Monsanto Corporation : An Agricultural Company

According to the article somewhere around 325,000 farmers purchase seeds each year under an agreement that “they will will not save and replant seeds produced from” Monsanto. With an agreement like this in place, the corporation feels the need to be sure that clients withhold their contracts. Monsanto sends out private investigators to essentially follow farmers, photographing them and watching everything that they do. If an investigator determines that a farmer is breaking contract, that farmer will have to pay a fine, or, in extreme cases, a lawsuit will be filed. However, according to the essay by Monsanto, there have been only “147 lawsuits filed since 1997 in the United States. This averages about 8 per year for the past 18 years. To date, only 9 cases have gone through full trial. In every one of these instances, the jury or court decided in our favor.” They do this because when farmers replant, they no longer have a reason to purchase seeds, therefore costing the company money. Another reason that Monsanto uses such a practice is because the loss of that revenue hinders their ability to research and develop products that would help farmers. A

Monsanto positions itself as a relatively new agricultural company having formed in 2002, and focused on supporting local farmers around the world. They also promote themselves as a guardian of the environment with a mission “to produce more food while conserving more” (Monsanto.com). Today’s Monsanto conglomerate also promotes itself as the “New Merchants,” a leading research company in the field of agriculture-crop production, as well as a strong supporter of public and private research through its grant, donations and University scholarship programs.

The farmers then give their products to the manufacturers, who represent the bottleneck of the food system (21). “The ten largest companies control half of the world’s seed supply. …Ten firms control 90% of the nearly $38.6 billion pesticide markets (111-112).” Monsanto, being one of the ten companies that controls the world’s seed supply, is a company that has patents on all of its seeds and products. It produces genetically modified crops that are resistant to its own pesticides and herbicides, so that when a pesticide or herbicide is sprayed and it destroys all plants, the Monsanto seed survives because of its resistance. The reason that Monsanto is able to stay in business is because of the economic benefit it poses for the farmers. They are able to produce their crops at a much higher yield because they are losing less of their crops to pests. This higher yield results in lower costs for the consumers as well (Planes). As discussed

Personally, I believe that seeds, no matter how scientifically manipulated, should be considered technology. “Seed priming is defined as controlling hydration level within seeds so that the metabolic activity necessary for germination can occur” (Maiti, 2011). Monsanto does have moral obligations to farmers and consumers to make its seeds available at prices affordable to even the poorest of farmers. According to CEO, Hugh Grant, Monsanto could not exist without farmers. They are our customers-the lifeblood of our company. Traditionally, farmers save seeds from one year to plant in the next year, but Monsanto wanted to force farmers to purchase new seeds from the company every year. “By issuing new seeds each year, Monsanto ensures it will secure a profit as well as maintain control over its intellectual property” (Ferrell & Hartline, 2014).

The use of Monsanto’s tactical format for approaching farmers who misuse their seeds is one that I find a little concerning. Monsanto has a policy that the farmers who purchase their seeds sign that they are not able to save their seeds or replant them for the next years crop. It is important for all industries to protect their patented product, but I am not sure preventing the farmer’s from using a product purchased in a previous year would damage their patent. The farmer has already purchased the seed from the supplier, so the seed is technically the owned product of the farmer who completed the purchase. If the farmer is not doing anything with the product that will manipulate how it is used or in a manner where the crop is produced,

Biotech companies including Monsanto do not allow the farmers to reuse seeds from their own crops. These companies have put a patent on these seeds and plants, a patent on actually life. They own the living organism.

Monsanto has various stakeholder groups all across the globe. The key stakeholders are: members of the global financial community; farmers and other agricultural organizations; Monsanto employees; animal feed producers and distributors; insect/pest control organizations; federal, state and local agricultural, regulatory and environmental agencies; and the list goes on and on (Beyond the Rows, 2012). Monsanto states that their main goals is to provide stakeholders with better information regarding all of their activities and that they are committed to making meaningful strides to report on environmental sustainability performance throughout the world (Beyond the Rows, 2012).

“Monsanto Company started off its chemical business in 1997, Monsanto traces its roots to John Francisco Queeny, a purchaser for a wholesale drug house, who formed the Monsanto Chemical Works in St. Louis, Missouri”(Barboza). In the mid-1990s, it became the first to widely market genetically engineered

Monsanto Company is the world’s largest seed company. They specialize in genetic manipulation of organisms.

Monsanto is a Saint Louis Chemical manufacturer that is a major player in the weed killing business. Monsanto has quite a portentous past. They developed and produced the notorious defoliant "Agent Orange" used in the Vietnam War, they invented the controversial recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH), and they were the inventors and world’s main producer of

Monsanto’s “seed police” seems to be an excessive “bully” operating task force that ensures other companies are following their patent guidelines (Ferrell & Hartline, 2014). In my opinion, this is not the most effective way to do business or handle relationships. Although it may be considered job security for the company, because companies will have to purchase seeds every year for the upcoming season, if another company ever came along and offered the same products, consumers may be willing to purchase from them. There would be minimum customer loyalty to the brand and with the lack of a good relationship, potentially using another company would be favorable.

The environment in which Armor Seed faces can be grim at times. Companies in the agricultural economy are finding ways to reduce costs in order to survive this recession. Through all of this, the input sector continues to post significant profit margins and high volumes of sales. In this particular area, Armor is what the Boston Consulting Group Matrix would call a “star” because they are experiencing growth from new customers and they have a strong market presence in our area. By including a number of different crop seeds, we can predict that Armor will continue to expand

They are consistently developing new product, new seed traits, so as patents expire they can start marketing the next step up, similar to buying new version of phones each year that are essentially the same, but fine-tuned with possibly a new feature in the mix. Roughly 80% of corn and 93% of the soybeans in the US gown are sold by either Monsanto or one of their licensees (Mitchell, 2014). In fact, GMO’s are dominant across most major crops in the United States, such as corn, soybeans, cotton, sugar beets, and canola, and Monsanto holds the largest shares of each of these markets (Mitchell, 2014). This makes it easier for Monsanto to make up for losses in one market by selling more seed in another. In the farming industry, farmers often switch up their crops from year to year depending on soil, climate and other projected

Monsanto is a leading biotechnology company, which an American-based company. The company had received import approval of some products before concerns were elevated. They responded by launching an advertising campaign to discuss the potential benefits of biotechnology. Monsanto was trying to impose America's food and production systems on the European life. Cultural differences were not factored into the European launch of GM foods by the biotechnology industry.

Monsanto is a company that some people may not be explicitly familiar with on a first name basis. However, the work that the company has done over the last century, with a larger emphasis on its most recent ventures, have been deeply engrained in our lives, our food, and our economy. Monsanto has those who advocate on their behalf in addition to their naysayers. While Monsanto has made huge strides in terms of biotechnology over the last couple of decades, their accomplishments, and the relevant methods, have not been free of criticism and controversy. In order to analyze Monsanto’s corporate environment, it is important to first explore their Strengths, Weaknesses,