procedures) or career skills (participating in mock job interviews).

It’s obvious that Andre takes a lot of pride being an FFA representative. He’s even taken the role of chapter treasurer.  An officer role earns you the famous FFA blue jacket. Andre’s chapter is fund-raising so the entire chapter can purchase the jackets and wear them to competitions and state and national meetings.

“Once you see all the jackets together, it really shows what it [FFA] is and why you wear them out,” says Andre. “I love the FFA,” says Andre. “We’ve become like a family. FFA teaches you to take pride in what you do, and that’s important to me.”

Listening to Andre and Stephanie does nothing to assuage my blue jacket envy. I still want one, darn it.

Check out www.monsanto.com next week for more information on FFA as we celebrate National FFA Week.

For more information on Monsanto and our support of agricultural youth initiatives and education, please see http://www.monsanto.com/responsibility/youth_education.asp.

In 2009 there was a lot of buzz around trans-fat free foods when places like New York City passed regulations that pushed the use of healthier oils.  It may be hard to imagine, but that decision affected farmers like John Buck, who farms in Ohio in the small town of New Bloomington.  Although trans-fat foods may be the rage in big cities, it is on farms that the healthier products start.

John grows soybeans.  In fact, he grows all low-linolenic soybeans on about 700 acres.  Low-linolenic (known by some as low-lin) soybeans were bred to be lower in linolenic acid that naturally occurs in soybeans.  By lowering the level of that acid, the oil produced by the beans is more stable which is important for frying foods.  This stability means it can be used without being hydrogenated, which causes trans fats. These trans fats, as you probably know, can increase the risk of heart disease.

But consumers don’t have to think about all of that as they order some kinds of/brands of fried chicken.  They just know that their low-lin oil-fried  food is trans-fat free.

John has a sense of pride knowing he is making healthier food available.  He likes getting the tractor out and working on the farm.  But when you talk with John, you realize he has a real passion around connecting consumers to their food.  He told me recently he takes the chance to do just that while grocery shopping by talking with consumers about where the food they are buying comes from – farms like his.