St. Louis, Missouri
September 19, 2008
Effort Focuses on Agriculture’s
Growing Need to Produce More, Conserve More and Improve Farmers’
Lives
Monsanto (NYSE: MON) has
launched a multifaceted communications initiative to raise
awareness of the agricultural challenges facing the planet,
including a need to double food production by 2050. The effort
builds on the company’s pledge to work with other businesses,
citizen groups and governments on needed changes to meet growing
food production demand while conserving key resources.
“The fundamental question for Monsanto and every organization
involved in global food issues is how to produce more, conserve
more and improve farmers’ lives” said Jerry Steiner, executive
vice president of Monsanto. “We believe that for agriculture to
be sustainable and serve the needs of our growing population, we
must do all three.”
Steiner highlighted the role of advancements in agriculture in
resolving the challenges of food availability, climate change,
energy demand and drought. He said the world will need to
actively evaluate and implement approaches that can help local
farmers rise to meet these challenges. “We believe boosting crop
yields on each acre already farmed is one part of the solution.
Getting more output from each unit of input is another. There is
no one silver bullet or single way to accomplish all of this.
Addressing these challenges will require the collaborative
efforts of diverse organizations working together.”
As an agricultural seed company, Monsanto invests more than $2
million every day into its research-and-development efforts to
increase and protect agricultural yields. This investment is
aimed at discovering and delivering the best and latest tools to
improve crop yields, while protecting the environment and
improving the lives of its farmer customers.
Monsanto’s communications initiative includes the launch of the
Web site www.ProduceMoreConserveMore.com and a print ad that
asks, “How can we squeeze more food from a raindrop?” The ad
advances a discussion of how farmers, who today produce 60
percent of the world’s food supply from non-irrigated crops,
will need to produce more per every drop of rain that nature
provides.
The goal of the effort is to build awareness of every person’s
stake in practices that help agriculture become more sustainable
to meet current and future needs. The ad is appearing in leading
business, consumer and government publications such as The
Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and The
Hill. The awareness initiative reinforces Monsanto’s
three-point commitment announced in June to double the yield of
its three core crops by 2030, develop seeds that require
one-third fewer resources per unit produced by 2030, and help
improve the lives of an additional 5 million resource-poor
farmers. Steiner said the company’s commitments reflect the
input of farmers, policymakers, scientists, non-governmental
organizations and experts in academia and industry.
Monsanto Company is a leading global provider of
technology-based solutions and agricultural products that
improve farm productivity and food quality. Monsanto remains
focused on enabling both small-holder and large-scale farmers to
produce more from their land while conserving more of our
world's natural resources such as water and energy. |
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