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Monsanto and Terminator Seed Technology
Monsanto Announces Takeover of Delta & Pine Land and
Terminator Seed Technology (again)
August 16, 2006
News Release ETC Group 16 August 2006
www.etcgroup.org
www.banterminator.org
In a quest to expand its corporate seed empire - Monsanto, the world's largest seed enterprise -
announced yesterday that it will buy the world's leading cotton seed company, Mississippi-based
(USA) Delta & Pine Land, for US$1.5 billion. Monsanto and Delta & Pine Land (D&PL) together
account for over 57% of the US cotton seed market. With D&PL subsidiaries in 13 countries -
including major markets such as China, India, Brazil, Mexico, Turkey and Pakistan - the takeover
means that Monsanto will command a dominant position in one of the world's most important
agricultural trade commodities and that millions of cotton farmers will be under increased
pressure to accept genetically modified (GM) cottonseed.
"This merger," says Ibrahim Coulibaly, President of the National Coordination of Peasants'
Organizations of Mali, "guarantees an intensification of the already immense political pressure on
West African governments to accept genetically modified seeds. Delta & Pine Land couldn't
exercise the kind of clout Monsanto can. This deal is a major threat to our farmers and food
sovereignty. African farmers' groups and civil society organizations need international support to
resist the pressure of multinational corporations and USAID on African governments to adopt
GMOs."
Sterile Cotton Bolls: Delta & Pine Land is notorious for its early development, with the US
Department of Agriculture, of Terminator technology - plants that are genetically modified to
produce sterile seeds at harvest. Despite massive opposition from farmers, civil society and
many governments, Delta & Pine Land has repeatedly vowed to commercialize the technology
and declared that their primary market would be in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The company
claims that it is already growing genetically modified cotton and tobacco containing Terminator
genes in greenhouses.
Over 500 organizations worldwide have called for a global ban on Terminator Technology,
asserting that sterile seeds will destroy the livelihoods and cultures of the 1.4 billion people who
depend on farm-saved seed. In March 2006, governments at the biennial meeting of the UN
Convention on Biological Diversity unanimously re-affirmed and strengthened the international
moratorium on field testing and commercialization of Terminator seeds.
http://www.etcgroup.org/article.asp?newsid=556
"With the takeover of Delta & Pine Land, Monsanto acquires a research program devoted to
commercializing Terminator seeds, as well as US, European and Canadian patents on genetic
seed sterilization technology," said Hope Shand of ETC Group. "We demand that Monsanto
make a public commitment to shut down the Terminator research program it will acquire from
D&PL and abandon its Terminator patents once and for all," said Shand.
Monsanto's Boll Weasel: Monsanto's 1998 bid to buy Delta & Pine Land for $1.8 billion collapsed
in 1999 amid global controversy over Terminator technology. In response to massive opposition,
Monsanto's former CEO, Robert Shapiro, publicly pledged in 1999 that his company would not
commercialize sterile-seed technology. But the company's revised 2005 pledge states that the
company will not "commercialise sterile-seed technologies in food crops" - suggesting that it
would use Terminator seeds in non-food crops (e.g. cotton?) and does not rule out other uses of
Terminator in the future.
In an email communication to ETC Group today, Monsanto spokesperson, Lori Fisher wrote that
Monsanto does not intend to use technologies that render seeds sterile, and stands by its 2005
pledge "not to commercialize sterile-seed technologies in food crops." [available here:
http://www.monsanto.com/monsanto/content/
media/pubs/2005/focus_impacts.pdf] The pledge also states that "Monsanto people constantly
reevaluate this stance as technology develops."
ETC Group notes that the company's pledge leaves the door open and does not rule out future
development of the technology. (1) Monsanto's pledge allows the company to change its position
on any aspect of its pledge at any time. Cotton is one of the world's most lucrative non-food
commercial crops. Will it become Monsanto's first target crop for Terminator genes?
Feeding Frenzy: Monsanto's acquisition of D&PL is just the latest in a decade-long series of seed
company takeovers. Monsanto became the world's largest vegetable seed company with its
January 2005 takeover of Seminis. In April 2005 Monsanto acquired Emergent Genetics
(including Stoneville) - the 3rd largest US cotton seed company. Over the past year Monsanto
took control of more than a dozen US-based corn and soybean seed companies. Just three
months ago, D&PL acquired Syngenta's global cotton seed business - including operations in
India, Brazil, Europe and some cotton germplasm in the US.
