The Monsanto Company was an American company that made farming chemicals and biotech products. It was started in 1901 and had its main office in Creve Coeur, Missouri. One of its most famous products was Roundup, a weed killer made from glyphosate, which was created in the 1970s. Later, the company became a major maker of genetically modified crops. In 2018, Monsanto was ranked 199th on the Fortune 500 list, which shows the largest U.S. companies by income.

Monsanto was one of four groups that first added genes to plants in 1983. It also helped test genetically modified crops in fields for the first time in 1987. Until 1997 to 2002, Monsanto was among the top ten U.S. chemical companies. During this time, it sold most of its chemical businesses through mergers and created separate companies, focusing more on biotechnology.

Monsanto was among the first to use the business model from biotech drug companies in farming. This model allows companies to get back the costs of research and development by using patents related to biology.

Monsanto played a role in changing agriculture and making biotech products. It also worked with government groups and had a history as a chemical company, which led to some disputes. The company once made products like DDT, PCBs, Agent Orange, and recombinant bovine growth hormone, which were controversial.

In September 2016, a German company called Bayer said it wanted to buy Monsanto for US$66 billion in cash. After getting approval from the U.S. and European Union, the sale was completed on June 7, 2018. The name "Monsanto" was no longer used, but its product brands stayed. In June 2020, Bayer agreed to pay money to settle lawsuits about old Monsanto products like Roundup, PCBs, and Dicamba. Because of the large financial and trust problems caused by ongoing lawsuits about Roundup, the Bayer-Monsanto merger is seen as one of the worst business mergers in history.

History

In 1901, Monsanto was founded in St. Louis, Missouri, as a chemical company. John Francis Queeny, who was 42 years old and had 30 years of experience in the new pharmaceutical industry, founded the company. He used his own money and funds from a soft drink distributor to start the business. He named the company after his wife’s maiden name, Olga Méndez Monsanto, who was part of the Monsanto family.

The company’s first products were common food additives, such as the artificial sweetener saccharin, caffeine, and vanillin.

Monsanto expanded to Europe in 1919 in a partnership with Graesser’s Chemical Works in Cefn Mawr, Wales. The partnership produced vanillin, aspirin, and its raw ingredient salicylic acid. Later, they also made chemicals used in rubber production.

In the 1920s, Monsanto expanded into basic industrial chemicals like sulfuric acid and PCBs. Queeny’s son, Edgar Monsanto Queeny, took over the company in 1928.

In 1926, the company founded and incorporated a town called Monsanto in Illinois (now known as Sauget). It was created to provide fewer rules and lower taxes for Monsanto plants, as local governments had most of the responsibility for environmental rules at the time. The town was later renamed in honor of Leo Sauget, its first village president.

In 1935, Monsanto bought the Swann Chemical Company in Anniston, Alabama, and began producing PCBs.

In 1936, Monsanto acquired Thomas & Hochwalt Laboratories in Dayton, Ohio, to gain the expertise of Charles Allen Thomas and Carroll A. Hochwalt. The acquisition became Monsanto’s Central Research Department. Thomas worked for Monsanto for many years, serving as President (1951–1960) and Board Chair (1960–1965). He retired in 1970. In 1943, Thomas met with Leslie Groves, commander of the Manhattan Project, and James Conant, president of Harvard University and chairman of the National Defense Research Committee (NDRC). They asked Thomas to join the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos with Robert Oppenheimer, but Thomas was hesitant to leave Dayton and Monsanto. Instead, he joined the NDRC, and Monsanto’s Central Research Department began related research. To support this, Monsanto operated the Dayton Project and later Mound Laboratories, and helped develop the first nuclear weapons.

In 1946, Monsanto developed and sold "All" laundry detergent. It sold this product to Lever Brothers in 1957. In 1947, its styrene factory was destroyed in the Texas City Disaster. In 1949, Monsanto bought American Viscose Corporation from Courtaulds. In 1954, Monsanto partnered with German chemical company Bayer to form Mobay and market polyurethanes in the United States.

