Monsanto's new president stresses backing of biotech

ST. LOUIS -- Monsanto Co.'s fledgling president and chief executive said Friday the biotechnology and agricultural giant has no plans to retreat from its pursuit of sharply debated genetically modified crops.

"My mandate is simple: Deliver on the promise of Monsanto's technology," Hugh Grant, 45, told analysts a day after being announced as successor to Hendrik Verfaillie, who resigned in December after two years of lackluster financial performance.

"We know competition in the field of biotechnology is coming," said Grant, a 22-year Monsanto veteran who had spent the past three years as chief operating officer. "We're proud of our leadership in this area, but I can assure you we're not resting on our laurels."

Monsanto makes the world's top-selling herbicide, Roundup, along with genetically altered seeds -- corn, cotton, canola and soybeans -- that tolerate Roundup and resist insects. It also produces Asgrow, Hartz and DeKalb seeds.

But in expecting competition to Roundup "to continue in its fierceness," Grant again cast Monsanto as a company at a crossroads, looking to continue becoming a "high-tech solutions provider" for farmers over the next three to five years.

"Longer term, we're faced with unlocking the full potential of our technology globally," he said.

Analysts generally cheered Grant's promotion after a five-month search, during which time Frank AtLee -- Monsanto's board chairman -- served as interim CEO.

Biotech crops are a growing proportion of American agriculture, despite critics' claims that such foods are harmful to consumers and the environment -- assertions that Monsanto rejects.

The Agriculture Department estimates that 38 percent of the corn planted this year will be genetically engineered and 80 percent of soybeans will be a biotech variety.

U.S. farmers like biotech crops because they require fewer chemicals for killing insects and weeds. One variety, Monsanto's Roundup Ready, allows corn farmers to spray and kill weeds with the company's best-selling Roundup herbicide without killing the plant.

While American consumers generally seem to accept biotech foods, Europeans doubt their safety. A European Union moratorium, of sorts, on U.S. biotech imports has been in place for four years.

Ultimately, opponents hope that Monsanto and the agricultural biotech push flop.

"I think heavy lobbying is what they count on, including heavy pressure from the U.S. government. Without that, they don't stand a prayer," said Suzanne Renard-Makarewicz, a former organic farmer who took part in a gathering here earlier this month of opponents of genetic engineering.

Shares of Monsanto fell 53 cents, or 2.6 percent, to close at $20.05 Friday on the New York Stock Exchange.

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