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Company History

Monsanto is a relatively new company. While we share the name and history of a company that was founded in 1901, the Monsanto of today is focused on agriculture and supporting farmers around the world in their mission to produce more while conserving more. We’re an agricultural company. Below is an interactive presentation with photos, videos and Monsanto stories. We invite you to explore the Monsanto history today.

Today's Monsanto Company

2009

Monsanto opens the Water Utilization Learning Center in Gothenburg, Nebraska. The facility is the first of its kind in agriculture and focuses on how to maintain or increase crop productivity by maximizing the crop’s water use – and what are the tools farmers need to do this.

Monsanto donates approximately 4,000 cotton molecular markers and associated information to Texas AgriLife Research, a part of the Texas A&M system. The donation is offered to the public domain through the globally accessible cotton genome databases, a move that will benefit research programs and breeders interested in one of world's key crops.

Monsanto announces a $10 million grant to establish Monsanto's Beachell-Borlaug International Scholars Program, which will help identify and support young scientists interested in improving research and production in rice and wheat, two of the world's most important staple crops, through plant breeding techniques.

Monsanto launches Genuity™, a new family of traits designed to work together to enhance crop potential and simplify trait selection for farmers.

Monsanto announces Project SHARE (Sustainable Harvest - Agriculture, Resources, Environment) – a sustainable yield initiative to improve farmer lives in India. Project SHARE, a pilot project in association with ISAP (Indian Society of Agribusiness Professionals), aims to improve the socio-economic conditions of 10,000 small-marginal cotton and corn farmers in 1,100 villages across three states within four years, by increasing their crop productivity.

2008

Monsanto acquires Aly Participacoes Ltda., which operates the sugarcane and breeding technology companies, CanaVialis S.A. and Alellyx S.A., both based in Brazil. With this acquisition, Monsanto enters the sugarcane industry.

Monsanto introduces Acceleron™ brand seed treatments. The Acceleron brand launched with Roundup Ready 2 Yield soybeans, is expected to be available in SmartStax corn in 2010, Deltapine cotton in 2011 and in other crops in coming seasons.

Monsanto sells its POSILAC® bovine somatotropin brand and related business to Eli Lilly and Company.

Monsanto acquires Semillas Cristiani Burkard (SCB), a privately-held seed company headquartered in Guatemala City, Guatemala. SCB is the leading Central American corn seed company focused on hybrid corn production.

Monsanto acquires De Ruiter Seeds Group, B.V., a Dutch holding company that owns and operates De Ruiter Seeds. De Ruiter Seeds breeds, produces and sells hybrid vegetable seeds for top vegetable products such as tomato, cucumber, aubergine, pepper, melon and rootstock. De Ruiter Seeds is one of the top breeding companies in the world.

Monsanto announces its three-point commitment to sustainable agriculture. This commitment includes: helping farmers double yield in corn, soybeans and cotton by 2030, compared to a base year of 2000; developing seeds that will reduce by one-third per unit produced the aggregate amount of key resources, such as land, water and energy, required to grow crops by 2030; improving the lives of farmers, including an additional five million people in resource-poor farm families, by 2020. To learn more, visit: www.ProduceMoreConserveMore.com

Monsanto introduces Roundup Ready 2 Yield® soybean technology, the second generation of the popular Roundup Ready® technology farmers have used since 1996. This product offers the same effective weed control, simplicity and flexibility benefits of the Roundup Ready system and it increases soybean yield potential.

2007

Monsanto joins the Chicago Climate Exchange® (CCX), North America's only voluntary, legally-binding greenhouse gas emissions reduction, registry and trading program. As part of this program, Monsanto agrees to reduce its own direct carbon emissions from major U.S. operations or purchase carbon emission offsets. Additionally, the company will work with farmer groups to discuss reducing carbon dioxide in the air by practicing no-till agriculture.

Monsanto sells Monsanto Choice Genetics, Inc., the company’s swine genetics business, to Newsham Genetics, LLC.

Monsanto and Dow AgroSciences announce a cross-licensing agreement aimed at launching SmartStax™, the industry’s first-ever eight-gene stacked combination in corn.

Monsanto and Bayer CropScience AG announce a series of long-term business and licensing agreements related to key agricultural technologies.

Monsanto acquires Delta and Pine Land Company and divests the Stoneville and NexGen cotton businesses.

Monsanto forms International Seed Group, Inc. (ISG), an investment holding company that provides specialized, regional vegetable and fruit seed companies with access to capital and technology.

Dr. John Franz is inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame® for the discovery of glyphosate – the active ingredient in Roundup® brand agricultural herbicides.

Monsanto and BASF announce a long-term joint research and development (R&D) and commercialization collaboration in plant biotechnology. The collaboration will focus on the development of high-yielding crops that are more tolerant to adverse environmental conditions, such as drought.

