CEIC1000 – Product Engineering Design/Sustainable Food Manufacturing
Individual Assignment:
Short Company Report
Monsanto
Submitted by: Jessamine Robinson (z5019494)
Date of Submission: 20th October 2015
Company Overview
Monsanto is an American international agricultural biotechnology company founded in 1901. It has more than 20,000 employees and a gross quarterly profit margin of 59.75% (Ycharts.com, 2015). Until the 1990’s, the business previously defined themselves as a chemical company, and was notorious for producing controversial products such as DDT, aspartame and Agent Orange.
Currently, Monsanto manufactures herbicides and crop seeds to be sold for use in agriculture. Their largest products are the herbicide, glyphosate, (marketed under the name …show more content…
Insects that survive after consuming the crystals thrive, reproduce and pass on the resistance trait, while the vulnerable die. This leads to a resistance in the insect population to the toxins in Bt cotton, rendering it impractical and just as susceptible to insects as non-GM cotton. (fieldquestions, 2013)
Monsanto provides farmers with ways to combat increasing resistance of typical cotton pests, such as the bollworm, to Bt cotton. They suggest that farmers plant a “refuge” around the Bt crops – a band of non-Bt crops that helps raise insects that are not Bt resistant, so that they can breed with any resistant insects and dilute the gene. There is also push for a “need-based” application of pesticides. However, despite these minor suggestions and claims that the Monsanto company is driven to “improve the success and sustainability of … agriculture”, the sustainability of these crops are steadily declining as resistance is
Individual Assignment:
Short Company Report
Monsanto
Submitted by: Jessamine Robinson (z5019494)
Date of Submission: 20th October 2015
Company Overview
Monsanto is an American international agricultural biotechnology company founded in 1901. It has more than 20,000 employees and a gross quarterly profit margin of 59.75% (Ycharts.com, 2015). Until the 1990’s, the business previously defined themselves as a chemical company, and was notorious for producing controversial products such as DDT, aspartame and Agent Orange.
Currently, Monsanto manufactures herbicides and crop seeds to be sold for use in agriculture. Their largest products are the herbicide, glyphosate, (marketed under the name …show more content…
Insects that survive after consuming the crystals thrive, reproduce and pass on the resistance trait, while the vulnerable die. This leads to a resistance in the insect population to the toxins in Bt cotton, rendering it impractical and just as susceptible to insects as non-GM cotton. (fieldquestions, 2013)
Monsanto provides farmers with ways to combat increasing resistance of typical cotton pests, such as the bollworm, to Bt cotton. They suggest that farmers plant a “refuge” around the Bt crops – a band of non-Bt crops that helps raise insects that are not Bt resistant, so that they can breed with any resistant insects and dilute the gene. There is also push for a “need-based” application of pesticides. However, despite these minor suggestions and claims that the Monsanto company is driven to “improve the success and sustainability of … agriculture”, the sustainability of these crops are steadily declining as resistance is