Many of our stakeholders are increasingly interested in agriculture and in understanding how food is produced. Food production often starts with a seed, and this is where much of our employees’ work is focused.

As a leading agriculture company involved in one of the first steps of food production, we recognize we play a critical role in providing farmers with tools and services that promote a safe, healthful and affordable food supply.  We are committed to careful testing and review to ensure the safety of our products.  We are also committed to diverse market approaches that provide both farmers and consumers with choices in the marketplace.

As members of families and communities, our people care about food security and nutrition security and how we can help contribute to a balanced plate for people all over the world. Our stakeholder outreach and materiality process continues to help us identify partnerships and opportunities for us to make a unique contribution in this area.

WE ARE COMMITTED TO CAREFUL TESTING AND REVIEW TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF OUR PRODUCTS.

We take a three-part approach to provide tools and options that can help farmers of all sizes produce more food while conserving resources:

1. Traditional Markets:  This approach allows farmers to fully benefit from our R&D commitments to improve our core crops, including our progress to help farmers double yields of corn, canola, cotton and soybeans – and to provide improved vegetable varieties with farmer and consumer appeal.  We make these improved seeds broadly available by licensing to seed companies of all sizes in order to support a competitive marketplace that provides the greatest seed choices for farmers.
2. Philanthropic Donations:  This approach utilizes the sharing element of our Pledge as well our foundation, the Monsanto Fund. As agriculture evolves, so does the company’s and the Fund’s efforts to improve the lives of people by providing resources to meet their needs.  The philanthropic efforts of the Monsanto Fund and our business are focused on strengthening both farming communities and the communities where we live and work. This includes providing financial support to not-for-profit organizations and sharing technology with public research institutions to improve crops that are important to hunger alleviation, but not core to the company’s business (such as cassava and cowpea).
3. Cooperative Development Partnerships:  This approach combines traditional market approaches and philanthropic donations to provide unique solutions that improve choices for farmers.  This includes technology sharing partnerships in our core crops such as the Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) partnership and working with local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to address market barriers as in our Grow Africa commitment in Tanzania.