Global Cotton King: With the takeover of Delta & Pine Land, Monsanto aims to insert biotech
traits into cotton germplasm worldwide. Despite growing resistance in West Africa, D&PL initiated
tests on GM cotton in Burkina Faso, Mali and Egypt in 2004. (2) Monsanto and D&PL already
control an estimated one-third of the Indian hybrid cotton seed market. According to Monsanto,
D&PL now controls one-third of the Brazilian cotton seed market, and almost one-fourth of the
Australian market.
Monsanto's bid for D&PL comes on the heels of the collapse of the Doha Round in Geneva on
July 24. West African cotton exporting states, in particular, were banking on the World Trade
Organization (WTO) negotiations to rollback cotton subsidies in the USA and on increased
market access in the EU for finished cotton goods. With the WTO failure, the $4 billion US cotton
subsidy remains in place and prospects for African and Asian cotton growers look dim. This is
bad news for D&PL which lacks Monsanto's deep pockets and long-term market opportunities.
Monsanto is buying its major cotton competitor for $1.5 billion - one third less than it offered in
1998(3) before the WTO trade talks began. From Monsanto's perspective, it's inevitable that the
US will have to drop its subsidy to large US cotton operations and, when it does, the cotton seed
business in the US will all but disappear with the market shifting to Africa and Asia. Monsanto can
afford to wait - as long as it is the cotton seed provider and all the seed available uses the
company's genetically modified traits.
Monopoly challenge: With control of almost 60% of the US cotton seed market after the buyout,
Monsanto anticipates anti-trust scrutiny in the US, and the company's president says it will divest
its US cotton seed company Stoneville, which controls about 14% of the US market. "If the EU is
serious about helping Africa's cotton farmers and improving Africa's cotton export earnings, it can
begin by rejecting the Monsanto/D&PL merger in Brussels as an attack on anti-competition
policy," said Pat Mooney of ETC Group. "The merger of these two US companies will make the
removal of cotton subsidies much more difficult and will keep cotton and cotton clothing prices
unnaturally high for European consumers. A barrier thrown up in Brussels will even be seen
inside the Beltway in Washington, DC. The boll is in the EU's court!" said Mooney.
US Cotton Seed Market -- % Market Share 2005
Delta & Pine Land (to be acquired by Monsanto) 43.37
Stoneville (Monsanto) 13.93
Bayer Cropscience 25.32
Phytogen (Dow AgroSciences) 2.64
Others 14.74
Source: USDA; figures are for upland cotton.
If the buyout is approved, Monsanto's Stoneville and Delta & Pine Land will together account for
more than 57% of the total US cotton market. According to the USDA 83% of the cotton acreage
planted in the US in 2005 was transgenic.
Delta & Pine Land has subsidiaries in 13 countries, including companies in North, South and
Central America, Europe, China, South Africa, Turkey and India.
Delta & Pine Land Subsidiaries (as of November 2005)
ATLED
D&M INTERNATIONAL, LLC
D&M PARTNERS
D&PL ARGENTINA, INC.
D&PL CHINA, INC.
D&PL CHINA PTE, LTD.
D&PL INVESTING CORP.
D&PL INVESTMENTS, INC.
DELTAPINE PARAGUAY, INC.
D&PL SOUTH AFRICA, INC.
D&PL INTERNATIONAL TECHNOLOGY CORP.
DELTA PINE DE MEXICO S. DE R.L. DE C.V.
DELTAPINE AUSTRALIA PTY. LIMITED
GREENFIELD SEED COMPANY, LLC
HEBEI JI DAI COTTONSEED TECHNOLOGY COMPANY, LTD. (CHINA)
PAYMASTER TECHNOLOGY CORP.
TURK DELTAPINE, INC. (TURKEY)
D&PL SEMILLAS LTDA. (COSTA RICA)
CDM MANDIYU S.R.L. (ARGENTINA)
DELTA AND PINE LAND HELLAS MONOPROSOPI, E.P.E. (GREECE)
D&PL BRASIL, LTDA.
ANHUI AN DAI COTTONSEED TECHNOLOGY COMPANY, LTD. (CHINA)
D&PL TECHNOLOGY HOLDING COMPANY LLC.
