DuPont today announced it is executing its $100 million reinvestment plan to increase its speed-to-market for new seed products. The plan includes the addition of more than 400 positions, mainly in research and development in its wholly owned subsidiary Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. ”The global demand for agricultural crops is very strong,” said William S. Niebur, vice president – DuPont Crop Genetics Research & Development. ”We have the science to help farmers and others across the value chain meet the growing demand. This additional investment will allow us to put that science to work for our customers faster.”

Mississippi Congressman Bennie Thompson, Alcorn State University and Monsanto Company announced today a partnership that will include other 1890 institutions to provide more opportunities for students interested in pursuing professions in agriculture. The partnership will also provide greater access for black farmers to the latest technologies and best on-farm practices in cotton and vegetables.

DuPont today announced it is executing its $100 million reinvestment plan to increase its speed-to-market for new seed products. The plan includes the addition of more than 400 positions, mainly in research and development in its wholly owned subsidiary Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. ”The global demand for agricultural crops is very strong,” said William S. Niebur, vice president – DuPont Crop Genetics Research & Development. ”We have the science to help farmers and others across the value chain meet the growing demand. This additional investment will allow us to put that science to work for our customers faster.”

Mississippi Congressman Bennie Thompson, Alcorn State University and Monsanto Company announced today a partnership that will include other 1890 institutions to provide more opportunities for students interested in pursuing professions in agriculture. The partnership will also provide greater access for black farmers to the latest technologies and best on-farm practices in cotton and vegetables.

Stepping into the middle of a growing debate, a freshman assemblyman has introduced legislation that would make companies developing genetically engineered crops liable for damages if their work results in contamination of other fields. The bill by Assemblyman Jared Huffman also would ban open-field production of genetically engineered crops used in the development of medications. And it would require growers to give county agriculture commissioners at least 30 days notice before engaging in open-field development of other genetically modified plants.

Monsanto Company today will file a motion to intervene in the remedy phase of a lawsuit to support farmers who choose to use Roundup Ready alfalfa in their forage operations. Forage Genetics International and several farmers also plan to ask for intervenor status in this case, which was brought by the Center for Food Safety and others against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) as Geertson Seed Farms Inc. et al. v. Mike Johanns, et al. The lawsuit is currently pending in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

The waiter places a perfectly grilled, prime-grade beefsteak before you and then reveals that it came from a cloned steer. Do you eat it? For most Americans, the answer is no. A survey conducted by the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology found that the thought of dining on meat from animals copied via manual transfer of cell nuclei just does not sit well with six in 10 of us. Blame ethical or religious concerns or mistrust of the meat industry, but the idea of cloned meat elicits distaste even in many confirmed carnivores.

Black farmers in Mississippi and around the country are bracing for a major seed company merger they say threatens to create a monopoly that will price them out of the farming business. St. Louis-based Monsanto Co. is forging ahead with a plan to purchase Mississippi’s Scott-based cottonseed company Delta and Pine Land, and a national black farmers group says its opposition to the deal has gotten lost in the mix. ”If this merger goes through, it’s going to have a drastic effect on black farmers and small farmers around the country,” said John Boyd Jr., president of the National Black Farmers Association.

The Patent and Trademark Office has decided to revoke a fundamental patent held by Genentech, the biotechnology company, that was at the center of a recent Supreme Court decision. The patent office’s decision could cost Genentech hundreds of millions of dollars in royalties over the next decade but would save a like amount for rivals that are paying the royalties, including MedImmune, Abbott Laboratories, Johnson & Johnson and ImClone Systems.

Tuesday morning February 20, three major advocacy organizations representing consumers, family farmers, and cancer prevention advocates filed a citizen’s petition to the FDA, seeking the Withdrawal of Approval for Posilac - Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH).