Closing Ceremonies

As the roads slowly dried and the day began to warm, I decided the best way to spend my last day at the Farm Progress show was to walk around to different tents and booths to see what other companies had to offer.

But first, I had to get incognito. I exchanged my blue Monsanto shirt for a regular black one and set off.

My first stop was the Monsanto tent directly across from the Discovery tour tents. As soon as I entered, two Monsanto employees greeted me and asked if they could help me find anything. I politely declined and headed toward the Vistive display. A cheerful employee handed me some free lip balm and told me about the benefits of new Vistive oil, which has properties similar to olive oil. I must say, I was impressed.

I strolled around the massive tent for a bit longer, stopping at the model of the giant soybean pods and picking up some information about the new RoundupReady2Yield soybeans. The air was cool and pleasant inside the tent and it echoed with the excited shouts and conversations of farmers and Monsanto representatives. I didn’t want to leave, but decided to head next door to the Dekalb and Asgrow tent.

Everyone was just as friendly there, and one of the coolest things I saw was a wall where people could leave comments about Asgrow soybeans on little sheets of sticky paper. The wall was covered with them, and I took some time to read a few. The comments were nothing but praise and it instilled a definite sense of pride in me to look at all the good things growers had to say about our brands, written in their own hands.

As the afternoon was quickly progressing, I decided I only had enough time to check out a few displays of larger-than-life farm equipment and then headed toward my last destination: the Pioneer tent.

I entered the huge tent and was, admittedly, a bit disappointed. Although the displays were nice to look at and intriguing at some levels, there really wasn’t much there to grab my attention. The focal point of the tent was Pioneer’s “test plot,” which consisted of a few rows of corn and soy planted in a circle around an information desk. The corn and beans looked good, but were nothing compared to the acre of rows upon rows of corn, soy, cotton and other crops Monsanto displayed. And something was lost in looking at the crops under fluorescent lighting—I much preferred the natural sunlight of the Monsanto plot and the way the wind rustled the leaves of the plants in the afternoons. It made them more alive—more real—to me.

Pioneer's test plot of corn.

But I may be a bit biased. I must say, however, if I am a bit biased, it seemed that the majority of visitors to the show were biased as well by the time they left.

Big groups congregated outside of the Monsanto tents, sporting RoundupReady2Yield caps and enthusiastically talking about the innovations and new products they’d just seen. As not just an employee, but as a person, I felt proud to wear the Monsanto logo.

Visitors grouping outside one of the Monsanto tents.

As 4 p.m. rolled around, most of the visitors were setting off for their cars and the employees had a moment of respite before they took to the task of breaking down their equipment and packing up their gear.

I looked around at the exhausted, sweaty and happy faces of my colleagues and felt that we had really done something incredible this week. We came together as a company, as members of a team, in order to do one thing and one thing only—show farmers first-hand what great advances Monsanto is making in the agricultural industry and tell them how to apply this technology to their own farms. It wasn’t so much about sales. It wasn’t about rubbing elbows with the movers and shakers of the world. And it certainly wasn’t about competing with other brands or with each other.

It was the farmers that counted. It was about feeding, fueling and supporting an exponentially growing population and showing people how this, indeed, with a little bit of imagination and compassion and a lot of hard work, can be done.

This weekend the crops on the plot will be shredded and tilled under the soil. Nothing will remain of the plot that swayed in the wind and provided hope to farmers from around the globe. But something new will sprout from the soil: hope and comfort. Hope that in this world someone actually cares about the growing needs of farmers and citizens. Comfort in that Monsanto is tirelessly working on ways to meet and surpass those needs.

I’ve been in situations before where I’ve felt a sense of pride, accomplishment and camaraderie with fellow citizens. But walking out of the Farm Progress gates for the last time under that blue Iowa sky, I’m not sure I’ve felt it more than I did at that moment.

Rain, Rain Go Away

The most gorgeous sunrises are often prelude to the most rainy days.

Yesterday was no different.

The first drops started to fall as we trekked from the parking field to the tent area, and by the time we got our computers out and hooked into the system it was pouring. But this didn’t seem to put a damper on the folks who were coming through the Discovery tour; in fact, it was almost as if the rain added an extra element of camaraderie to the tour groups.

Farmers and visitors arrived at their last stop, most of them wearing dripping ponchos or clambering for the free Monsanto umbrellas we were giving away, jovially kidding each other about the weather and laughing about the muddy streets.

The Monsanto sign reflected in a mud puddle.

Oh, the muddy streets.

Most of the roads between the exhibits and tents here are gravel, and the organizers were kind enough to lay down mulch in much of the open areas. But a heavy rain changes everything, and by mid-morning the streets and most of the spaces that weren’t covered by some sort of roof were a soupy mix of mud and rainwater.

