Plant Science and Technology
From the lab to the crop fields of America's "Grain Belt," Missouri's unique assets make it the obvious leader in the plant sciences. With its full continuum of research and product development assets in the plant sciences, Missouri is leading the innovation in value-added crops that enhance human health and nutrition.

Missouri is home to outstanding public and non-profit private research institutions like:

  • The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center is a not-for-profit research institute with a global vision to improve the human condition. Research will enhance the nutritional content of plants to improve human health, increase agricultural production to create a sustainable food supply, and provide the scientific ideas and technologies that will contribute to the economic growth of the St. Louis region and of the State of Missouri.

  • University of Missouri College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources - preparing the next generation of geneticists, economists, journalists, veterinarians, educators, policy makers, farmers and physicians through scientific discovery.

  • Missouri Botanical Gardens -With nearly 50 Ph.D. botanists, the Garden conducts the most productive and geographically widespread botanical research program in the world.

  • National Center for Soybean Biotechnology - discovering innovative molecular approaches that improve soybeans.

  • The Center of Excellence for Plant Biologics at Northwest Missouri State University - a unique industry/university partnership helping incubate new and growing companies while also providing space for academic research.


Missouri is also home to leading private corporations:

  • Monsanto - a world pioneer in plant biotechnology and genomics

  • Bunge North America - a leading developer and supplier of high-quality agricultural commodities and specialized food and feed ingredients to the global marketplace

  • Solae - a joint venture of DuPont and Bunge Limited that develops great tasting, nutritious soy-foods and ingredients for the global marketplace.

  • Divergence - a world leader in the application of genomics to parasitic and infectious disease in agriculture

  • Chlorogen- uses patented chloroplast technology to manufacture plant-made drugs and vaccines for the treatment and prevention of human diseases


Missouri is also a hub to leading agricultural associations like:

  • National Corn Growers Association - which advocates for its members in areas such as ethanol and co-products, biotechnology, research and business development, farm and rural development, and trade and transportation

  • American Soybean Association - which represents U.S. soybean farmers through policy advocacy and international market development

 
Global Leadership in Plant Science
Monsanto is the premier developer and supplier of agbiotech crops in the world. For its cutting edge R&D it was voted as one of the top 100 innovative companies in the world by Wired Magazine. A large share of its 17,000 employees call St. Louis home. The company continues to expand its operations in the state with the most recent addition its global data center (rendering pictured above) which is being constructed on the west side of its World Headquarters campus in Creve Coeur, Mo.