The Monsanto Company was an American agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation founded in 1901 and headquartered in Creve Coeur, Missouri. Monsanto's best known product is Roundup, a glyphosate-based herbicide, developed in the 1970s. Later, the company became a major producer of genetically engineered crops. In 2018, the company ranked 199th on the Fortune 500 of the largest United States corporations by revenue.
The Dow Chemical Company, officially Dow Inc., is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. The company is among the three largest chemical producers in the world.
Cargill, Incorporated, is a privately held American global food corporation based in Minnetonka, Minnesota, and incorporated in Wilmington, Delaware. Founded in 1865, it is the largest privately held corporation in the United States in terms of revenue. In 2015, if it were a public company, it would have ranked number 15 on the Fortune 500, behind McKesson and ahead of AT&T. Cargill has frequently been the subject of criticism related to the environment, human rights, finance, and other ethical considerations.
An agrochemical or agrichemical, a contraction of agricultural chemical, is a chemical product used in industrial agriculture. Agrichemical refers to biocides and synthetic fertilizers. It may also include hormones and other chemical growth agents.
Pharming, a portmanteau of "farming" and "pharmaceutical", refers to the use of genetic engineering to insert genes that code for useful pharmaceuticals into host animals or plants that would otherwise not express those genes, thus creating a genetically modified organism (GMO). Pharming is also known as molecular farming, molecular pharming or biopharming.
Genetically modified crops are plants used in agriculture, the DNA of which has been modified using genetic engineering methods. Plant genomes can be engineered by physical methods or by use of Agrobacterium for the delivery of sequences hosted in T-DNA binary vectors. In most cases, the aim is to introduce a new trait to the plant which does not occur naturally in the species. Examples in food crops include resistance to certain pests, diseases, environmental conditions, reduction of spoilage, resistance to chemical treatments, or improving the nutrient profile of the crop. Examples in non-food crops include production of pharmaceutical agents, biofuels, and other industrially useful goods, as well as for bioremediation.
Syngenta AG is a provider of agricultural science and technology, in particular seeds and pesticides with its management headquarters in Basel, Switzerland. It is owned by ChemChina, a Chinese state-owned enterprise.
Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. is a U.S.-based producer of seeds for agriculture. They are a major producer of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), including genetically modified crops with insect and herbicide resistance.
1,3-Dichloropropene, sold under diverse trade names, is an organochlorine compound. It is colorless liquid with a sweet smell. It dissolves in water and evaporates easily. It is used mainly in farming as a pesticide, specifically as a preplant fumigant and nematicide. It is widely used in the US and other countries, but is banned in 34 countries, including the European Union.
Mycogen Seeds, headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, provides seeds for agriculture. Mycogen produces, markets and sells hybrid seed corn. The company also markets and sells sorghum, sunflower, soybean, alfalfa, and canola.
Charles Joel Arntzen is a plant molecular biologist. His major contributions are in the field of "plant molecular biology and protein engineering, as well as the utilization of plant biotechnology for enhancement of food quality and value, for expression of pharmacological products in transgenic plants, and for overcoming health and agricultural constraints in the developing world."
Islam A. Siddiqui is an Indian-American scientist, and government official, and lobbyist who served as the Chief Agricultural Negotiator in the Office of the United States Trade Representative. Prior to this, he was Vice President for Science and Regulatory Affairs at CropLife America, and a career official in the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
FilmTec Corporation was a US company established in Minnesota in 1977 that specialized in manufacturing the then new thin-film composite membranes used in water treatment applications. In August 1984, the company was acquired by Dow Chemical Company forming its Dow Water & Process Solutions business unit. In August 2017, FilmTec Corporation moved to DowDuPont, the company resulting from the merger of Dow and DuPont. On 2019, after the spin-offs of Dow and Corteva, FilmTec remained now part of DuPont Water Solutions, which is currently among the world's main membrane manufacturers.
2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid is an organic compound with the chemical formula C8H6Cl2O3 which is usually referred to by its ISO common name 2,4-D. It is a systemic herbicide which kills most broadleaf weeds by causing uncontrolled growth in them but most grasses such as cereals, lawn turf, and grassland are relatively unaffected.
Yield10 Bioscience is a company developing new technologies to achieve improvements in crop yield to enhance global food security.
Sulfoxaflor, also marketed as Isoclast, is a systemic insecticide that acts as an insect neurotoxin. A pyridine and a trifluoromethyl compound, it is a member of a class of chemicals called sulfoximines, which act on the central nervous system of insects.
The Enlist Weed Control System is an agricultural system that includes seeds for genetically modified crops that are resistant to Enlist and the Enlist herbicide; spraying the herbicide will kill weeds but not the resulting crop. The system was developed by Dow AgroSciences, part of Dow Chemical Company. In October 2014 the system was registered for restricted use in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin by the US Environmental Protection Agency. In 2013, the system was approved by Canada for the same uses.
DuPont de Nemours, Inc., commonly shortened to DuPont, is an American multinational chemical company first formed in 1802 by French-American chemist and industrialist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours. The company played a major role in the development of Delaware and first arose as a major supplier of gunpowder. DuPont developed many polymers such as Vespel, neoprene, nylon, Corian, Teflon, Mylar, Kapton, Kevlar, Zemdrain, M5 fiber, Nomex, Tyvek, Sorona, Corfam and Lycra in the 20th century, and its scientists developed many chemicals, most notably Freon (chlorofluorocarbons), for the refrigerant industry. It also developed synthetic pigments and paints including ChromaFlair.
Corteva, Inc. is a major American agricultural chemical and seed company that was the agricultural unit of DowDuPont prior to being spun off as an independent public company.
UPL Limited, formerly United Phosphorus Limited, is an Indian multinational company that manufactures and markets agrochemicals, industrial chemicals, chemical intermediates, and specialty chemicals, and also offers pesticides. Headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, the company engages in both agro and non-agro activities. The agro-business is the company's primary source of revenue and includes the manufacture and marketing of conventional agrochemical products, seeds, and other agricultural-related products. The non-agro segment includes manufacturing and marketing industrial chemicals and other nonagricultural products such as fungicides, herbicides, insecticides, plant growth regulators, rodenticides, industrial & specialty chemicals, and nutrifeeds. UPL products are sold in 150+ countries.