People stroll through the streets past the Monsanto tents.

I think this simply added to the fun. Monsanto employees and visitors alike took the rain in stride, rolling up their pant legs or just letting the mud and water soak them through. Anyone who wore white shoes had a new pair of brown ones by the end of the day, and I’m pretty sure that the kids at the show had more fun playing in the puddles than looking at the combines.

Sporting Dekalb caps, Justin and Teddy Vande Lune take time out from their muddy adventures to say hi to the camera.

Luckily the rain stopped at midday and by afternoon the sun forced its way through the clouds to turn the soaking site from mud bath to steam room. The roads and fields tried their best to try out, but the moisture hanging in the air coupled with the inch of rain to come last night thwarted their efforts.

When we arrived at the show this morning we weren’t greeted by rain, but the sun shone down on huge puddles and, once again, muddy roads. But even that can’t extinguish the spirit of enthusiasm and excitement around here. Once more, we rolled up our pants, trekked through the mud, and prepared for our last day.

Monsanto employees (in the blue shirts) brave the muddy streets in their boots.

I’m planning to walk around and check out the different booths this morning if I do nothing else today—even though I’m willing to bet all my chips the Monsanto tents are the best, I’d still like to see what else is going on around here. I might also tour the Dekalb seed plant this afternoon, which is something I’ve wanted to do since I got here.

We’ll see; right now we’re just drinking our coffee and keeping a weather eye on the sky, which, thankfully, is sunny.

There's a First Time...

Indeed there is a first time for everything.

Today was the first time I have been in a traffic jam on a rural highway at 7 a.m. Apparently the vendors and show staffers weren’t the only people excited about getting to the Farm Progress site early. We sat in traffic for more than 45 minutes before we finally got our parking assignment in a field near the entrance.

Today was the first time I realized that farmers really do work from sunrise to sunset. It was still early to me when we got to Monsanto’s tent at 8:20 a.m., but the farmers attending the show were already on their second or third cups of coffee and ready to go. It was actually quite refreshing knowing that we weren’t the only ones getting up before the sun.

Today was the first time I have seen so many international farmers in one place. Sitting behind the Monsanto Today booth in the Q&A room at the end of the Discovery tour afforded me the opportunity to get a look at and meet some of the several hundred growers and producers that came through Monsanto’s tent. A large majority of those growers were not American; I counted at least seven different countries that were represented.

Today was the first time I ate a sandwich that was bigger than my head. I understand that walking around all day talking to seed reps and distributors makes one hungry, but the people providing the food at Farm Progress really outdid themselves. I ordered a pork tenderloin sandwich (a specialty and must-have in Iowa) and was served a piece of breaded pork bigger than a dinner plate on a hamburger bun. It was delicious.

Today was the first time I saw biotechnology making an immediate and powerful impact on people. I broke away from the Monsanto Today booth for a while in the afternoon and followed some people around on the tour of the technology showcase. The wonder in the visitors’ faces and the excitement In their voices when they talked about new seed traits and benefits made it clear that biotech really is helping improve the quality of both farmers’ and consumers’ lives. At the end of the tour people were able to ask questions about things they’d seen, and the most common question, aside from asking about nitrogen efficiency corn, was, “When are we going to be able to get this technology?” The answer was always the same: as soon as possible. We’re working on it.

And finally, today was the first time I saw a team of co-workers come together and actually authentically enjoy the work they were doing with one another. There are a lot of new faces on my team at Monsanto (myself included), and to be part of a group that is passionate about working toward a common goal is an amazing feeling. To be part of a group that is passionate about what they’re doing, supports each other and can make each other laugh is beyond amazing.

Tomorrow I’m going to make some time to wander around the Farm Progress site and experience the show from a visitor’s point of view. But right now I’m going to bed, as we have to get up early to beat the daily grind of morning-rush-hour-rural-highway traffic.

You're Only a Day Away

Even though I’m sitting in the controlled environment of a hotel room in West Des Moines, I can still smell the fresh-tilled earth of Monsanto’s plot mingled with the recognizably fresh scent of healthy crops. The day was picture-perfect: sunshine and denim blue skies stretched over the Farm Progress site in Boone, where countless men and women were hurriedly adding the finishing touches to tent displays. Tractors and farm equipment continuously rattled down the gravel roads and by the time the sun started going down a fine haze of dust hung in the air.

It was an amazing day.

Since I know next to nothing about agriculture, aside from what I’ve pieced together during the past three weeks at Monsanto, I decided the best place to start my Farm Progress experience was at the Monsanto technology showcase tour. I tagged along with a few of my team members who were filming two of the showcase’s organizers while they talked about the different crops and displays on the plot.

