Monsanto History
An Introduction
The history of today’s Monsanto, an agricultural company, began in 2002 after it was divested from Pharmacia Corporation. Agricultural biotechnology was firmly established as the new company’s strategic research focus in an effort to improve farmer livelihoods by increasing their profitability through yield enhancements.
- 2001 Notable Event
- Monsanto is the first agricultural company to introduce a second-generation biotechnology trait product.
- 2001 Product Launch
- Roundup Ready® Corn 2
- 2002 Product Launch
- Processor Preferred® soybeans and Processor Preferred® corn hybrids
- 2003 Product Launch
- Bollgard® II cotton and YieldGard® Rootworm
- 2004 Product Launch
- YieldGard® Plus corn
- 2004 Acquisition
- Channel Bio Corp. (Crows Hybrid Corn, Midwest Seed Genetics, Wilson Seeds)
- 2005 Notable Event
- Monsanto is the first agricultural company to introduce triple-trait technology.
- 2006 Notable Event
- Monsanto is the first agricultural company to introduce a stacked second-generation product.
- 2006 Notable Event
- Monsanto and Dow AgroSciences LLC agree to cross-license intellectual property, product licenses, and technologies.
- 2007 Notable Event
- Monsanto and BASF announce a collaboration in plant biotechnology.
- 2007 Notable Event
- Monsanto and Bayer CropScience AG announce a series of business and licensing agreements.
- 2007 Notable Event
- Monsanto and Dow AgroSciences LLC announce a cross-licensing agreement for SmartStax™.
- 2007 Award
- John Franz is inducted into the U.S. Inventors Hall of Fame® for his discovery of glyphosate.
- 2005 Product Launch
- Vistive® Low-Linolenic soybeans
- 2006 Product Launch
- Roundup Ready® Flex cotton
- 2005 Acquisition
- CORE Group (Fontanelle Hybrids, Stewart Seeds, Trelay Seeds, Stone Seeds), Specialty Hybrids, NC+ Hybrids, Stoneville (NexGen), Seminis, Inc.
- 2006 Acquisition
- Diener Seeds, Sieben Hybrids, Kruger Seed Company, Trisler Seed Farms, Gold Country Seed, Inc., Heritage Seeds, Campbell Seed (seed marketing and sales only)
- 2007 Acquisition
- Delta and Pine Land Company
A More Sustainable Future
In 2008, we shifted our focus to full-spectrum sustainable farming solutions. We pledged to:
- Help farmers double yields in corn, soybeans, and cotton by 2030;
- Develop seeds that will reduce by one-third per unit produced the aggregate amount of key resources, such as land, water, and energy, required to grow crops by 2030;
- Improve the lives of farmers, including an additional five million people in resource-poor farm families, by 2020.
A key turning point in Monsanto’s history occurred in 2012, as we started acquiring companies producing digital tools and data modeling to provide even more precision-focused solutions for farmers. We established technology and learning centers throughout the U.S. to help the industry understand more about the planet that feeds us. We continue to institute outreach programs with the goal of improving the lives of families and communities around the world, including in our hometown of St. Louis, Missouri.
In 2016, Monsanto’s board of directors voted to approve an acquisition by Bayer CropScience AG, a key development in the refinement of our strategic focus. In 2017 and the coming years, our goal is to move agriculture forward by using less of our natural resources.
- 2009 Notable Event
- Monsanto announces Project SHARE.
- 2009 Notable Event
- Monsanto announces a $10 million grant to establish Monsanto's Beachell-Borlaug International Scholars Program.
- 2009 Notable Event
- Monsanto donates approx. 4,000 cotton molecular markers and associated information to Texas AgriLife Research.
- 2011 Notable Event
- Monsanto announced the launch of “Grow St. Louis.”
- 2010 Award
- FORTUNE Magazine “100 Best Companies to Work For”; The Scientist Best Places to Work; CR Magazine “100 Best Corporate Citizens”; Diversity, Inc. Top 50 Companies for Diversity
- 2012 Award
- Great Places to Work Institute World’s Best Multinational Workplaces
- 2013 Award
- Environmental Protection Agency’s Gulf of Mexico Program Gulf Guardian Award
- 2013 Award
- Robb Fraley named World Food Prize Laureate
- 2013 Award
- CR Magazine “100 Best Corporate Citizens”
- 2010-2014 Award
- Human Rights Campaign Foundation 100% on Corporate Equality Index, Best Places to Work for LGBT Equality
- 2008 Product Launch
- Acceleron® branded seed-applied solutions
- 2009 Product Launch
- Genuity® Traits
- 2010 Product Launch
- Warrant® Herbicide, Beneforte Broccoli, EverMild onions
- 2016 Product Launch
- Roundup Ready® Xtend Crop System
- 2008 Acquisition
- De Ruiter Seeds Group, Semillas Cristiani Burkard, Aly Participacoes Ltda., CanaVialis S.A., Alellyx S.A.
- 2011 Acquisition
- Beelogics, Divergence, Inc.
- 2012 Acquisition
- Precision Planting
- 2013 Acquisition
- The Climate Corporation
- 2016 Acquisition
- Monsanto agrees to be acquired by Bayer AG
- 2018 Acquisition
- Bayer AG successfully completed its acquisition of Monsanto