04/15/08 Monsanto expanding Roundup production facility

Farm and Ranch April 15, 2008 To meet a growing demand for its non-selective Roundup herbicide, Monsanto recently announced it is spending nearly 200-million dollars over the next 18 months to expand production capability at its glyphosate manufacturing facility in Louisiana. Ron Cooley, Director of Global Manufacturing for Monsanto explains what that will mean for supply. Cooley: "And it will allow us to produce and supply about 20% more of our Roundup brands at the facility while increasing the global supply of glyph sate by more than ten %." That increased supply won't be available until the 2010 planting season. Cooley: "However, we recognize the short term needs for Roundup herbicides. We are currently running both of our U.S. manufacturing facilities for the 2008 growing season to increase our supply by over 20% to our U.S. farmers." Monsanto has raised Roundup prices several times in recent months and its Vice President of Branded Products for the U.S., Jim Zimmer, suggests a stable price for the remainder of this year while prices for 2009 have yet to be determined. Zimmer says driving demand for Roundup is the increase in conservation tillage and the adoption of Roundup Ready crops. Input costs are also affecting the price of the herbicide as most of the ingredients are petroleum based. He says U.S. producers are paying less for Roundup than farmers outside the United States. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.