Introduction of Insect-Protected Biotech Cotton in
Burkina Faso
By S. Duncan
Imagine a place where a farmer wakes to find 90
percent of his cotton crop destroyed by insect
infestation. Eight years ago, this nightmare was a
reality for the farmers of Burkina Faso.
Burkina Faso is the second poorest country in the
world, and cotton is the primary source of income
for smallholder farmers. Two-million people make a
living from cotton production, which represents 60
percent of the country’s exports. Cotton is a cash
crop that helps farmers pay for medication,
household equipment and their children’s education.
However, it is often ravaged by insects, devastating
90 percent of the crop. The only way to guarantee a
crop is with pesticide treatment, but this is a
drain on resources, both human and financial.
Something needed to be done to increase chances of a
successful harvest. During the 2003 Ministerial
Conference in Sacramento, California, the Burkina
Faso minister of agriculture made a direct request
for help to Dr. Robb Fraley, Monsanto's chief
technology officer. At the time, Burkina Faso had no
agricultural biotechnology regulatory structure,
limited regulatory and technical capacities and
limited understanding of biotechnology.
Monsanto formed a team to provide guidance and
expertise as the country developed the necessary
stewardship and regulatory protocols. The potential
to benefit a large portion of the population, given
the high yield loss due to insect infestation and
strong technical fit for insect-protected cotton,
encouraged the team to pursue commercialization. The
national agriculture and environment research
institute (INERA) outlined its commitment to working
with Monsanto and implemented a technical protocol
enabling it to test local varieties.
The cotton coalition, which consists of producers,
dealers, the national research center and the
government, held open field days that allowed people
to visit trials. This transparency resulted in
cotton growers having their questions answered, and
it helped them develop trust and confidence as the
trials progressed.
Throughout the process, the Monsanto team respected
decisions made locally and shared knowledge
throughout the cotton industry. “This effort has
been a very long haul,” Philippe Castaing, Monsanto
corporate affairs lead for Europe and Africa, said.
“Having the same core team from the start to the
final home stretch helped instill confidence with
all those involved. Consistency and persistence did
pay off.”
After a nearly eight-year process, farmers in one of
the poorest countries in the world now have the
choice to plant insect-protected cotton. This is a
commercial success for Monsanto, and at the same
time it improves the lives of smallholder farmers
and expands economic development in a resource-poor
country.
“The small[holder] farmers of sub-Saharan Africa
generally, and Burkina Faso specifically, are among
the poorest on earth,” John Greenplate, Monsanto
global expansion scientist, said. “By providing
larger, more stable yields, and substantially
raising earnings, Genuity™ Bollgard II® cotton has
the potential to improve the lives of millions who
rely directly on cotton production for most of their
income.
Monsanto Company is a member of Excellence Through
Stewardship(SM) (ETS). This product has been
commercialized in compliance with the ETS Product
Launch Stewardship Guidance and the Monsanto Product
Launch Stewardship policy, after meeting applicable
regulatory requirements in key export markets with
functioning regulatory systems. Any crop or material
produced from this product can only be exported to,
or used, processed or sold in countries where all
necessary regulatory approvals have been granted. It
is a violation of national and international law to
move material containing biotech traits across
boundaries into nations where import is not
permitted. Growers should talk to their grain
handler or product purchaser to confirm their buying
position for this product. Excellence Through
Stewardship(SM) is a service mark of Biotechnology
Industry Organization. Growers may utilize the
natural refuge option for varieties containing the
Bollgard II® trait in the following states: AL, AR,
FL, GA, KS, KY, LA, MD, MS, MO, NC, OK, SC, TN, VA,
and most of Texas (excluding the Texas counties of
Brewster, Crane, Crockett, Culberson, El Paso,
Hudspeth, Jeff Davis, Loving, Pecos, Presidio,
Reeves, Terrell, Val Verde, Ward and Winkler). The
natural refuge option does not apply to Bollgard II
cotton grown in areas where pink bollworm is a pest,
including CA, AZ, NM, and the above listed Texas
counties. It also remains the case that Bollgard®
and Bollgard II cotton cannot be planted south of
Highway 60 in Florida, and that Bollgard cotton
cannot be planted in certain other counties in the
Texas panhandle. Refer to the Technology Use Guide
and IRM Guide for additional information regarding
Bollgard II, Bollgard, natural refuge and
EPA-mandated geographical restrictions on the
planting of Bt cotton. ALWAYS READ AND FOLLOW
PESTICIDE LABEL DIRECTIONS. Bollgard II®, Genuity™,
Genuity and Design™, and Genuity Icons are
trademarks of Monsanto Technology LLC. ©2009
Monsanto Company.
