Genetically modified seed giant Monsanto likes to trumpet its “commitment to sustainable agriculture.“ The story goes like this: by generating novel, high-tech crop varieties, Monsanto will wean farmers offof synthetic chemical poisons. The company even markets its flagship product, seeds genetically engineered to survive its own Roundup weed killer, as atool they can use to to “decrease the overall use of herbicides.”
But as I’ve shown before, herbicide use has actually dramatically ramped up as the Roundup Ready technology conquers vast swaths of US farmland. That’s because weeds quickly developed resistance to it, forcing farmers to apply ever-larger doses and resort to older, more toxic herbicides to combat resistant weeds. And while the company has tried hard to leave behind its past as a purveyor of toxic chemicals and rebrand itself as a technology company, those toxic chemicals remain central to its growth and profitability, as its latest quarterly profit report shows.
The report—press release here—cheered investors, driving Monsanto shares to their highest levels since 2008. Here’s the main bit, lifted from the press release (note that by “second quarter,” the company means the January to March period):
Note that the company consists of two main segments: what it calls “Seeds and Genomics,” which involves sales of seeds, obviously, plus licensing fees on genetically modified traits; and “Agricultural Productivity,” which means, essentially, chemicals, mainly Roundup in a variety of forms. Seeds and Genomics is by far the largest of the two in terms of contribution to overall sales, but good old Agricultural Productivity is still really important. Indeed, its sales shot up from $ 824 million in second-quarter 2012 to $ 1.12 billion in the same time period of this year—that’s an amazing 36 percent jump.
By contrast, Seeds and Genomics sales went from $ 3.92 billion to $ 4.35 billion over the same time span—just a 10 percent rise.
Overall, the herbicide contribution to Monsanto’s total sales went from 17 percent in the second-quarter 2012 to 20 percent in the the same period of 2013.
Monsanto Claims to Ditch Herbicide While Selling More of It
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