2006

Monsanto’s ASI subsidiary acquires several regional seed companies, including Diener Seeds, Sieben Hybrids, Kruger Seed Company, Trisler Seed Farms, Gold Country Seed, Inc., Heritage Seeds and the seed marketing and sales business of Campbell Seed.

Roundup Ready® Corn 2 technology is planted on more than 32 million acres – or about 40 percent of U.S. corn acres – during the 2006 crop season.

Monsanto and Dow AgroSciences LLC sign a global agreement cross-licensing intellectual property, product licenses in corn and soybeans, cotton technologies, and enabling technologies. This agreement will allow both companies to offer farmers new technology options and more choice in the products to meet their needs.

Monsanto introduces Roundup Ready Flex cotton, providing farmers with a wider over-the-top application window throughout the growing season, as compared to its original Roundup Ready cotton technology.
Monsanto becomes the first agriculture company to introduce a stacked second-generation product when it introduces Bollgard II insect-protected cotton with Roundup Ready Flex. The product provides farmers with the same benefits as its Bollgard II product as well as its Roundup Ready Flex technology.

2005

Monsanto introduces Vistive low-linolenic soybeans. VISTIVE low-linolenic soybeans, which were produced through conventional breeding, offer the ability to reduce or eliminate trans fatty acids (trans fats) in processed soybean oil.

Monsanto acquires Seminis, Inc., a global leader in the vegetable and fruit seed industry. Seminis supplies more than 3,500 seed varieties to commercial fruit and vegetable growers, dealers, distributors and wholesalers in more than 150 countries around the world. The company is headquarters in Oxnard, California

Monsanto introduces the first triple-trait technology offered by any company in the agriculture industry, YieldGard Plus with Roundup Ready Corn 2. The product offers three traits in one seed - including Monsanto's two YieldGard insect-protection products and its Roundup Ready technology.

Monsanto acquires the Stoneville cotton business, including it's NexGen brand.

Monsanto's ASI subsidiary acquires NC+ Hybrids, Inc., headquartered in Lincoln, Neb.

Monsanto completes its sale of Monsanto Enviro-Chem Systems Inc. to a new company formed by the Enviro-Chem management team and an outside investor. The new company is MECS, Inc.

Monsanto's ASI subsidiary acquires four companies that are the shareowners of the CORE Group - including Fontanelle Hybrids, based in Fontanelle, Neb.; Stewart Seeds, based in Greensburg, Ind.; Trelay Seeds, based in Livingston, Wis.; and, Stone Seeds, based in Pleasant Plains, Ill. In a separate transaction, ASI also acquires Specialty Hybrids, a leader serving the Eastern Corn Belt.

The 2005 crop season marked the tenth season that biotech crops were planted throughout the world. The 2005 season also marked the year in which the billionth acre was planted with biotech crops and the year in which the billionth acre harvested.

2004

Monsanto introduces YieldGard Plus corn. This product is a stacked version of Monsanto's two YieldGard products in one seed product.

Monsanto forms American Seeds Inc. (ASI), a holding company for mostly corn and soybeans. ASI supports regional seed businesses with capital, genetics and technology investments.

Monsanto's ASI subsidiary acquires Channel Bio Corp. and its three seed brands: Crows Hybrid Corn, Midwest Seed Genetics and Wilson Seeds.

2003

YieldGard Rootworm insect-protected corn is introduced, providing farmers with in-seed insect-protection against the corn rootworm.

Monsanto introduces YieldGard Rootworm insect-protected corn stacked with Roundup Ready Corn 2. The product offers two traits in one seed - including Monsanto's YieldGard Rootworm insect-protection and its Roundup Ready technology.

Monsanto becomes the first agriculture company to introduce a second-generation trait product in cotton when it introduces Bollgard II insect-protected cotton. The product provides farmers with the same benefits as its original Bollgard product as well as expanded protection against other cotton pests.

2002

The new Monsanto Company is spun off from Pharmacia and is now a separate company.

Monsanto becomes the first company to identify and market specific corn hybrids that can yield more ethanol per bushel. The hybrids, sold as Processor Preferred Corn hybrids, help farmers get more ethanol out of their harvest.

Monsanto introduces Processor Preferred Soybean varieties. These varieties help farmers get more oil and protein out of their harvest.

2001

Monsanto becomes the first agriculture company to introduce a second-generation trait product when it introduces Roundup Ready Corn 2. The product provides farmers with a wider application window than the first generation Roundup Ready Corn technology.

Monsanto places the first U.S. corporate order for the first full-size pickup trucks that run on E85, a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline.

2000

A new Monsanto Company, based on the previous agricultural division of Pharmacia, is incorporated as a stand-alone subsidiary of the pharmaceutical company. (Pharmacia itself eventually becomes a subsidiary of Pfizer, in 2003).

Original Monsanto Company