SDA Soybean Development Provides a Sustainable
Source of Omega-3
By S. Duncan
When biotechnology was in its infancy, there were
expectations of grand outcomes: rice that could make
beta carotene, tomatoes that would stay fresh longer
and foods packed with extra nutrients.
In today’s age of virtually instant gratification,
nearly 13 years is a long time to wait for
commercially available results. But in the
scientific world, 13 years is a blink of an eye.
After more than a decade of farmer-focused benefits,
biotechnology has created a product the consumer may
have a hard time passing up. Imagine—a salad
dressing made with soybean oil that contains
heart-healthy Omega-3 benefits without a fishy
flavor. You can have your cake (made with a
sustainable source of Omega-3) and eat it, too.
Stearidonic Acid (SDA) Omega-3 soybeans are one of
the first Monsanto biotechnology products designed
to directly benefit the consumer instead of the
farmer. Stearidonic acid is one of several types of
Omega-3s. When commercialized, these soybeans could
provide food companies and consumers with another
source of heart-healthy essential Omega-3 fatty
acids. Currently, the main alternatives are oily
fish like salmon or the use of dietary supplements
like black currant seed oil. Despite the known
health benefits of Omega-3 fatty acids, their use
has been limited due to the flavor and shelf life
limitations of fish oil.
“By including this new soybean oil variant into
regular foods, we will be able to raise the blood
levels of Omega-3 across a wide range of consumers,
many of whom would never eat fish,” Dr. William
Harris at the University of South Dakota said.
Harris helped the Monsanto team develop nutrition
studies on SDA soybeans. “This is like adding iodine
to salt to prevent goiter, folic acid to grain
products to reduce birth defects, and vitamins A and
D to milk to reduce their deficiencies. Omega-3
fortification will have a very important impact on
the major, chronic diseases of western societies.”
An additional growing global concern is the impact
our diet has on wild fish. Omega-3 fatty acids from
seed oil could reduce some of the pressure on wild
fish.
“An additional environmental benefit is that SDA
provides a crop-grown sustainable source of Omega-3
for human consumption that may alleviate the
potential of overfishing,” Ernie Sanders, Monsanto
quality trait project lead said.
To date, Monsanto has primarily developed
biotechnology products intended to increase yield
and reduce input costs, so the team navigated
unfamiliar waters to develop and gain regulatory
clearance for nutritionally modified soybeans
intended to directly benefit humans.
In order to tackle these new challenges, a team was
pulled together with expertise in biotechnology,
biochemistry, breeding, nutrition, food formulation
and development, soybean processing, dietary
assessments, regulatory approvals of food products
and aquaculture. Throughout the process, the team
shared data with many outside resources, described
the benefits of the product, and was transparent
with the food and nutrition industry. They built a
platform of cooperation internally and externally
with their collaboration partner Solae--as well as
many different internal and external stakeholders,
including nutrition and health researchers, food
researchers, and the aquaculture and livestock
industries.
“We have an excellent group of motivated people who
take ownership, solve problems, and provide support
and leadership across the organization,” Sanders
said. “That’s first and foremost the most rewarding
part of this project, but being the first
nutrition-based product to be introduced to the
world as a result of biotechnology is also
rewarding.”
As a result, SDA soybeans could give farmers the
opportunity to grow a crop that could alleviate
overfishing the oceans in search of Omega-3 fatty
acids. This product could also benefit the health of
consumers by increasing the available dietary
sources of heart healthy Omega-3 fatty acids.
Enabling Virus-Resistant Papaya and Sweet Potato in
Asia
By S. Duncan
Imagine you are a smallholder farmer in Vietnam.
