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GROWING LOCALLY AND GLOBALLY
MONSANTO PRODUCES MORE WITH LESS
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By Linda F. Jarrett
Hugh Grant is bullish on biotechnology and the
increasing role of St. Louis as a BioBelt leader. Sitting at a conference table at Monsanto’s world headquarters in St. Louis, the Scottish-born chairman, president and CEO looks at the lemon slice floating in his cup of hot tea. “What has happened in the last three or four years for Monsanto is that we’ve seen the transition in the company that historically was in the chemical industry, and now migrating to a seed and biotech company,” he says.
 Hugh Grant talks shop in a lab with
Senior Science Fellow Jimmy Liu, Ph.D. |
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Roundup Ready soybeans, corn and
cotton contain the trait for herbicide tolerance, and is the natural complement to Roundup, the product which shot Monsanto to the top of the agricultural herbicide market. Biotechnology traits for insect protection including, YieldGard corn and Bollgard cotton, are helping farmers reduce pesticide use, while improved next-
generation traits are progressing rapidly in the pipeline.
“We have seen this region begin to change as the BioBelt becomes reality,” he says. “We sell seeds. The seeds contain coded pieces of information, which is the trait. The trait allows the seed to look after itself.”
Most genetic modifications provide bigger yields via protection from weeds and insects, making farming more productive and less reliant on pesticides. Take the cotton crop in the Mississippi Delta, for example. In past years, crop dusters would spray pesticides over the crop six to eight times a year. Now, however, Grant says over two-thirds of the American cotton crop is biotech, which translates to only two annual sprayings. “Six chemical applications went away because the plant looks after itself. When the bug bites the leaf, the plant contains the insect control that eliminates the bug. Between one-third and one-half of the world’s cotton crop has the potential of becoming biotech.”
He says that a few years ago, he spent some time in the Delta, where farmers shared their stories of what it meant to use fewer pesticides. “A group of farmers and I were talking biotech issues at a lunch time barbecue. This elderly farmer came up to me and said, ‘You know, I’m seeing birds coming back to the farm that I haven’t seen since I was a boy.’”
“This has changed the way farming is done in the U.S.,” Grant says. “And, I think, over time, it will change around the world. The key to this, and it’s key to Monsanto, is how do we produce more with less? We have more and more people, but fewer and fewer acres to plant, every time we make a road, a development or a strip center.”
Room on the Planet
Grant feels passionately that there are finite resources on the planet, and that it is within man’s reach to help his global neighbors.
“Every one of those acres has to produce 35 percent more,” he says. “Some say to produce more, you need better chemicals. Our belief is that you don’t need better chemicals, you need better seed. Seed that produces more and better quality products. We are a hungry planet, and we’ve a part to play. There are still chemicals used and we sell a piece
of that chemical business. But, in addition to supplying insect-
protected and weed-resistant seeds, now we’re moving
on to traits that will bene-
fit human and animal
nutrition.”
That move to genetically-engineered seed has not been without its opponents, especially in Europe who had, until recently, banned genetically-modified products. Most of this resistance was a backlash against the government who had led people to believe that the beef supply was safe when it was, in fact, tainted with “Mad Cow Disease.”
Grant says while “we are still not welcomed with open arms,” the mood has changed for the better. “In ten years and a billion acres of biotech crops under our belt, no one has had a headache or a sneeze. The reality is that one-third of the soybeans that we grow here are exported to Europe. Europe is still making up its mind, but Brazil, Argentina, China and India have all voted ‘yes.’ The European Commission has since said ‘yes’ to Roundup Ready corn.”
Even though over 80 percent of soybeans and 40 percent of corn raised in the United States are biotech, many Americans, (48 percent according to a survey by the Food Policy Institute at Rutgers University), know very little about genetically-modified food.
The Bottom Line
While this industry is only 10 years
old, it has pushed Monsanto’s bottom line through the roof. Since the first genetically-modified seeds were introduced in 1996, biotech acreage reached 200 million acres in 2004, an increase of 20 percent over 2003.
