"Seeds of Change" CIO Magazine 8/15/06 Each year, CIO Magazine recognizes the top 100 IT Innovations for Growth. This year, Monsanto is among the honorees.

You may know Monsanto as the biotech giant with 90 herbicides that can be used to control virtually every economically significant weed. They're the makers of Round-Up. As that was going off patent, they branched out into the seeds and genetic traits business, which "comprises more than half of its $6.3 billion revenue and $255 million in profits in 2005" (CIO Mag. 8/15)

I remember the press opening fire on these guys some years back for ecological negligence ... like for developing genetically improved corn that's protected against insects (hence better crop yields), but consequently affects the wildlife.

When the potato bug won't eat the potato...there will be no potato bugs for potato-bug eating creatures to eat...

I remember my cousin Cheryl (who is an entomologist and is now a biology prof.) being pretty ticked off by bio-genetic engineering on behalf of the Monarch butterfly.

Anyway, Monsanto is being acknowledged in CIO Magazine for "creating software to identify genes that indicate a plant's resistance to drought, herbicides and pests -- those genetic traits used to predict which plants breeders should reproduce to yield the healthiest, most-bountiful crops."

"By pinpointing the best breeding stock, it increases breeders' odds of finding a commercially viable combination of genetic traits from one in a trillion to one in five. Monsanto's global breeding organization drove the project."

"Monsanto believes it can sell more corn, soybean and cotton seeds if farmers know its seeds will produce heartier crops and require fewer sprays of insecticide and herbicide, thus reducing costs."

This is the scary part: "Software developed by Monsanto is helping it breed genetically superior seeds that big commercial farmers are buying in droves."

I hope I'm not too naive about this, but I'm excited about the software program. You can't argue with the facts. It'll give us a quick, clear picture of what kind of seeds will grow. I think it's going to be up to us to use good judgment and do diligence to look at the total, global ecology of what will happen to the butterflies et al when we plant.

I can't help but wonder where the seeds will come from when we raise Malawi...and what kind of crops will really take off there.