November 25, 2010

 

Monsanto plant nearly doubles production of seed corn

 

 

Monsanto Co. in Constantine has enlarged its seed corn production plant four times since its establishment in 1997, and output has nearly doubled since 2005.

 

The progress resulted in a tour of the Monsanto premises on Tuesday by Michigan Department of Agriculture Director, Don Koivisto, as well as other state agriculture officials, who touted the state's US$24.97 billion food-processing industry.

 

A recent report indicates that the industry has experienced a 20% growth since 2002 which includes more jobs and food production.

 

"Agriculture is much bigger than most people realise," Koivisto said.  "There was a little slowdown in exports because of the global economy, when things were flat.  But for us a bad year is a flat year, not a decline."

 

"This year we are on a roll, with additional jobs being created in the state's agricultural sector," he said.

 

At Monsanto, located just south of the village of Constantine, most of the company's jobs go to locals who plant corn on contract, pick it, deliver it and sort, bag and prepare it for shipping, said Barry Meyer, manager of Monsanto's plant.

 

The 2010 season produced 1.9 million bushels of seed, with the majority grown in St. Joseph County.

 

This is the seed that farmers across the country and in Canada will use to make the following year's crop - each sack of 80,000 kernels holds the potential to create 2.8 acres of field corn.

 

The Constantine facility is the biggest of all of Monsanto's seed corn plants.  The plant, together with Pioneer Hi-Bred International across the road and other area growers, St. Joseph County produces about 40% of the country's seed corn.

 

It is a matter of eliminating factors that prevent a corn plant from attaining its potential, said Dave Tierney, regional director of government affairs at Monsanto, when asked what strategy Monsanto would use to continue increasing production.

 

"A lot of what you see here is to save that yield potential, by creating hybrid varieties that can withstand drought and overcome disease, insects, and other obstacles that may challenge the crop in any given year," Tierney said.