D&M BRASIL ALGODAO, LTDA
MDM SEMENTES DE ALGODAO LTDA (BRAZIL)
SURE GROW, LLC
D&PL INDIA, LLC
DELTAPINE INDIA SEED PRIVATE LTD. (INDIA)
D&PL MAURITIUS LIMITED
Source: Delta & Pine Land, SEC Filing 10-K, November 14, 2005
For more information, please contact:
Hope Shand, ETC Group (USA) email: hope@etcgroup.org tel: +1 919 960-5767
Pat Mooney, ETC Group (Canada) email: mooney@etcgroup.org tel: +1 613 241-2267
Kathy Jo Wetter, ETC Group (USA) email: kjo@etcgroup.org tel: +1 919 960-5223
Silvia Ribeiro, ETC Group (Mexico) email: silvia@etcgroup.org tel: +52 5555 6326 64
Jim Thomas, ETC Group (Canada) email: jim@etcgroup.org
Ibrahim Coulibaly
Président de la coordination nationale des organisations paysannes du MALI
CNOP /MALI
tel: +223-228-6781
mobile: +223-676-1126
email: i_ibracoul@yahoo.fr
Notes:
1 In February 2006 the international Ban Terminator Campaign (www.banterminator.org)
revealed that Monsanto's revised pledge no longer rejected commercialization of Terminator
technology in all food crops. [see correspondence here:
http://www.etcgroup.org/article.asp?newsid=546] In response, Monsanto's Director of Public
Policy, Diane Herndon, wrote: "We apologize for any confusion caused by the added language
"in food crops" that appeared in the discussion of Genetic Use Restriction Technologies (GURTs)
in our last Pledge Report. We stand by our commitment to not use genetic engineering methods
that result in sterile seeds. Period."
Monsanto's Herndon also wrote: "we are in the process of reworking our Web site and will be
able to remove the confusing language as part of the redesign." But a half-year later, Monsanto
has not corrected or removed the confusing language.
2 Monsanto, "Delta and Pine Land Acquisition: Investor Conference Call," August 15, 2006.
www.monsanto.com
3 Accounting for inflation, Monsanto's 1998 offer of $1.8 billion converts to $2.25 billion in 2006.
Monsanto's current offer of $1.5 billion for DPL is, therefore, in 2006 terms, $750 million below its
1998 offer. (US Bureau of Labor Statistics: www.BLS.GO/CPI .)
Terminator Seed Technology (again)
August 16, 2006
News Release ETC Group 16 August 2006
www.etcgroup.org
www.banterminator.org
In a quest to expand its corporate seed empire - Monsanto, the world's largest seed enterprise -
announced yesterday that it will buy the world's leading cotton seed company, Mississippi-based
(USA) Delta & Pine Land, for US$1.5 billion. Monsanto and Delta & Pine Land (D&PL) together
account for over 57% of the US cotton seed market. With D&PL subsidiaries in 13 countries -
including major markets such as China, India, Brazil, Mexico, Turkey and Pakistan - the takeover
means that Monsanto will command a dominant position in one of the world's most important
agricultural trade commodities and that millions of cotton farmers will be under increased
pressure to accept genetically modified (GM) cottonseed.
"This merger," says Ibrahim Coulibaly, President of the National Coordination of Peasants'
Organizations of Mali, "guarantees an intensification of the already immense political pressure on
West African governments to accept genetically modified seeds. Delta & Pine Land couldn't
exercise the kind of clout Monsanto can. This deal is a major threat to our farmers and food
sovereignty. African farmers' groups and civil society organizations need international support to
resist the pressure of multinational corporations and USAID on African governments to adopt
GMOs."
Sterile Cotton Bolls: Delta & Pine Land is notorious for its early development, with the US
Department of Agriculture, of Terminator technology - plants that are genetically modified to
produce sterile seeds at harvest. Despite massive opposition from farmers, civil society and
many governments, Delta & Pine Land has repeatedly vowed to commercialize the technology
and declared that their primary market would be in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The company
claims that it is already growing genetically modified cotton and tobacco containing Terminator
genes in greenhouses.
Over 500 organizations worldwide have called for a global ban on Terminator Technology,
asserting that sterile seeds will destroy the livelihoods and cultures of the 1.4 billion people who
depend on farm-saved seed. In March 2006, governments at the biennial meeting of the UN
Convention on Biological Diversity unanimously re-affirmed and strengthened the international
moratorium on field testing and commercialization of Terminator seeds.
http://www.etcgroup.org/article.asp?newsid=556
"With the takeover of Delta & Pine Land, Monsanto acquires a research program devoted to
commercializing Terminator seeds, as well as US, European and Canadian patents on genetic
seed sterilization technology," said Hope Shand of ETC Group. "We demand that Monsanto
make a public commitment to shut down the Terminator research program it will acquire from
D&PL and abandon its Terminator patents once and for all," said Shand.
