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June 30, 2011
· Monsanto incentives focus of SEC probe
· More critics line up against LightSquared
· Drought-stricken Texas officially a disaster
· E. coli crisis prompts interest in irradiation
· World geneticists find joy in Spudville
Monsanto consumers focus of SEC probe
Buried in a press release that otherwise struck happy tones about the company's financial turnaround, Monsanto disclosed that the Securities and Exchange Commission has launched an investigation into the "customer incentives" programs it has used to win sales for its Roundup-branded herbicide.
Roundup was once the company's bread-and-butter product. But
competition from generic competitors in
Since it was acquired and then spun off from Pharmacia in 2000, Monsanto has redirected its business away from chemicals and toward bioengineered seeds and traits. Its business model, though, remains Roundup-dependent: One of the key selling points for its major seed product lines -- corn and soybeans, in particular -- is that they have been genetically modified to be resistant to Roundup, which is based on a chemical known as glyphosate.
According to Monsanto, the SEC "is conducting an investigation regarding Monsanto's customer incentive programs relating to its glyphosate products in fiscal years 2009 and 2010, and Monsanto has received a subpoena for documents in connection therewith. Monsanto is cooperating with the staff's investigation."
By "customer," Monsanto is referring to distributors of agricultural products, not the farmer end-users of the herbicide.
On the company's conference call to discuss third-quarter results, CEO Hugh Grant repeated the company's prepared statement and declined to comment further "out of respect for the SEC's process."
In reply to a question from an analyst, Grant said that the SEC's probe was not directed at its seed business.
As it turns out, the Roundup business appears to have rebounded for Monsanto of late, at least judging by its third-quarter numbers. The company's "agricultural productivity" segment took in sales of $943 million during the quarter, up from $600 million in year-ago period. Meanwhile, Monsanto said that the segement's gross profit would come to $700 million for the full fiscal 2011.
Monsanto said the increased sales and gross profit were "led by the positive response to the repositioning of the glyphosate business," as well as a boost from the consumer Roundup product for the lawn-and-garden market.
Still, in earlier years, Roundup sales exceeded $1.3 billion per quarter, with gross profit of more than $2 billion annually.
In 2009, Monsanto spent some $400 million to reorganize the struggling chemicals business.
Investors shrugged off the SEC probe Wednesday, focusing
instead on the company's improved profit forecast. Shares of the
Monsanto has seen its share of regulatory trouble. The Department of Justice has been investigating possible antitrust violations in the seed industry since 2009. Monsanto, which has acquired more than 20 of the nation's biggest seed producers and sellers over the last decade, has long pursued a strict policy with its customers, obligating them to buy its bioengeenered seeds every year rather than use them in multiple planting seasons. Farmers who disobey have been blacklisted.
Though Monsanto hasn't been named as part of the
government's antitrust probe, it's widely understood that the
More critics line up against LightSquared
(PCWorld.com)
–
NetTalk, which sells an inexpensive alternative to landline phone service using VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol), will resell access to LightSquared's LTE (Long-Term Evolution) mobile network under its own branded service. The companies did not disclose the value of the multiyear agreement. NetTalk joins customers including Best Buy and Leap Wireless that plan to buy wholesale service from LightSquared, which won't offer services directly to consumers. Sprint Nextel also plans to use LightSquared's service, according to news reports.
But opponents continued to line up against LightSquared, claiming the carrier's plans imperil GPS (Global Positioning System) devices because its LTE towers will interfere with satellite signals that those devices depend on. On Tuesday, more than a dozen new members joined the Coalition to Save Our GPS, which repeatedly has voiced concern about LightSquared's plans. The new members include FedEx, the Air Line Pilots Association, Magellan GPS and the New York City Fire Department.
LightSquared is facing a deadline on July 1 to report the results of a testing program it was required to set up as condition of its network approval from the FCC. The carrier had to form a technical working group with entities that make and use GPS technology, then report by June 15 on any interference with GPS and ways to resolve it. After information came in too late from the tests, the group received an extension until July 1. Test results that have already been disclosed showed serious interference with devices used for public safety, agriculture, aviation, surveying and other applications.
The carrier was granted access to valuable spectrum for LTE
by agreeing to deploy a hybrid satellite-LTE network that would provide mobile
data service across rural areas of the
Last week, LightSquared proposed initially leaving aside the upper 10MHz of its spectrum, which is closest to the GPS band, and launching its service in a lower 10MHz band instead. It said the alternative plan would also involve lower power operation. Critics, including the Coalition, said the new proposed plan would still cause interference with highly sensitive GPS equipment. At a hearing last week before the U.S. House of Representatives' Subcommittees on Aviation and on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation, lawmakers and witnesses called for more testing to make sure that move would mitigate the interference for all GPS devices.
