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Despite an intense rivalry over U.S. farm fields, global seed makers Monsanto and DuPont are joining with beverage companies, retailers and others in collaborative projects to boost food production in some of the world's poorest areas. The corporate consortium behind the "New Vision for Agriculture" project is starting its efforts in Tanzania and Vietnam and expects to begin a pilot in Indonesia later this year, according to Jerry Steiner, executive vice president of sustainability at Monsanto.

DuPont's Craig Binetti is eager to start using Danish food additives maker Danisco's expertise to expand development of healthier foods, but shareholders and regulators are still in the way. "We have very complementary portfolios of businesses. This is all about food and nutrition science," Craig Binetti, head of the company's nutrition and biosciences unit, told the Reuters Global Food and Agriculture Summit.

In a nod to concerns about overuse of its popular Roundup herbicide, Monsanto Co said it would try to layer its popular "Roundup Ready" cropping system with a similar system based on a rival herbicide. "We've relied on it too long by itself," Monsanto executive vice president of sustainability Jerry Steiner said of the company's Roundup herbicide, in an interview on Monday at the Reuters Food & Agriculture Summit.

For decades, U.S. farmers have helped feed the world by sowing some of the most versatile cropland, adjusting each year to grow a bit more of this and less of that, to replenish those crops in greatest shortage. This year, however, even with farmers planting nearly every acre of arable land, it won’t be enough to tame prices and replenish stocks. The price of almost every major crop is at or near record highs; competition -- between farmers and between crops -- has never been more intense; and Midwestern property values have surged.

Amid global unrest over food security, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said Sunday it was forging a new effort to support agricultural research projects in Africa and Asia aimed at helping small farmers increase crop yields and farm incomes. The Gates Foundation, which is already a force in agricultural research and development in Africa, said it would donate $70 million to a new collaboration that will focus on addressing threats to food production in the developing world, including crop diseases, pests, poor soils and harsh weather.

Questions about the safety of a popular herbicide made by Monsanto Co have resurfaced in a warning from a U.S. scientist that claims top-selling Roundup may contribute to plant disease and health problems for farm animals. Plant pathologist and retired Purdue University professor Don Huber has written a letter to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack warning that a newly discovered and widespread “electron microscopic pathogen appears to significantly impact the health of plants, animals, and probably human beings.” He said the pathogen appears to be connected to use of glyphosate, the key ingredient in Roundup.

Global plantings of biotech crops increased 10 percent last year, continuing steady growth over the past decade that has been spurred by concerns about feeding a growing world population, according to an industry analysis.

U.S. agricultural regulators on Friday said despite a court ban, they would allow commercial planting of genetically modified sugar beets under closely controlled conditions while they complete a full environmental impact statement.

The United States said on Thursday farmers could proceed with planting genetically altered alfalfa without any of the restrictions that opponents say are crucial to protect organic and conventional farm fields from contamination. The decision, closely watched by supporters and protesters around the world for its potential implications on biotech crop regulation, was seen as a boon to biotech crop developers and comes as research into additional biotech crops accelerates. But opponents of biotech crops were disappointed.

U.S. agribusiness and trading giant Cargill posted sharply higher quarterly earnings on Wednesday, helped by strong growth from its leading fertilizer producer The Mosaic Company. Gains in Mosaic’s business, tied to good demand amid rising global food prices, were a key reason the company more than tripled income for the quarter compared to a year ago.