Monsanto's Boll Weasel: Monsanto's 1998 bid to buy Delta & Pine Land for $1.8 billion collapsed
in 1999 amid global controversy over Terminator technology. In response to massive opposition,
Monsanto's former CEO, Robert Shapiro, publicly pledged in 1999 that his company would not
commercialize sterile-seed technology. But the company's revised 2005 pledge states that the
company will not "commercialise sterile-seed technologies in food crops" - suggesting that it
would use Terminator seeds in non-food crops (e.g. cotton?) and does not rule out other uses of
Terminator in the future.
In an email communication to ETC Group today, Monsanto spokesperson, Lori Fisher wrote that
Monsanto does not intend to use technologies that render seeds sterile, and stands by its 2005
pledge "not to commercialize sterile-seed technologies in food crops." [available here:
http://www.monsanto.com/monsanto/content/
media/pubs/2005/focus_impacts.pdf] The pledge also states that "Monsanto people constantly
reevaluate this stance as technology develops."
ETC Group notes that the company's pledge leaves the door open and does not rule out future
development of the technology. (1) Monsanto's pledge allows the company to change its position
on any aspect of its pledge at any time. Cotton is one of the world's most lucrative non-food
commercial crops. Will it become Monsanto's first target crop for Terminator genes?
Feeding Frenzy: Monsanto's acquisition of D&PL is just the latest in a decade-long series of seed
company takeovers. Monsanto became the world's largest vegetable seed company with its
January 2005 takeover of Seminis. In April 2005 Monsanto acquired Emergent Genetics
(including Stoneville) - the 3rd largest US cotton seed company. Over the past year Monsanto
took control of more than a dozen US-based corn and soybean seed companies. Just three
months ago, D&PL acquired Syngenta's global cotton seed business - including operations in
India, Brazil, Europe and some cotton germplasm in the US.
Global Cotton King: With the takeover of Delta & Pine Land, Monsanto aims to insert biotech
traits into cotton germplasm worldwide. Despite growing resistance in West Africa, D&PL initiated
tests on GM cotton in Burkina Faso, Mali and Egypt in 2004. (2) Monsanto and D&PL already
control an estimated one-third of the Indian hybrid cotton seed market. According to Monsanto,
D&PL now controls one-third of the Brazilian cotton seed market, and almost one-fourth of the
Australian market.
Monsanto's bid for D&PL comes on the heels of the collapse of the Doha Round in Geneva on
July 24. West African cotton exporting states, in particular, were banking on the World Trade
Organization (WTO) negotiations to rollback cotton subsidies in the USA and on increased
market access in the EU for finished cotton goods. With the WTO failure, the $4 billion US cotton
subsidy remains in place and prospects for African and Asian cotton growers look dim. This is
bad news for D&PL which lacks Monsanto's deep pockets and long-term market opportunities.
Monsanto is buying its major cotton competitor for $1.5 billion - one third less than it offered in
1998(3) before the WTO trade talks began. From Monsanto's perspective, it's inevitable that the
US will have to drop its subsidy to large US cotton operations and, when it does, the cotton seed
business in the US will all but disappear with the market shifting to Africa and Asia. Monsanto can
afford to wait - as long as it is the cotton seed provider and all the seed available uses the
company's genetically modified traits.
Monopoly challenge: With control of almost 60% of the US cotton seed market after the buyout,
Monsanto anticipates anti-trust scrutiny in the US, and the company's president says it will divest
its US cotton seed company Stoneville, which controls about 14% of the US market. "If the EU is
serious about helping Africa's cotton farmers and improving Africa's cotton export earnings, it can
begin by rejecting the Monsanto/D&PL merger in Brussels as an attack on anti-competition
policy," said Pat Mooney of ETC Group. "The merger of these two US companies will make the
removal of cotton subsidies much more difficult and will keep cotton and cotton clothing prices
unnaturally high for European consumers. A barrier thrown up in Brussels will even be seen
inside the Beltway in Washington, DC. The boll is in the EU's court!" said Mooney.