Your papaya and sweet potato crops were just
decimated by viral disease. Your children are
malnourished, and you worry they will go blind from
Vitamin A deficiency. As you look out over your
devastated crop, you know the key to your children’s
health lies in those plants you’ll never harvest.
You’re one of two million people directly engaged in
papaya and sweet potato cultivation in the region,
and you worry all of you face a similar bleak
outlook.
But wait.
You peak into your neighbor’s fields and are shocked
to find his plants strong and healthy.
What did he do that you didn’t?
It turns out your neighbor has been working with
Stan Flasinski.
Flasinski is a Monsanto researcher in St. Louis who
helped develop viral control for papaya and sweet
potato in Southeast Asia. By sharing technical
know-how in molecular biology with agricultural
researchers in the developing world, Flasinski was
able to provide benefits toward solving a
significant regional problem in two crops on which
Monsanto doesn’t even work.
Flasinski serves as a virology consultant for the
International Service for the Acquisition of
Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) in Asia and
Africa, and as a member of its Papaya Biotechnology
Network for Southeast Asia. During his involvement
in these groups, Flasinski recognized an opportunity
to help farmers by sharing Monsanto expertise.
“Stan’s involvement in international cooperation
initiatives has enabled national scientists to gain
significantly from his expertise and experience in
addressing papaya production problems in the region
through the applications of modern biotechnology,”
Randy Hautea, ISAAA director for South East Asia
region, said. “This private-public interface has
demonstrated the effectiveness of South-North
collaborative initiatives which has significantly
enhanced the research and development continuum.”
Through training and technical guidance, Flasinski
helped local research teams in Vietnam, Indonesia,
Thailand, India, the Philippines and Malaysia create
viral-resistant crops that are now in their third
year of field evaluations. His work raised their
abilities to enable crop transformation techniques,
address biotechnology regulatory issues, conduct
biosafety risk assessments, manage intellectual
property and increase regional networking--but not
without first overcoming some challenges.
“There are always challenges to introducing new
technology to countries that did not use this
technology before,” Flasinski said. “One of the top
challenges is that we are bringing top modern
technology to labs that are not as well equipped as
Monsanto labs, supplies are not always available and
funding is very limited. Additionally,
agrobacterim-based papaya transformation was not
well developed. Papaya is difficult to transform.”
Flasinski’s success could serve as a model for
additional disease-resistance collaborations that
significantly affect small acreage, subsistence
crops that are integral to many Asian communities.
The extensive training delivered also allows local
researchers more autonomy in executing future
projects.
“The value of virus resistance in papaya has been
proven in Hawaii. I am hoping that in Asia we will
deliver resistant papaya to farmers,” Flasinksi
said. “Papaya is very popular food that can provide
fresh fruits year around for many years. These
products feed local communities and are a
substantial source of local income to the small
farmer. We just have to believe in final success of
a product tested now in field trials. There is
enormous desire for success in all scientists from
the Papaya Network.”
Human Rights Initiatives in Hybrid Cotton Seed
Production in India
By S. Duncan
In many countries, children spend most of the day at
school with friends or at home with family. In
India, many children up to 14-years-old spend dawn
to dusk stooped over in a cotton seed production
field, with no food or rest. In India, it is
estimated 50 percent of cotton field workers are
under 14-years-old.
“Employment of child labor in cotton seed production
has been a practice ever since the seed companies
moved to hybridization,” Mohan Rao, human rights
lead for Monsanto India, said. “Hybridization
warrants increased work force for pollination work,
thus giving scope for children to work. There is a
mindset that children with tender fingers can do a
better job at low cost.”
Since 2005, when Monsanto acquired Emergent
Genetics, the Monsanto human rights team and India
seed manufacturing team have worked to reduce child
labor in cotton seed production fields, cutting the
incidents on Monsanto-contracted fields from 20
percent in 2005 to 0.5 percent in 2008.
