Monsanto Company's Executive Vice President Carl Casale was part of a keynote address today at the first Agriculture and Protein Conference sponsored by Harris Nesbitt. In his address, Casale outlined how the company's focus on agriculture will build on its current leadership position and lead to additional growth opportunities in the coming years.

"Today, the agriculture sector is faced with several challenges," Casale said. "It is being asked to meet the increased food and feed needs of the global marketplace with a finite number of acres, while also supporting the needs of expanding end-use markets, like corn-based ethanol."

In addition, he notes that Monsanto believes these challenges can be addressed through seed-based offerings. A key way to support this, he says, begins with preserving a crop's inherent yield potential and then looking at ways to unlock that potential even further. The company's seeds and traits business is leveraging the capabilities of biotechnology and breeding to protect the inherent yield potential of a seed for farmers.

Key growth drivers for Monsanto, Casale believes, is the company's ability to provide stacked-trait offerings as well as enhanced next-generation technologies. He also believes the next-generation technologies will define the entry point for industry participation heading into the next decade.

For more information, visit www.monsanto.com.

Monsanto Company's Executive Vice President Carl Casale was part of a keynote address today at the first Agriculture and Protein Conference sponsored by Harris Nesbitt. In his address, Casale outlined how the company's focus on agriculture will build on its current leadership position and lead to additional growth opportunities in the coming years.