US Cotton Seed Market -- % Market Share 2005
Delta & Pine Land (to be acquired by Monsanto) 43.37
Stoneville (Monsanto) 13.93
Bayer Cropscience 25.32
Phytogen (Dow AgroSciences) 2.64
Others 14.74
Source: USDA; figures are for upland cotton.
If the buyout is approved, Monsanto's Stoneville and Delta & Pine Land will together account for
more than 57% of the total US cotton market. According to the USDA 83% of the cotton acreage
planted in the US in 2005 was transgenic.
Delta & Pine Land has subsidiaries in 13 countries, including companies in North, South and
Central America, Europe, China, South Africa, Turkey and India.
Delta & Pine Land Subsidiaries (as of November 2005)
ATLED
D&M INTERNATIONAL, LLC
D&M PARTNERS
D&PL ARGENTINA, INC.
D&PL CHINA, INC.
D&PL CHINA PTE, LTD.
D&PL INVESTING CORP.
D&PL INVESTMENTS, INC.
DELTAPINE PARAGUAY, INC.
D&PL SOUTH AFRICA, INC.
D&PL INTERNATIONAL TECHNOLOGY CORP.
DELTA PINE DE MEXICO S. DE R.L. DE C.V.
DELTAPINE AUSTRALIA PTY. LIMITED
GREENFIELD SEED COMPANY, LLC
HEBEI JI DAI COTTONSEED TECHNOLOGY COMPANY, LTD. (CHINA)
PAYMASTER TECHNOLOGY CORP.
TURK DELTAPINE, INC. (TURKEY)
D&PL SEMILLAS LTDA. (COSTA RICA)
CDM MANDIYU S.R.L. (ARGENTINA)
DELTA AND PINE LAND HELLAS MONOPROSOPI, E.P.E. (GREECE)
D&PL BRASIL, LTDA.
ANHUI AN DAI COTTONSEED TECHNOLOGY COMPANY, LTD. (CHINA)
D&PL TECHNOLOGY HOLDING COMPANY LLC.
D&M BRASIL ALGODAO, LTDA
MDM SEMENTES DE ALGODAO LTDA (BRAZIL)
SURE GROW, LLC
D&PL INDIA, LLC
DELTAPINE INDIA SEED PRIVATE LTD. (INDIA)
D&PL MAURITIUS LIMITED
Source: Delta & Pine Land, SEC Filing 10-K, November 14, 2005
For more information, please contact:
Hope Shand, ETC Group (USA) email: hope@etcgroup.org tel: +1 919 960-5767
Pat Mooney, ETC Group (Canada) email: mooney@etcgroup.org tel: +1 613 241-2267
Kathy Jo Wetter, ETC Group (USA) email: kjo@etcgroup.org tel: +1 919 960-5223
Silvia Ribeiro, ETC Group (Mexico) email: silvia@etcgroup.org tel: +52 5555 6326 64
Jim Thomas, ETC Group (Canada) email: jim@etcgroup.org
Ibrahim Coulibaly
Président de la coordination nationale des organisations paysannes du MALI
CNOP /MALI
tel: +223-228-6781
mobile: +223-676-1126
email: i_ibracoul@yahoo.fr
Notes:
1 In February 2006 the international Ban Terminator Campaign (www.banterminator.org)
revealed that Monsanto's revised pledge no longer rejected commercialization of Terminator
technology in all food crops. [see correspondence here:
http://www.etcgroup.org/article.asp?newsid=546] In response, Monsanto's Director of Public
Policy, Diane Herndon, wrote: "We apologize for any confusion caused by the added language
"in food crops" that appeared in the discussion of Genetic Use Restriction Technologies (GURTs)
in our last Pledge Report. We stand by our commitment to not use genetic engineering methods
that result in sterile seeds. Period."
Monsanto's Herndon also wrote: "we are in the process of reworking our Web site and will be
able to remove the confusing language as part of the redesign." But a half-year later, Monsanto
has not corrected or removed the confusing language.
2 Monsanto, "Delta and Pine Land Acquisition: Investor Conference Call," August 15, 2006.
www.monsanto.com
3 Accounting for inflation, Monsanto's 1998 offer of $1.8 billion converts to $2.25 billion in 2006.
Monsanto's current offer of $1.5 billion for DPL is, therefore, in 2006 terms, $750 million below its
1998 offer. (US Bureau of Labor Statistics: www.BLS.GO/CPI .)