On Monday, the Coalition continued to attack LightSquared's new proposal, saying it would not lower power levels or prevent interference.
"LightSquared's claim that lower band operations would be largely free of interference for non-high precision GPS users is simply not true," the group wrote in a press release. "The only real solution to the LightSquared interference problem is to move out of the MSS band altogether."
LightSquared has struck back with its own public-opinion
campaign, launching a Public Policy page on its website and sponsoring a study
of GPS by consulting company The Brattle Group. The study said the GPS industry
gets an implicit $18 billion subsidy from the
Drought-stricken Texas
Brown is among the farmers and ranchers across all of
Because the dry conditions across the nation's second-leading agricultural state come as commodity prices are strong, Brown said farmers and ranchers are taking an even larger financial hit.
"The grass just crackles underneath the feet,"
Brown, 72, said of walking across his acreage in the town of
The Agriculture Department designated 213 of
Many producers have lost their entire crop because of drought and wildfires, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in the news release.
"President Obama and I want these farmers and ranchers
to know that we will support them through the recovery process and help them
once again become productive suppliers of food, fiber and fuel that keep
Ranchers and farmers must qualify for the loans that will come from the USDA's Farm Service Agency.
The state just endured its driest-ever eight-month span -- ending May 31 -- and some parts have not seen significant precipitation since August, prompting drastic drops in lake and underground water levels. Burn bans are in place in 235 of the state's 254 counties and nearly 260 water suppliers, most around the San Antonio area, have either voluntary or mandatory restrictions on water use.
May, typically the state's wettest month, did little to alleviate the problem, yielding less than half its average rainfall at an estimated 1.65 inches.
The state is also enduring its worst wildfire season ever.
More than 3 million acres have been scorched by the wildfires that have not
even spared the more humid
It all means
Crop insurance will only cover part of the cost of planting a field that never gets a crop up.
Brown thinks this year's conditions are worse than the dry spell of the 1950s, which lasted about six years, affected every part of the state and is considered to be the area's "drought of record." He knows that he, like many producers, will miss out on the high commodity prices. With rain it could have been an "exceptional" year, he said.
"It'll be a lean year compared to what we expected," the farmer of 40 years said. "But we'll be able to cover our expenses."
E. coli crisis prompts interest in irradiation
(FoodProductionDaily.com) – The recent E.coli outbreak is likely to renew interest in the irradiation of salads, although it is too early to tell if it will lead to generic approval across the EU, according to an irradiation specialist from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
This is what happened in the
The issue has once again raced up the food safety agenda in
the aftermath of the deadly outbreak of E.coli 104:H4
originating in
Irradiation using low dosage treatments would be beneficial
especially if used in combination with washing and packaging technology, said
The technique destroys microbial populations, reduces the need for chemical pesticides and fumigants, and does not impair the flavour of the produce, said the specialist, whose division AGE is the joint IAEA/FAO division for Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture.
Drawbacks
But although some European countries already approve the use
of irradiation for salads and the science is well developed, there are
drawbacks related to implementation on a fully commercial scale,
Firstly, he said there is limited capacity, with few irradiation facilities that treat food for the EU market.
Most of these are multipurpose irradiators, said the specialist, geared towards irradiating medical products which in contrast to salads require high levels of treatment.
In the EU, there are less than 30 food irradiation facilities, he said, with another 10 facilities in non-EU countries which are allowed to irradiate food for the European Market.
“I don’t think any have considered irradiating salads and I
doubt many of these treatment facilities are situated close to major salad
producers,” said
In addition, there is also a regulatory hurdle in the
region, he said. Although several EU countries such as
European law concerning which foods can be irradiated has yet to be fully harmonised, he said.
Consumer perceptions
The specialist also said that, despite any private enthusiasm for the technique from the European food industry, he felt that no one wanted to be the first to embrace the technology in public.
“EU law requires that irradiated-food is labelled as irradiated or treated with ionising radiation. My feeling is that major retailers are unwilling to stock such labelled products, fearing customers will mistakenly associate the wording as a warning rather than view it positively.”
Former EFSA chairman Professor Patrick Wall also agreed that consumers remained sceptical about the use of irradiation for food products.
“Our anecdotal experience has been that food businesses are reluctant to adopt the technology due to concerns that consumers would choose not to buy their products if they are irradiated,” he told this publication.
