Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago/Reuters – Monsanto Co’s Climate Corp subsidiary on Tuesday announced a definitive agreement to sell its Precision Planting farm equipment business to Deere & Co for an undisclosed sum. The deal also allows nearly real-time data connections between certain John Deere farm equipment and Climate’s farming software programs, Climate FieldView. Climate will keep its digital farming […] Read more
Deere & Co. to buy Monsanto’s Precision Planting farm equipment business
Monsanto to shut three R+D centres next year
Reading Time: < 1 minute Chicago | Reuters –– Agrichemical company Monsanto plans to shutter three research and development centers in 2016 with a loss of about 90 jobs, it said Monday, as it restructures operations to cut costs in a slumping agricultural commodity market. The centers are in Middleton, Wisconsin, and Mystic, Connecticut, both of which focus on seed […] Read more
Monsanto clears USDA regulatory hurdle for new GM corn
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Friday signed off on a new genetically modified type of corn developed by Monsanto after a review concluded it posed no significant threat to agricultural crops, other plants or the environment. USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced it would deregulate Monsanto’s MON […] Read more
Dow reviews options for farm chemical/seeds unit
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — Dow Chemical said it would “review all options” for its farm chemicals and seeds unit, which has reported falling sales for nearly a year, and suggested that it might buy Corning’s stake in a silicon joint venture. Dow is also selling its stake in a Kuwaiti JV that produces a chemical used in […] Read more
Syngenta CEO leaves in wake of Monsanto deal rejection
Reading Time: 2 minutes Zurich | Reuters –– Syngenta CEO Mike Mack is stepping down as head of the Swiss agrochemicals group just two months after the company spurned a US$47 billion takeover approach from U.S. rival Monsanto. Mack, 55, will quit at the end of the month and chief financial officer John Ramsay will take charge on an […] Read more
Monsanto asks California not to list herbicide as cancer cause
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — A plan by California environmental officials to list a commonly used herbicide as cancer-causing should be withdrawn, Monsanto told state regulators on Tuesday, saying California’s actions could be considered illegal because they are not considering valid scientific evidence. The formal comments were filed by Monsanto with the state’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment […] Read more
New in soybean varieties
New options will help the crop continue expanding its value and range
Reading Time: 12 minutes Canadian soybean production has grown up in the past 30 years. It seems a distant memory now that in 1985, Ontario was still the only major producer in the country, topping the million-tonne mark that year, well above the average of 690,000 tonnes earlier that decade. One year later, Quebec joined the market, and five […] Read more
Monsanto slashing 2,600 jobs, buying back shares as sales fall
Reading Time: 3 minutes Reuters — Monsanto, one of the world’s largest seed and agrichemical companies, said Wednesday that it was slashing 2,600 jobs and restructuring operations to cut costs in a slumping commodity market. The company, which said it expected low prices for agricultural products to squeeze results well into 2016, also reported a much wider quarterly loss […] Read more
Think Europe’s halting GMOs? It could be heading for more
Reading Time: 2 minutes Paris | Reuters — The large number of European countries opposing GMO cultivation may have given the impression the bloc is putting a brake on GMOs, but with new crops queuing for approval and key countries leaving the door open, output is more likely to grow than wane. Nineteen out of 28 EU member states […] Read more
U.S. workers sue Monsanto claiming herbicide caused cancer
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — A U.S. farm worker and a horticultural assistant have filed lawsuits claiming Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide caused their cancers and Monsanto intentionally misled the public and regulators about the dangers of the herbicide. The lawsuits come six months after the World Health Organization’s cancer research unit said it was classifying glyphosate, the active weed-killing […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