Monsanto began making DDT in 1944, along with about 15 other companies. This insecticide was used to kill malaria-transmitting mosquitoes but was banned in the United States in 1972 because it harmed the environment.

In 1977, Monsanto stopped producing PCBs. Congress banned PCB production two years later.

In the mid-1960s, William Standish Knowles and his team developed a method to create specific chemical structures using asymmetric hydrogenation. This was the first way

Products and associated issues

In 1970, Monsanto introduced a herbicide called glyphosate, sold under the brand name RoundUp. Its last important U.S. patent for this product expired in 2000. Since then, many companies have sold glyphosate in different forms and under many brand names. By 2009, glyphosate made up about 10% of Monsanto’s income. Products related to RoundUp, including genetically modified seeds, contributed about half of Monsanto’s profit.

As of 2015, Monsanto sold seeds for corn, cotton, soybeans, and vegetables. Many of these seeds are genetically modified to resist herbicides like glyphosate and dicamba. Monsanto calls seeds that resist glyphosate "Roundup Ready." This system allowed farmers to plant crops closer together, increasing yields. Before this, farmers had to space rows farther apart to control weeds with mechanical methods. Over 80% of certain crops in the U.S., such as corn, soybeans, and cotton, are glyphosate-tolerant. Monsanto developed a genetically modified wheat called MON 71800 but stopped its development in 2004 because of concerns from wheat exporters about foreign countries rejecting GM wheat.

Two patents were important for Monsanto’s GM soybean business. One expired in 2011, and the other in 2014. After the second patent expired, glyphosate-resistant soybeans became available from other companies. The first harvest of these soybeans happened in 2015. Monsanto allowed other seed companies to use its technology, and about 150 companies, including competitors like Syngenta and DuPont Pioneer, licensed the trait.

Monsanto created seeds that produce a protein from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), which kills insects. In 1995, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved Bt potatoes after the Food and Drug Administration approved them, making them the first pesticide-producing crop in the U.S. Monsanto later developed Bt corn, soybeans, and cotton.

Monsanto also sells seeds with multiple genetic changes, such as cotton that produces Bt proteins and resists glyphosate. One example, developed with Dow Chemical, is called SmartStax. In 2011, Monsanto launched the Genuity brand for these products.

By 2012, Monsanto sold seeds for Roundup Ready alfalfa, canola, and sugarbeet; Bt and/or Roundup Ready cotton; sorghum hybrids; soybeans with different oil types, many with the Roundup Ready trait; and wheat products, some with a non-GM trait called "clearfield" from BASF.

In 2013, Monsanto introduced the first drought-tolerant corn hybrids, called DroughtGard. This trait uses a gene from the soil bacteria Bacillus subtilis. It was approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2011 and by China in 2013.

The "Xtend Crop System" includes seeds that resist both glyphosate and dicamba, along with a herbicide containing both chemicals. The system was approved in the U.S. in 2014 and in China in 2016. However, European Union approval was delayed, leading some U.S. traders to avoid Xtend soybeans due to fears of mixing with EU-approved seeds and risking export rejections.

In 2009, Monsanto found insects in Gujarat, India, that resisted Bt cotton. It informed the Indian government and farmers that resistance is natural and advised switching to a newer version of Bt cotton with two resistance genes. Critics suggested this advice might have been a strategy to promote more expensive products.

Monsanto’s GM cotton faced criticism in India for high costs. Some farmers used GM seeds with local varieties, violating agreements with Monsanto. In 2009, high prices for Bt cotton contributed to debt for farmers in Jhabua district when crops failed due to drought.

In 2012, Monsanto was the world’s largest seller of non-GE vegetable seeds, with $800 million in sales. Most research focused on improving flavor through traditional breeding. The company sells 4,000 seed varieties across 20 species, including broccoli with increased glucoraphanin, called Beneforté.

