Monsanto

Monsanto
Basic facts
Location:	St. Louis, Missouri
Type:	Company
Top official:	Hugh Grant, Chairman and CEO
Year founded:	2000
Website:	Official website

Monsanto is a multinational corporation specializing in agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology. Its headquarters are in St. Louis, Mo., but it has hundreds of locations throughout 72 different countries consisting of administrative and sales offices, manufacturing plants, seed production facilities, research centers and learning centers.

In 2018, Bayer acquired Monsanto for $63 billion.

History

In 1901, John F. Queeny founded the original Monsanto company, which initially produced saccharine. By 1945, the company was producing and marketing agricultural chemicals. In 1960, the company's Agricultural Division was established, and beginning in the early 1960s, the company began introducing herbicides. Over the years, the original Monsanto company acquired multiple other companies, diversifying its products to include, among other things, plastics, chemicals and seeds.

In 2000, the original Monsanto Company merged with Pharmacia Corporation, and according to Monsanto's website, "a new Monsanto Company, based on the previous agricultural division of Pharmacia, is incorporated as a stand-alone subsidiary of the pharmaceutical company." This new Monsanto was eventually spun off from Pharmacia and became its own independent company. According to its website, "The Monsanto of today is focused on agriculture and supporting farmers around the world in their mission to produce more while conserving more."

Work and activities

Political giving

See also: Local GMO on the ballot

Monsanto contributed to political efforts, primarily statewide and local ballot measures, that have addressed the issue of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Monsanto generally opposed ballot measures that sought to mandate the labeling of foodstuffs containing GMOs and sought to ban the use of GMOs.

External links

• Bayer Global website