“Rather than think of it as a first cousin of their
microwave many of them think of
“With salads, the words people think of are fresh, wholesome and natural and irradiation as a technology does not sit well here.”
Misinformation
A spokesperson for FSA told FoodProductionDaily.com it is difficult to get the facts across about irradiation when there is a large amount of “misinformation”, particularly on the internet, with a small number of “very vocal groups” opposed to its wider use.
“It is also difficult to judge what the general consumers’ attitude would really be when there is no practical experience of seeing irradiated foods for sale on the UK market,” said the authority.
“It is worth noting that irradiation is widely used in sterilising medical devices and pharmaceutical products without the same level of negative publicity.”
The spokesperson said it was difficult to know if the E.coli outbreak would change people’s perceptions about the technique.
“Over the past few years, the
The future for irradiation
Despite the potential drawbacks of irradiation as a
decontamination technique,
“Maybe the use of X-rays generated by machine (rather than gamma irradiation which relies on radiation emitted from radioactive sources) could in future play a role,” he said.
Parts of the food industry already use low powered X-rays to detect bone fragments in meat products therefore, the use of more powerful X-ray machines to treat salad might be viewed favourably, said the specialist.
“The issue with labelling may persist, but hopefully people will begin to view the technology favourably or at least understand that it doesn’t mean the food is radioactive, but it means that the food has been zapped,” he said.
The IAEA works for “the safe, secure and peaceful uses of
nuclear science and technology”, running and supporting research centers and
scientific laboratories in
World geneticists find joy in Spudville
(McClatchy via physorg.com) – David Tay heaves aside a metal door that leads into an earthquake-proof room chilled to 42 degrees. There, under the glow of blue-tinged lights, are thousands of test tubes, each with small green sprouts trapped inside.
This room is the heart of the
For the past 40 years, the center, known by its Spanish
acronym of CIP, has scoured the globe building up the world's most complete
collection of potatoes. In the process it has become a genetic Noah's
"It may not be sexy," said
Along with the in-vitro gene bank, the CIP is keeping root
tips in cryopreservation - frozen in liquid nitrogen - at -321 degrees
Fahrenheit, and has potatoes under guard at the fortified "Doomsday Seed
Vault "in
The obsession with preserving obscure potatoes may seem odd in the United States, where most people are only familiar with russets, fingerlings, yellow, red and white potatoes.
But Tay is fond of reminding
visitors that potatoes are not from
"These are the great-grandparents of all the potatoes in the world," he said, waving an arm at the gleaming test-tubes. And there's no way of telling which one of the 7,000 varieties may have "the winning gene" that could make it the ideal crop for a changing planet.
Since then, this New World crop has become an
But
Lisbeth Marisol, who tends one of the stalls, picks up a small red potato as knobby as a baby's fist. It's called the pusi pina, and Marisol said protective mothers ask their son's girlfriends to peel them.
"When you peel it, you have to take out all the eyes very carefully and leave it really pretty," Marisol said. "If you can do that, then they'll let you stay with their son. If you can't, then you lose him."
Many of the varieties at the CIP are like the pusi pina - interesting to look at but not likely to catch on with consumers. Yet they possess genetic traits that make them invaluable.
Shelley Jansky is a research geneticist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has been developing strains of potatoes that are resistant to diseases such as blight, the common scab and virus Y.
What she has found is that wild potato species - those that have been left to fend on their own for generations - often have inborn defenses.
"Anytime we have looked for any kind of disease resistance in wild species we've eventually found it," she said. Recently, a colleague discovered a wild potato that can fight off the virus Y - an emerging global threat - even when rising temperatures have destroyed the resistance in other varieties.
"If we can have resistance that holds up under warm temperatures, that will be a significant improvement," she said.
Jansky gets her wild potatoes from
the United States Potato Gene Bank in
One of the CIP's biggest successes stories has been the
development of an amarilis variety potato that is
resistant to late blight. Blight is the same disease that wiped out the potato
crop in
While potatoes are the world's third-largest food crop after
rice and wheat, their ability to grow amid harsh conditions makes them ideal
for countries that are seeing the effects of climate change,
And unlike wheat, corn or rice, potatoes are not internationally traded. That has shielded them from the price spikes that have rocked other commodities.
"If climate change affects world food prices, the
potato could play an important role in price stability,"
If the lowly potato does emerge as the crop of the future, the CIP will be able to take some of the credit.
"We don't own them,"
End Transmission