Strata + Hadoop World 2012: Taming the Elephant - Learn how Monsanto manages their Hadoop clusters to enable Genome/Sequence processing

Editor's Notes

• #5: Monsanto is a St. Louis-based agricultural company with one goal in mind – produce more food, fiber and fuel using less inputs like water and land, while improving the lives of the people around the world that benefit from our technology.Monsanto utilizes a systems approach to improving upon today’s agricultural offerings – Breeding, Biotechnology, and Advanced Agronomic Practices These three facets of our approach help farmers improve productivity, reduce the costs of farming, and grow better foods for consumers and better feed for animals.We’re proud to have customers of all kinds; from large-acre, technology-driven row-crop farmers in Central Illinois all the way to farmers with very small landholdings who are just beginning to realize the benefits of modern agriculture in Africa.
• #6: Sustainably increasing yield, while more efficiently using inputs and resources, requires every tool at farmers’ disposal. At Monsanto, we’re focused on three pillars for driving yield: breeding, biotechnology and improved agronomic practices. All three are required to meet our goals.Basics of Breeding Breeding, a technique that has been practiced by farmers for thousands of years, involves bringing together two parent plants to produce a new offspring that contains a mixture of parent characteristics. Monsanto has assembled a pool of elite seed genetics (germplasm) from around the world, and we use cutting-edge technology to help us more quickly, efficiently and accurately find desired traits for breeding. Our primary method is using genetic analysis – mapping the DNA of plants – to identify seeds with traits we want, such as improved yield, disease resistance, suitability for a particular climate, and in the case of vegetables better taste and nutrition.Basics of Biotechnology Biotechnology is the process of inserting a gene from one species, like a plant or a bacterium, into another species. We use biotechnology to give plants desirable characteristics (or traits) that often cannot be developed through breeding practices. The traits we develop help farmers produce more of their crop, reduce costs and conserve resources. Examples of these traits would be herbicide tolerance, insect-resistance and drought-tolerance. We also are working to develop traits that will benefit consumers, such as soybeans that produce healthier oils.Basics of AgronomicsAgronomic practices are steps farmers incorporate into their farm management systems to improve soil quality, enhance water use, manage crop residue and improve the environment through better fertilizer management. These steps not only improve a farmer’s bottom line by decreasing input costs, but also improve the environment by decreasing water use and over-fertilization. Improved agronomics cover a broad range of practices, suitable for any type of farm. For example, a high-tech, high productivity grower may use GPS and computer systems to automate planting for optimal row spacing and varying inputs acre by acre, to produce more and conserve more. A subsistence farmer can see significant benefits by learning about input management and optimal plant spacing to reduce costs and improve yield. Conservation tillage is a broadly applicable technique that preserves topsoil and locks in moisture.