With Monsanto’s purchase of Emergent Genetics, India
hybrid cottonseed production brought a surprising
reality to Monsanto: many workers on the fields of
its contracted seed producers were less than
14-years-old. In 2006, Monsanto, along with key
stakeholders—local government agencies, the
International Labour Organization, and other seed
producers—launched the Child Care Program (CCP)
campaign, in conjunction with the Monsanto Human
Rights Policy, to tackle child labor at Monsanto
cotton seed production sites. Monsanto India put
together a team to reduce child labor by
implementing strategies under the umbrella of the
CCP like awareness campaigns, requirements in
contracts, programs to reward or punish farmers for
their actions, and attendance monitoring. As a
result, 250 children were found and removed from
fields in 2008.
“The pioneering efforts of Monsanto in elimination
of child labor are appreciable,” Dr. Davuluri
Venkateswarlu, director of global research and
consultancy services in Hyderabad, said. “The
consistent efforts are resulting in a gradual
decrease in the number of child cases working in
Monsanto cotton fields.”
In addition to a direct approach to reduce child
labor, the team wanted to help rehabilitate those
affected by child labor and improve the living
standards of the community. Last June, in
collaboration with the Voluntary Organisation for
Rural Development Society, the Australian Foundation
for People of Asia and Pacific, and the Monsanto
Fund, the team opened a learning center in Nandyal,
Andhra Pradesh, which provides education for up to
120 children. The team also trained growers in field
safety, and distributed personal protective
equipment to protect growers and workers from
pesticide exposure and anti-venom kits to protect
from snakebites. To reward entire communities for
maintaining child labor-free cotton fields, a
program called Model Villages was put into place
that publicly awards all zero child labor villages
with infrastructure upgrades.
“I’m proud of this program,” Rao said.
“Specifically, I’m proud of the transformation of
grower mindset toward social change and building a
positive attitude to address the social issue,
protecting the child’s right for education and thus
changing the lives of rural children, and improving
the quality of farmer’s lives through adopting safe
practices.”
Water
Efficient Maize for Africa
By S. Duncan
There is a region in the world some say is worse off
today than 30 years ago. The people living there
hardly have any money or food. The farmers growing
the food are growing less and less every year, even
though there are more farmers every year. It’s a
place where progress seems to be going in reverse.
As the rest of the world tries to help by giving
food, one group is actually trying to help by
following the motto: “If you give a man a fish, he
will have a single meal. If you teach him how to
fish, he will eat all his life.”
More than 270 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa
(SSA) are living in extreme poverty and producing 20
percent less than they did in 1970s.
As three-quarters of the world’s severe droughts
over the past 10 years have occurred in Africa,
drought ranks very high on the list for limiting
maize production -- the staple diet for the people
of SSA. While corn crops in the U.S. and Europe are
yielding 150 bushels per acre, farmers in SSA are
growing on average only 25 bushels per acre.
According to experts, climate change will only
worsen the problem.
Because more than 90 percent of SSA cropland is
rain-fed and is likely to remain so, reducing
drought risk, stabilizing yields, and encouraging
investment in hybrid seed and fertilizer is
fundamental to enable a green revolution and
economic development in Africa. A team at Monsanto
decided to try something that carries a lot of risk
for the company and had never been done before: give
away technology in corn, its biggest money-making
crop -- for free.
“Monsanto has contributed significant resources to
the project,” Mark Lawson, Monsanto yield and stress
platform lead, said. “This includes white corn
germplasm, the expertise that we have in conducting
molecular breeding and a royalty-free license to our
transgenic drought technology for small farmers in
Sub-Saharan Africa.”
The team broke new ground in agriculture by forming
a public-private partnership called Water Efficient
Maize for Africa (WEMA) and successfully secured $47
million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
and the Howard G. Buffett Foundation to fund the
project. The partnership is considered a model for a
new paradigm of technology-sharing within the
agriculture sector. WEMA combines conventional and
molecular breeding, genomics and biotechnology
techniques developed within Monsanto’s commercial
program to develop drought-tolerant maize for
smallholder farmers in Africa. The project is led by
the African Agricultural Technology Foundation. It
includes the International Maize and Wheat
Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the national
agricultural research services systems (NARS) in
Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, Mozambique and
Uganda.
This unique partnership is expected to develop seeds
that can increase yields 20-35 percent under
moderate drought conditions compared to current
varieties, resulting in 2 million additional tons of
food and 14-21 million people having more to eat
during moderate drought years. The five countries
that have committed to joining the WEMA project have
agreed to facilitate efforts to develop
science-based regulatory systems in their respective
countries. The project will also build the capacity
of the partner NARS institutions by providing
training and experience in the development of
biotechnology crops.