From 1929 to 1977, Monsanto produced 99% of the polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) used in the U.S., sold under names like Aroclor and Santotherm. PCBs are harmful pollutants linked to cancer and were banned in the U.S. in 1979 and globally in 2001.

Monsanto, Dow Chemical, and others made Agent Orange, a herbicide used by the U.S. military during the Vietnam War. It was named for the orange stripes on its shipping containers.

Monsanto sold recombinant bovine somatotropin (rBST), a hormone that increases milk production in cows. It sold this business to Eli Lilly in 2008 for $300 million. The use of rBST remains controversial, and some milk is labeled "rBST-free" to meet consumer demand.

Legal affairs

Monsanto was involved in many important lawsuits, both as the one who filed the lawsuit and the one being sued. It defended cases mostly about the health and environmental effects of its products. Monsanto used the courts to protect its patents, especially in agricultural biotechnology. This method was similar to other companies in the same field, such as Dupont Pioneer and Syngenta. Monsanto became one of the most controversial large corporations in the world because of issues related to its industrial and agricultural chemical products and genetically modified (GM) seeds. In April 2018, just before Bayer bought Monsanto, Bayer said improving Monsanto’s reputation was a major challenge. That June, Bayer announced it would stop using the name Monsanto as part of a plan to rebuild consumer trust.

Argentina approved Roundup Ready soy in 1996. Between 1996 and 2008, soy production in Argentina increased from 14 million acres to 42 million acres. This growth was driven by Argentine investors interested in selling soy to other countries. The expansion caused a drop in the production of many basic foods, such as milk, rice, corn, potatoes, and lentils. By 2004, about 150,000 small farmers had left the countryside. By 2009, 50% of farmers in the Chaco region had also left.

The Guardian reported that a Monsanto representative said, "any problems with GM soy were because of growing only one type of crop, not because it was GM. If you grow only one crop, you are bound to get problems."

In 2005 and 2006, Monsanto tried to enforce its patents on soy meal from Argentina that was sent to Spain. It asked Spanish customs officials to seize the soy meal shipments. These actions were part of an effort to pressure the Argentinian government into enforcing Monsanto’s seed patents.

In 2013, environmental groups opposed a Monsanto corn seed processing facility in Malvinas Argentinas, Córdoba. Neighbors worried about the risk of environmental harm. Court decisions supported the project, but environmental groups held protests and started an online petition to have the decision made by a public vote. The court ruled that construction could continue, but the facility could not start operating until the required environmental impact report was completed.

In 2016, Monsanto reached an agreement with Argentina’s government about soybean seed royalty payments. Monsanto agreed to let the Argentine Seed Institute (Inase) oversee crops grown from its Intacta genetically modified soybean seeds. Before the agreement, many Argentine farmers avoided paying royalties by using seeds from previous harvests or buying from unregistered suppliers. Inase agreed to let grain exchanges conduct testing. About 6 million sample tests were to be done each year. Seeds that looked like GMOs could be tested again using a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test.

Brazil is the second-largest producer of genetically modified (GMO) soy. In 2003, GM soy was found in fields in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. This decision was controversial, and the Landless Workers’ Movement protested by occupying several Monsanto farms used for research, training, and seed processing. In 2005, Brazil passed a law to create a process for approving GM crops.

Monsanto was criticized by Chinese economist Larry Lang for controlling the Chinese soybean market and for trying to do the same with Chinese corn and cotton.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, public attention focused on farmer suicides linked to debt after crop failures. For example, in the early 2000s, farmers in Andhra Pradesh (AP) faced economic crises due to high interest rates and crop failures, leading to widespread unrest and farmer suicides. Monsanto was a focus of protests related to the cost and performance of Bt seed. In 2005, the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee, India’s regulatory authority, released a study on Bt cotton tests in AP and ruled that Monsanto could not sell certain strains there because of poor yields. At the same time, the state agriculture minister banned the sale of Bt cotton seeds because Monsanto refused to pay Rs 4.5 crore (about one million US dollars) to indebted farmers and because the government blamed Monsanto’s seeds for crop failures. This ban was later lifted.

