As part of our commitment to improving lives, our people continue to champion America’s farmers. We are proud to provide several programs that support growers and the rural communities in which they live and work.

TELLING THE STORY OF THE AMERICAN FARMER AND THEIR EFFORTS TO FEED THE WORLD

When we looked at the ways we could most positively affect the American farmer, our people identified three themes that now form the pillars of a collaborative effort among farmers, their communities and us. The first pillar focused on educating consumers by telling the story of the American farmer and advocating for their tireless efforts to help feed the world. This became known as the America’s Farmers campaign.

An extension of our America’s Farmers campaign is the Farm Mom of the Year initiative. This program recognizes farm women who amaze and make contributions to the family, farm, community and agriculture. Farm moms are nominated for a regional $5,000 prize and a chance to win an additional $5,000, if they win the national portion of the program.

The second pillar, sponsored by the Monsanto Fund, helps support rural communities. Farmers told us over and over again that they don’t need us to simply come in to their towns and places of business and sell seed, rather support their communities, too. We listened and created the America’s Farmers Grow Communities program.  The third pillar is centered on education. This program, again sponsored by the Monsanto Fund, is called America’s Farmers Grow Rural Education. It’s a grant award system that enhances nominated rural school districts.

America’s Farmers Grow Communities

The program, which launched in 2010, allows farmers to enter to win a $2,500 donation for their favorite community not-for-profit organization, such as 4-H, FFA, schools, fire departments and other civic groups. In 2012, one winner was selected in each of the 1,271 eligible counties in 39 states.

To further support counties that were declared disaster areas by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) due to the 2012 drought, winning farmers in these counties could choose where to direct an additional $2,500 donation based on community needs that surfaced because of the drought. The Monsanto Fund will invest more than $5 million to local not-for-profit organizations across the country through Grow Communities during the program year.

TOTAL FUNDS AWARDED IN 2012: $5.84 MILLION

America’s Farmers Grow Rural Education

Our people know education of the next generation of farmers is vital to the future of agriculture. We also know that once a school closes down or relocates, the sustainability of the community is at risk. That’s why we introduced America’s Farmers Grow Rural Education to help farmers positively impact their communities and support local school districts. In total, the Monsanto Fund invested nearly $2.3 million to rural school districts in 39 states in 2012.

America’s Farmers Grow Rural Education offers farmers the opportunity to nominate rural public school districts to compete for a grant of up to $25,000 to benefit their math and science programs. There are 6,900 rural public school districts that were eligible for the grants in 2012, and more than 70,000 farmers nominated their community school districts. The America’s Farmers Grow Rural Education Farmer Advisory Council is made up of 29 farmers from across the country. They are responsible for reviewing the top grant applications in each of the targeted crop reporting districts (CRDs) and selecting the winning school districts.

TOTAL FUNDS AWARDED IN 2012: $2.3 MILLION

These programs are just a part of our broad commitment to the American farmer. We see investing in rural communities and education as fundamental to building both the present and the future of agriculture in America. And we couldn’t be more proud to be a part of the success of both.