“Not only is the goal of this project is to bring
food security to the small-holder farmers of
sub-Saharan Africa by helping stabilize their yields
in times of drought but [it is] to also help them
produce enough to enable them to actively
participate in their local agricultural economy
long-term,” Vanessa Cook, Monsanto WEMA project
lead, said. “Although there are just five core
countries involved in the project today, a long-term
goal is to enable all farmers in sub-Saharan Africa
to have the choice of planting drought-tolerant
hybrid corn.”
According to Cook and Lawson, the project is moving
forward rapidly. The first five years of the project
have been approved by the Gates and Buffet
foundations, and the group now has the majority of
its positions filled. The team has successfully
achieved almost all of its first year goals.
“We are testing Monsanto’s first transgenic-drought
event in South Africa and are collaborating with
CIMMYT to develop new breeding populations and to
expand our testing network in SSA,” Cook said. “We
are working closely with the NARS in Kenya,
Tanzania, Uganda, Mozambique and South Africa to
help them develop controlled drought testing sites
that can be used for transgenic testing in 2010 and
beyond.”
Improving Safety and Creating Opportunities for the
Local Workers in San Quintin, Mexico
By S. Duncan
In 2007, Seminis San Quintin set a goal to improve
human rights conditions for its work force and
reduce migrant worker dependency. Not only did they
accomplish that goal, but they did it one year ahead
of schedule.
Seminis San Quintin, a site that produces vegetable
seeds in Baja California, México, became aware of
its dependency on migrant workers and all the risks
related to it: the site lacked a consistent,
well-trained labor force, there were many accidents
and quality mistakes, and the costs of maintaining
the housing system were too high. As a result, by
2009, the San Quintin site aimed to completely
reduce migrant worker dependency, reduce worker
turnover by 10 percent and reduce the workplace
injuries, illnesses, and fatalities by 50 percent.
“From the beginning, it was clear that the project
represented a cultural shift for the San Quintin
site,” Manuel Lopez, Seminis station manager said.
“For decades, the living, hygiene and safety
conditions at the site were better than those
provided to many workers at neighboring commercial
farms. And that was good enough. But the Pledge is
not relative. It is absolute, making it clear that
what is not consistent with the Pledge must be made
so.”
In previous years, the site’s workforce was made up
of 60 percent migrant workers and 40 percent local
workers -- and had 53 recordable accidents. The
quick turnover rate that goes hand-in-hand with a
migrant labor force made it challenging to roll out
and embrace safety initiatives. Despite weekly
safety meetings, a formal tracking for safety
observations didn’t exist, making it difficult to
engage employee participation.
The team also faced two acute hurdles: 1) they would
have to repair their image with the local workforce
by upgrading the payment structure that made it
difficult to recruit locally, and 2) they would have
to overcome skepticism from colleagues that this
lofty goal could be met in a scant two years --
previous endeavors to fix this problem hadn’t been
successful.
After only one year instead of two, the team
successfully introduced an updated salary strategy
and engaged community leaders to establish an
effective local recruiting strategy which completely
erased the need for migrant workers -- something the
site had never seen in its 40 years of operation.
They also discovered a surprise they hadn’t counted
on. They saved the site $100,000 a year in
recruiting, transporting and housing costs for
migrant workers. Additionally, employee turnover was
reduced from 64 percent in 2007 to 14 percent in
2008. Lastly, after setting up a specific team to
handle and track safety observations, address
specific department safety issues, and tailor
warm-up exercises related to the specific worker
activities, the accidents and injuries were reduced
from 53 in 2006 to 1 in 2008.
“The Seminis San Quintin site is located in the San
Quintin Valley of Baja California which has numerous
commercial farms, many of them relying on migrant
seasonal labor and many providing very poor living
conditions,” Lopez said. “We hope our project and
the example we are setting can be a model to other
growers in the region. We want to add value to the
community and we are willing and prepared to help
local commercial farms understand that Human Rights
and profitability work hand in hand and that major
improvements often require more commitment than
funding.”