In 2006, AP tried to convince Monsanto to lower the price of Bt seeds. When this did not happen, the state filed several lawsuits against Monsanto and its Mumbai-based licensee, Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds. A study by the International Food Policy Research Institute found no evidence that Bt cotton caused an increase in farmer suicides. The report noted that farmer suicides occurred before Bt cotton was widely used and made up a steady part of the national suicide rate since 1997. It concluded that while Bt cotton might have played a small role in some suicides, other factors like economic issues were more important. By 2009, Bt cotton was planted on 87% of Indian cotton-growing land.

Critics like Vandana Shiva claimed that crop failures were often linked to Monsanto’s Bt cotton, which increased farmer debt. She argued that Monsanto exaggerated the profitability of Bt cotton, leading to losses and debt. In 2009, Shiva wrote that Indian farmers

Government relations

Monsanto spent $8.8 million in 2008 and $6.3 million in 2011 to influence the U.S. government. Of this, $2 million was used for issues related to "Foreign Agriculture Biotechnology Laws, Regulations, and Trade." Some U.S. diplomats in Europe also worked for Monsanto at times.

In 2012, California voters considered Proposition 37, which would have required labels on food products containing genetically modified crops. Monsanto spent $8.1 million to oppose the law, making it the largest group against the initiative. The proposition was rejected by 53.7% of voters.

In 2009, Michael R. Taylor, a former Monsanto vice president for public policy and food safety expert, became a senior advisor to the FDA commissioner.

Monsanto is part of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), a trade group based in Washington, D.C., that provides lobbying and advocacy services. Between 2010 and 2011, BIO spent $16.43 million on lobbying efforts.

The Monsanto Citizenship Fund, a political action committee, donated over $10 million to political candidates between 2003 and 2013.

As of October 2013, Monsanto and DuPont Co. spent about $18 million to support an anti-labeling campaign. At the same time, 27 states, including Washington, proposed laws requiring genetically modified organism (GMO) labeling.

In the U.S., many people move between government and private sector jobs, including positions at Monsanto. Critics say these connections allowed Monsanto to influence regulations in ways that may have harmed consumer safety. Supporters argue that experienced individuals in both sectors benefit public and private interests, as long as conflicts of interest are managed. Some notable individuals who worked for both government and Monsanto include:

• Linda J. Fisher: EPA assistant administrator, then Monsanto vice president (1995–2000), then EPA deputy administrator.
• Michael A. Friedman, MD: FDA deputy commissioner.
• Earle H. Harbison Jr.: CIA deputy director, then Monsanto president, chief operating officer, and director (1986–1993).
• Robert Holifield: Senate Agriculture Committee chief of staff, then Lincoln Policy Group partner.
• Mickey Kantor: U.S. trade representative, then Monsanto board member.
• Blanche Lincoln: U.S. senator and Agriculture Committee chair, then founder of lobbying firm Lincoln Policy Group.
• William D. Ruckelshaus: EPA administrator, then FBI acting director, then Deputy Attorney General, then EPA administrator, then Monsanto board member.
• Donald Rumsfeld: Secretary of Defense and former Searle (a Monsanto subsidiary) secretary for eight years.
• Michael R. Taylor: FDA assistant, then King & Spalding attorney, then FDA deputy commissioner for food safety (1991–1994), then Monsanto vice president for public policy, then FDA commissioner’s senior advisor.
• Clarence Thomas: Supreme Court justice who worked for Monsanto in the 1970s and later ruled on a case about plant patents.
• Ann Veneman: U.S. Department of Agriculture secretary and Calgene board member.

