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WEIGHING IN: Takeaways From Monsanto's Expansion News

Just a few weeks ago, I sat in on a Monsanto teleconference to learn about the global glyphosate shortage causing a rise in pricing. The company hosted another media session a few days ago, and this time, the comments sounded a more positive note, as our lead story -- "Roundup Capacity To Expand" -- indicates.

There are a couple of points that I took away from the session, besides the fact that with the expansion, Monsanto expects to product around 20 percent more Roundup beginning in 2010 and the expansion will make glyphosate production more Earth friendly. The Luling, LA, plant expansion project will take 17 or 18 months to complete.

• Monsanto reiterated that "the U.S. farmer is the most important farmer to the company." That comment came from Jim Zimmer, vice president of the U.S. Branded Business for Monsanto. "Roundup Ready technology is extremely important to farmers. It's extremely important to use that the farmers that choose to purchase Roundup have Roundup available to use over the top of that.
• Certainly the additional 20 percent of Roundup won't be available until 2010, but as retailers, you need to be able to meet your grower-customers' needs. Will Monsanto be able to come through? "We'll look at next year and we'll try to honor the supply position, and I can assure you that we're doing everything we can to supply U.S. farmers as much as we possibly can," states Zimmer.
• Your growers will be first in line when the expanded capacity rolls off the assembly line at the Luling, LA, plant, according to Ron Cooley, Monsanto's director of Manufacturing for Agriculture Chemicals. He offered this assurance: "I would expect that the glyphosate that we make will be used to produce much more Roundup for the U.S. farmers to ensure available supply, particularly for those that want to use it over their Roundup Ready technology -- and that there will be some of the supply that'll be available globally."
• When asked about future pricing, Zimmer said Monsanto will have a clearer picture in a month or two of just what the expansion will mean in terms of specific capacity and supply that will be available in 2009. "Once we understand what our capacity will be and what supply we'll have, we'll look at the total market and we'll determine if we've got the right value or we're able to roll back some of these price increases that we've had, or if we're going to have to take additional price increases."

"We're a company that's 100 percent committed and focused on agriculture," Zimmer stated during the teleconference. "And we really recognize that the only way we're going to be successful as a company is if we help farmers be successful."

OK, let's switch gears for a moment.

We all need a good chuckle as the harried, hectic spring planting season begins, and here's one I think you'll enjoy from "the Onion," offering some insights into consumer response following USDA's all-important March 31 planting intentions report. Visit http://www.theonion.com/content/amvo/farmers_planting_less_corn to get "the Onion's" take on the topic.

Those of you already familiar with "the Onion" can't click on the link fast enough, can you?

Amy L. Fahnestock
alfahnestock@meistermedia.com
Senior Associate Editor, CropLife Group