Articles

Monsanto Co reported on Thursday that early orders for spring planting of corn and soybean seeds were up and said it was on track for good growth as it advances an array of new products closer to market. The company’s shares rose 3.2 percent after the rosy outlook from the leading biotech agricultural seed and genetic trait developer, even though its first-quarter results offered few surprises.

DuPont said on Wednesday it was launching a new corn seed that would yield better in “water-limited” environments, as growers around the world seek ways to maximize production during droughts.

Amid complaints of environmental harm and pressure from a federal court, U.S. agriculture regulators are considering a compromise approval for genetically altered alfalfa that would allow the crop to be grown with certain restrictions aimed at protecting non-GMO crops, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said on Thursday.

The derailment of DuPont’s intended acquisition of a top South African seed company — a deal that would have doubled DuPont’s African seed business — is emboldening activists opposed to creeping control by both DuPont and rival Monsanto of the lucrative emerging market.

Investments in U.S. wind energy are continuing and primed to grow once questions about government financial support for the burgeoning industry are resolved, according to a key market player.

Africa as has long been a target for wealthy philanthropists who donate money in a fight against the continent’s poverty, disease epidemics and food shortages. Now, taking a cue from the nonprofit world, profit-hungry investors are eyeing Africa in a new way, putting a charitable spin on their pursuit of double-digit returns.

Monsanto Co said on Wednesday it would appeal a U.S. court order that the company's biotech sugarbeet seedlings be uprooted. The "secklings" planted by U.S. farmers are aimed at developing seed for a future crop, are harmless, and removing them will be costly for producers, said Monsanto, the world's biggest seed company.

U.S. factory farms are getting even bigger, concentrating more animals into fewer production operations in a system that can be harmful to animals, the environment and human health, a new study says.

A planned U.S. laboratory aimed at studying dangerous foreign animal diseases and preventing their spread to American cattle, hogs and other livestock carries the risk of spreading highly contagious pathogens, the National Research Council said on Monday.

U.S. investment adviser Optima Fund Management is picking up new U.S. farm properties at a brisk pace as it prepares to take public its farmland real estate investment trust, a top Optima executive said Tuesday.