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Bayer facing possible growing legal costs, consumer backlash after Roundup jury award

Aug 13, 2018
It’s been a rough day for Monsanto, the maker of the weedkiller Roundup. On Friday a jury awarded a California groundskeeper $289.2 million, concluding that exposure to Roundup caused his cancer. On Monday stock in Bayer, the company that acquired Monsanto earlier this year, tumbled 10 percent. Click the audio player above to hear the […]
Bottles of Monsanto's Roundup are seen for sale June 19, 2018 at a retail store in Glendale, California.
ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images

What’s behind Bayer’s acquisition of Monsanto?

May 30, 2018
A whopping $66 billion deal in the agribusiness space just won the approval of antitrust regulators in Washington, D.C. That clears the way for German behemoth Bayer to acquire St. Louis-based Monsanto. Monsanto has for years ridden the success of the herbicide Roundup and seeds that are tolerant of the chemical. But now Monsanto— and […]

Gene editing for fresher fruit, leaner pigs

Mar 28, 2018
But … do we even want that?

Minecraft has real-world life lessons to teach us

Aug 23, 2017
Max Brooks talks about his new book "Minecraft: The Island" and what he learned from playing the online game.
Photo by LEON NEAL/AFP/Getty Images

Who owns the seeds bought by farmers and gardeners?

Aug 14, 2017
As companies like Monsanto and DuPont gain patent rights to seeds, one group of plant breeders is trying to create an alternate open access seed market.
Brian Campbell and Crystine Goldberg are breeding seeds for the Open Source Seed Initiative on their farm near Bellingham, Washington.
Eilis O'Neill/ for Marketplace

Foreign earnings bolster Monsanto results

Jun 28, 2017
Monsanto’s earning reports beat expectations today. The agricultural giant has enjoyed solid growth over the first half of the year, with operating earnings up more than 50 percent year on year. The company’s planned acquisition by German agricultural giant Bayer is also on investors’ minds.  Click the audio player above to hear the full story.

How does an agriculture giant like Monsanto respond to climate change?

Jan 5, 2017
Monsanto will report earnings today. One of the biggest factors for the agricultural giant’s business is how it responds to climate change. The company has invested in things like weather analysis and biotech to help farmers grow crops in the face of changing weather patterns. But climate change is an issue for Monsanto, too.  Click […]

For public good, not for profit.

Monsanto in uncertain marriage

Oct 5, 2016
Monsanto and Bayer want to merge. But it's not a done deal.
A view of a building on the campus of the Monsanto Headquarters in St Louis, Missouri. 
MICHAEL B. THOMAS/AFP/Getty Images

The latest bumper crop in agriculture: mergers

Sep 14, 2016
Bayer AG and Monsanto are the latest agribusiness giants tying the knot.
The German company Bayer AG is buying Monsanto in a deal worth about $66 billion, including debt.

 
PATRIK STOLLARZ, JOHN THYS/AFP/Getty Images

Monsanto loss grows amid commodities slump

Oct 7, 2015
Lower prices pinch everyone from farmers to agribusiness giants.