Print This PageOperating with Integrity
Monsanto takes pride in its commitment to integrity in all business operations. From our corporate vision of “abundant food and a healthy environment” to our daily efforts to deliver agricultural solutions to farmers around the world, to our Monsanto Pledge, integrity is the foundation of our corporate identity.
Integrity Guides Our Business Conduct
Our integrity and our expertise in agricultural solutions help us build relationships of trust with customers and with all our stakeholders, from regulators to suppliers and consumers. These relationships develop and expand our business.
Seed Stock Shipping Manager Mark Armstrong and Technology Solutions Manager
David Stoltzfus examine corn being grown for Monsanto’s seed production
and technology site in Williamsburg, Iowa.
To create a baseline of our values, we wrote the Monsanto Code of Business Conduct.33 By presenting guidelines for appropriate business behavior, the code helps employees deal responsibly with the range of complex business practices that affect the company’s reputation. Our code makes this plain: “Challenges that arise in the course of our business can be resolved consistent with all applicable laws and regulations, and with our high ethical standards, and still allow us to meet our business objectives if issues are identified early, addressed cooperatively, and solved thoughtfully.” Our Business Conduct pages offer handbooks that provide greater detail on subjects such as antitrust, conflicts of interest, and the giving and receiving of gifts.
Every employee is expected to be fully aware of the code and its business conduct program components, and to adhere to its principles. In an annual certification process that includes training about the code, employees certify to adherence to the code. We have a robust training program that presents two or three topics in depth each year to large segments of our employee population. New hires receive training on the code, as well as anti-harassment instruction. Recently, the Monsanto Business Conduct Office released an Ethical Moments video series. These brief videos present common ethical dilemmas that could arise in the workplace.
Monsanto’s Business Conduct (BC) office looks into every matter or concern that it receives. Throughout each year, the BC office receives hundreds of questions through its Voice Your Concern online system, its Guidance Line telephone program, and through e-mails and visits from employees. Most issues brought to the BC office’s attention are simple requests for guidance about policy or compliance requirements. These questions are researched and the answers provided to the employees who submit the questions.
If an employee believes that the code may have been violated, a team made up of Internal Audit, Human Resources, Global Security, Legal, Commercial, IT Security, and BC office representatives manages the resolution of the issue.
Integrity and the Business Conduct program are taken seriously throughout Monsanto, from the lowest to the highest levels. Our board of directors receives updates from our director of Business Conduct regularly. Monsanto Today, our publication for employees, has run a series of interviews with Monsanto leaders about what integrity means to them. And members of the Business Conduct team have been invited to conduct case studies and presentations at departmental town hall meetings. We expect our managers to create an open environment, so that employees feel comfortable raising questions within their work group as well as with Business Conduct.
Commitment to Product Stewardship
We are committed to the responsible management of technologies and products across our seeds, traits, and chemical businesses, from concept to discontinuation. We apply the principles of the Monsanto Pledge to our products, actions, and business. This commitment aligns our product offerings with the commitments Monsanto employees make to follow our Code of Business Conduct.
Monsanto India cotton researchers Mahant Shivayogayya, N. Uday Lakshmi,
and Siddhartha Choudhary discuss breeding advances in cotton with Derenda Stanley,
greenhouse coordinator for breeding technology at Monsanto's Leland Agronomy
Center in Mississippi.
In 2007, Monsanto collaborated with other Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) member companies to create a program called Excellence through Stewardship. This industry program is designed to promote responsible management of all plant products around the world during each phase of a product’s life cycle. It includes common objectives, principles and management practices; a Guide to Understanding and Implementing Quality Management Program, which includes BIO’s previously adopted Containment Analysis and Critical Control Point for plant-made pharmaceuticals and plant-made industrial products; and a Stewardship Third-Party Audit Program, a checks-and-balances system of third-party audits.
BIO also adopted a Product Launch Stewardship Policy in 2007. It provides market assessments, dialogue with stakeholders, appropriate approvals, and market management plans. This policy is specifically designed to address issues that could arise if different trading partners approve products at different times.
Monsanto supports industry and trade group stewardship efforts. But it is deeply committed to maintaining its own leadership in responsible management of products and technologies. Our product stewardship programs are designed to assure the integrity of our products and the processes used to develop, produce and manage them. These programs cover the entire life cycle of our products, from gene discovery and plant development through seed production, marketing, and distribution. They extend to crop production and crop utilization in the marketplace and even to the responsible disposal of discontinued products.
Technology and Field Testing
Starting at the earliest stages of a product’s life, Monsanto ensures that products will be safe for people and the environment, as well as useful for our customers. This overarching policy, often called “premarket stewardship,” includes comprehensive project and technology program reviews and quality reviews.
Seed Production and Distribution
Product stewardship is critical to ensure that Monsanto’s seeds deliver the product identity, integrity, and trait purity (quality) that farmers expect. We pursue responsible management in seed production and distribution by following guidelines to ensure seed quality and trait purity, by maintaining compliance with labeling regulations, and by ensuring that seed licensees comply with contract requirements.
Crop Sales and Marketing
As the main points of contact between Monsanto and its customers, our sales and marketing people play a major role in product stewardship. This includes ensuring that customers and licensees use biotech crops properly, clearly establishing stewardship expectations with the farmers who are our customers, and educating farmers about the importance of following best practices and Monsanto recommendations for chemical products and weed- and insect-resistance management.
Chemical Products
Chemistry stewardship ensures that chemical ingredients are selected to meet Monsanto criteria for human health and environmental safety. Stewardship requires that product marketing be accurate, set reasonable expectations, and comply with the laws and regulations that govern marketing claims.
Stewardship also conveys good practices for chemical product use, including appropriate use rates and application times, conditions, and equipment. Monsanto is introducing a labeling initiative that, where it can be implemented, will include a 24-hour emergency number and a backup number. This will help provide timely technical support, including advice on the disposal of pesticides and used containers.
