Monsanto

Bunge and Archer Daniels Midland, two of the largest grain processors in the country, say they will not accept delivery of a new genetically engineered soybean strain from Monsanto because of marketing questions, reported Bloomberg. The European Union has not approved the strain, called Roundup Ready 2 Xtend, for import.

The world's largest seed company, Monsanto, is counting the EPA as the third major regulator to determine that glyphosate, the weedkiller used in combination with its GMO hybrids, is safe for humans. The herbicide has been under scrutiny since the WHO's cancer agency classified it in March 2015 as probably carcinogenic to humans.

Hawaiian Commercial and Sugar Company (HC&S) is facing a $30 million revenue loss from 2015 with worse projections to come, says The Guardian.

Robb Fraley, chief technology officer for Monsanto, said in an interview that the world's largest seed company spends half of its research budget on classical plant breeding, speeded-up by genomic tools, writes Tom Philpott in Mother Jones.

U.S. law enforcement officials are calling on farms growing GMO seed to bolster their security against foreign nationals set on stealing the technology, says Reuters.

The world's largest seed company, Monsanto, "has abandoned efforts to pursue large-scale deals, instead charting an independent path amid a steep downturn in the agricultural business," said the Wall Street Journal.

Monsanto, the world's largest seed company, is also among the most controversial because of its leadership in GMO crops. Monsanto chief executive Hugh Grant said on the NPR's "Here & Now" that controversy comes with the territory. "Sometimes when you’re first out the gate, when you’re in a leadership position like that, you become the de facto spear-catcher," said Grant.

The U.S. government approved commercialization of a genetically engineered corn variety from Monsanto that tolerates the weedkillers dicamba and gulfosinate.

Experts from the 28 nations of the European Union "appear set to endorse a European Commission proposal to extend authorization of glyphosate for 15 years, until 2031," said Reuters.

Monsanto Co. has threatened to pull out of India if the government goes forward with a plan to cut royalty fees on Bt cotton seeds by 70 percent, says Reuters.

Chinese businessman Mo Hailong pleaded guilty in Des Moines to conspiracy to steal trade secrets - inbred corn seeds from two of the largest U.S. seed companies - in return for prosecutors' recommendation of a shorter prison sentence, said the Justice Department. "Mo Hailong participated in the theft of inbred corn seeds from fields in the Southern District of Iowa for the purpose of transporting the seeds to China. The stolen inbred, or parent, seeds were the valuable intellectual property of DuPont Pioneer and Monsanto."

Monsanto sued California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA), demanding that the agency not add glyphosate to the state’s list of known carcinogens, reports Reuters.

Dow, a major ag chemical company, is selling part of its herbicide business to Gowan Co. amid continued talk of consolidation in the sector, says Agrimoney. "The deal will include the trademark for Treflan, an herbicide that is used on field corn, cotton, and some fruits and vegetables."

The agriculture minister of Western Australia is moving to repeal the state's GM Crop Free Areas Act with repeal by the state Parliament almost certain, says Australia's ABC News. Agriculture Minister Ken Baston planned to introduce the repeal legislation on Thursday, "a move which pro-GM advocates said would safeguard the industry's future."

Looking back nearly two decades to the commercial introduction of GMO crops in 1996, Monsanto executive vice president Robb Fraley says the avid adoption by farmers of the technology exceeded his expectations. "They've been the fastest-adopted tool in the history of agriculture," Fraley told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. He also said, "I wouldn’t have believed in 1980 (the dawn of genetic engineering) that we’d still be talking about GMO crops and still having some of the controversies that we face today."

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which advises EU policy makers, says glyphosate, the most widely used weedkiller in the world, is unlikely to cause cancer in humans, said Reuters. The finding is contrary to the conclusion of WHO's cancer agency in March that glyphosate, the main ingredient in Monsanto's herbicide Roundup, is "probably carcinogenic to humans."

The world's largest farm-equipment manufacturer is buying two companies that make so-called precision planters, which are vital tools in the integration of Big Data into agriculture. Deere and Co announced a deal to buy Precision Planting from Monsanto a day after it said it would acquire Monosem, a European maker of precision planting equipment.

The giant seed company Monsanto will close three research and development centers, in Wisconsin, Connecticut and North Carolina, this year in a cost-cutting move, reports Reuters. About 90 jobs will be eliminated.