In the late 1990s, Monsanto lobbied to increase glyphosate levels in soybeans. It succeeded in convincing Codex Alimentarius and the U.S. and U.K. governments to raise limits to 20 milligrams per kilogram of soy. Lord Donoughue, then a U.K. agriculture minister, said information about these negotiations would remain secret. Between 1995 and 1997, Monsanto had 22 meetings with U.K. government officials. Stanley Greenberg, an advisor to former Prime Minister Tony Blair, later worked for Monsanto. Former Labour spokesperson David Hill became Monsanto’s media adviser at Bell Pottinger. The Labour government faced questions in Parliament about financial gifts from Monsanto but only confirmed two lunches with the company. Conservative MP Peter Luff received up to £10,000 annually from Bell Pottinger on Monsanto’s behalf.

In 2011, leaked documents from WikiLeaks showed U.S. diplomats in Europe supported Monsanto’s requests. For example, U.S. diplomats helped Spain defend its policy to approve MON810 genetically modified soybeans. The leaks also revealed that the U.S. and Spain worked to prevent the EU from tightening biotechnology laws. In 2007, the U.S. ambassador to France, Craig Roberts Stapleton, suggested retaliating against EU countries that opposed GMOs. This happened after the WTO ruled against the EU’s GMO ban in 2006.

Monsanto was part of EuropaBio, a European biotechnology group that aimed to change public opinion about GMOs. EuropaBio recruited influential people to lobby EU officials.

In 2017, Monsanto was banned from the European Parliament after refusing to attend a hearing about alleged regulatory interference.

After the 2010 Haiti earthquake, Monsanto donated $255,000 for disaster relief and 475 tons of hybrid (non-GM) corn and vegetable seeds worth $4 million. However, a report by Catholic Relief Services found that Haiti already had enough seeds and recommended limited imports. Haiti’s agriculture ministry said hybrid seeds could increase crop yields. Some activists opposed the seeds because they were coated with fungicides like Maxim or thiram.

Public relations

Monsanto has participated in public relations efforts to improve its image and how people view its products. These efforts include working with scientist Richard Doll on issues related to Agent Orange. Other efforts include collaborating with biotechnology companies to fund the website GMO Answers.

• Disneyland attractions, such as: Hall of Chemistry (1955 to 1966), Monsanto House of the Future (1957 to 1967), Fashions and Fabrics through the Years (1965 to 1966), and Adventure Thru Inner Space (1967 to 1986).
• Monsanto donated $10 million to the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis during the 1970s. The garden named its 1998 plant science facility the "Monsanto Center," which was later renamed the "Bayer Center" in 2018.
• The Field Museum has an exhibit about Gregor Mendel and a display called "Underground Adventures," which explains the importance and fragility of soil ecosystems since 2011. The "Monsanto Environmental Education Initiative" was led by Gregory M. Mueller, a member of the Department of Botany and Associate Curator of Mycology at the Field Museum. Staff members, such as Curator Mark W. Westneat, attended Monsanto meetings.
• The Monsanto Insectarium, now called the Bayer Insectarium, is located at the St. Louis Zoo in St. Louis, Missouri.

Monsanto was a major supporter of scientific research at Washington University in St. Louis for many years. This partnership, called the Washington University/Monsanto Biomedical Research Agreement, provided over $100 million in research funding to the university. Washington University built the Monsanto Laboratory of the Life Sciences in 1965. In 2015, Monsanto gave Washington University's Institute for School Partnership a $1.94 million grant to help improve science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education for students.

Awards

In 2009, Monsanto was selected by Forbes magazine as its Company of the Year. In 2010, a Swiss research firm called Covalence ranked Monsanto as the least ethical among 581 companies worldwide. This rating was based on the EthicalQuote reputation tracking index, which collects thousands of news articles and statements from media, companies, and other groups without checking the accuracy of the sources. Between 2011 and 2014, the journal Science included Monsanto in its Top 20 Employers list. In 2012, the journal described the company as a leader in innovation, noted that it makes necessary changes, and highlighted its work in conducting important research. In the same year, Monsanto executive Robert Fraley received the World Food Prize for his breakthrough achievements in creating, developing, and using modern agricultural biotechnology.

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