I don’t know if I’ve ever learned so much in such a short time.

There are dozens and dozens of new products and crop types. We started in the soybean section, where three different types of pest and disease-resistant crops have been planted. The plants looked beautiful, even to my untrained eye—full dark green leaves with not a blemish complete with perfect fuzzy pods hanging from the plant. The most striking part of the soybean section is the little plot of land where dicamba-resistant soybeans have been planted next to susceptible plants. The difference is incredible—the susceptible plants are yellow and withered while the resistant plants right next to them look pristine, as you can see below.

Dion McBay talks about dicamba-resistant soybeans (on the right).

If you’re wondering what dicamba-resistant means, don’t worry. I asked, under the pretense that I was doing “research” for this blog, but I didn’t know either. Dicamba is a herbicide commonly used by growers, used for the same weed-removing purposes as the glyphosate found in Roundup. Shannon Hauf, the site’s organizer, told me that they sprayed more than one quart of dicamba on the soybean plants—and the resistant ones came out completely unscathed.

The corn traits are also incredible to see first-hand; to someone who hasn’t spent much time around crops it really is amazing to see how hardy (and tall) corn can be, especially the new drought-resistant types that are featured in the showcase. A tent was erected over some of the corn crop to simulate draught conditions, and it is more than obvious how much better the corn bred and modified for draught-resistance is. Even though the tent did come down on top of the corn crop in a huge storm in late July, the corn doesn’t reflect the damage in the least (for more on the storm and to see the damage, see Shannon’s blog, Golden Acre).

I’ve also never seen cotton plants before, and it is truly a weird and cool experience to see the plant that your clothes are made out of up close.

I spent about four hours on the plot (most people who go through spend about an hour walking through a guided tour) and by lunchtime I was thoroughly saturated with information. The afternoon was a blur of e-mail, meetings and phone calls, but I luckily found a few moments to break away and wander down some side streets close to the Monsanto area.

Dekalb and Asgrow have an amazing tent and display, and I saw some smaller vendors and companies setting up their tents for tomorrow.

Tomorrow… after all I’ve seen today it’s hard to believe that I’ll be getting up and doing it again in a few short hours. But the forecast for opening day is more blue skies (which I’m sure the more than 350,000 expected visitors to the show will appreciate), and there is so much more to experience and learn that I hope I can get it all packed into just three days.

We’ll see if I’m still this optimistic at 4:45 a.m. tomorrow. Somehow, I think I will be.

Early to Bed, Early to Rise

The horizon is a hazy orange line in an otherwise dark sky. It’s 5:45 a.m. on the first day of my stay in Iowa.

My team opted to drive from St. Louis to Boone, IA yesterday. Surrounded by fields upon fields of corn and soy, it made me really think about what Monsanto is aiming to do for agriculture. We drove past seemingly endless fields of green, healthy crops that looked like they could feed thousands, a nagging thought kept tugging at me: this still isn’t enough.

And that’s what Monsanto is trying to change.

We’re on the highway again this early morning, heading toward the Farm Progress site. The show officially starts tomorrow, but today we get a preview of the technology showcase and a behind-the-scenes look before the growers arrive.

The sun is almost up now, and it’s time I drink some coffee and enjoy the ride. The fields look gorgeous in the morning mist and I can tell it’s going to be a good day.

Progressive Development

Three days and counting until I leave for Iowa, and I’m more intrigued than ever about what to expect when I arrive. The buzz is palpable here in the St. Louis office; people keep telling me that the Farm Progress show is the “Detroit auto show of agriculture.”

Since I’ve never been to Detroit, I’m still not sure what to expect. But I can respect the metaphor.

I’ve been hearing about experimental plots, new technology demonstrations and the amount of not only domestic but international excitement about this year’s show. Apparently, more than 1,500 international farmers are expected to attend.

I think the most interesting thing to experience will be the Monsanto Technology Showcase and sustainability initiative. Along with Farm Progress, sustainability is a major issue being talked about at Monsanto lately. A big part of this year’s plot at the show is to focus on how each crop is part of our Sustainable Yield Initiative, which says Monsanto will double crop yield by 2030, reduce by one-third by 2030 the amount of resources needed to grow crops and improve farmers’ lives.

These are ambitious goals for any agricultural company to achieve. But, in my limited experience with agriculture, I’ve never come across another company that’s more dedicated to making these goals a reality. I can’t wait to see it first-hand, in the field with growers and producers.

And I want to know how those growers and producers see our technology—both how it can help sustainability and how it can improve each individual grower’s life.

Though it’s not Detroit and I’m sure there will be more combines than new cars, this show is progressively growing on me—and I’m not even there yet.