Monsanto’s second quarter of this year showed a net income of $373 million, a 142 percent change from the 2004-second quarter figure of $154 million.
| Between one-third and one-half of the world’s cotton crop has the potential of becoming biotech. |
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Grant says. “This year, somewhere in the Heartland, we’ll see the billionth biotech acre being planted. We’re living in the future right now, and if you look ahead in the next four to five years, I think we’ll see the beginnings of what is happening now—healthier oils for food uses.”
In The Pipeline
This year, Monsanto will debut Visitive low-linolenic acid soybeans. These soybeans will reduce or eliminate the need for partial hydrogenation, a process used in products such as crackers and cereal to prolong shelf life and flavor. Unfortunately, the hydrogenation process also creates trans fatty acids, which raises bad cholesterol (LDL) and lowers good (HDL) cholesterol.
Beginning January 1, 2006, food companies will be required to list the amount of trans fats in their foods.
“Visitive soybeans will help food companies reduce the trans fatty acids in foods without sacrificing flavor and shelf life,” Grant says. “The future is limitless. “Extracting Omega 3 oils from plants instead of fish is one project in the Monsanto pipeline. “Fish don’t make Omega 3 oils. They eat algae, and algae contain the Omega 3’s, so we’ve jumped over the fish, and made canola and soybeans enriched in Omega 3s just like algae. The beauty is, it doesn’t taste like fish!”
Drought tolerance is another concept
being developed. According to the United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, most freshwater, about 70 percent globally, is used for agriculture.
| A researcher tends to young corn plants in a
greenhouse environment. |
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“When you think of the tension between expanding cities and shrinking agriculture that continues to use water,” Grant says, “One of the big bets we’re placing on the future is drought tolerance. This year, we’ll have our second year of field research with corn plants containing a drought trait, and so far, our results are showing very high promise in this area.”
The Road to St. Louis
Born in Larkhall, Scotland, Grant had a friend who lived on a farm. “I would work and spend weekends there, and there was always something that interested me.”
During his second year at Glasgow University, he became interested in molecular biology, which he described as “the marriage between the whole new areas of genetics and genomics and traditional biology.”
Grant earned a bachelor’s of science degree in agricultural zoology at Glasgow University. He received a post-graduate degree in agriculture at Edinburgh University, with a MBA at the International Management Centre in Buckingham, United Kingdom.
He joined Monsanto in 1981 and spent the first 10 years in European sales and product development, before assignments in St. Louis and Asia brought him back to St. Louis in 1998.
He believes St. Louis is on the verge of a biotech boom. “From the inside, it doesn’t seem that quick, but it’s happened in the last several years beginning back in the late 1990s with the pioneers, Virginia Weldon, Bill Danforth and Peter Raven. The three of them really started to think of this whole BioBelt concept.
“We’re doing really important things that contribute to the health of the planet,” he says. “And while that sounds grandiose, I believe it. I’m proud of my team and what they’re doing. We’re doing world-class
science. The old thing was how does
St. Louis compete with the West Coast or East Coast, but I think the next thing will be how does St. Louis compete globally. The challenge for us as a company and a region is how do we compete on a global stage.”
The Personal View
Grant, his wife Janice and three children enjoy traveling, mainly to North Carolina, and usually manage one trip a year back to Scotland to visit relatives. For true relaxing, he gets on his Harley and rides either the Great River Road or the Wine Country roads.
“I’m starting to get itchy feet with this weather,” he laughs. “In 15 minutes, you can be in pristine countryside.”
Then he returns to lauding the scientific virtues of St. Louis. “When you think about what’s happening here with the universities, the Danforth Foundation, the Botanical Garden, there is a hub, the beginning of a science platform that’s putting us on the map. We’ve found that when we bring scientists and young researchers in and we sit down to talk to them, St. Louis often sells itself. You have to get them here first and let them taste it.”
Grant cannot imagine doing anything else. “It’s something I believe in. You spend so much of your time at work, it’s a blessing. My ambition was to be in agriculture and to travel, and that has happened. This community here in St. Louis is quietly performing miracles. Today we had 100 people in from all over the world, and to sit at the lunch table and have these multicul-
tural countries all sitting here in
St. Louis and talking agriculture, I think is a real privilege.” |
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