News Release
07-08-08
Contacts:
Stephen Howell, Plant Sciences Institute, (515) 294-5252,
Meg Gordon, Plant Sciences Institute Communications, (515) 294-3945,
Dan Kuester, News Service, (515) 294-0704,
The Plant Sciences Institute at Iowa State Welcomes New Board Member
AMES, Iowa - The Plant Sciences Institute welcomes Theodore M. Crosbie, vice president of global plant breeding for Monsanto Company, to its board.
Crosbie joins a distinguished group of university and corporate advisors that help shape and direct institute goals.
``We are proud to have Crosbie, who is both a corporate and a state leader, join the board,'' says Stephen Howell, director of the Plant Sciences Institute. ``He is an Iowa State alumnus, and has been recognized repeatedly for his outstanding contributions to production agriculture and agricultural business.''
Central to the institute's mission of providing farmers with the proper tools for maximum productivity is a commitment to help global and local agriculture meet the ever-escalating demands for food, feed and fuel by advancing innovative plant breeding.
Monsanto breeding research teams supply more than 1,000 commercial varieties and hybrids each year to farmers around the world. In the United States, the company focuses on commercial production of three crops - corn, soybean, and cotton but offers high value seeds in vegetables to other areas.
Crosbie, in his role at Monsanto, has responsibility for hundreds of employees in 25 countries. The Global Plant Breeding Group is one of the largest research departments within Monsanto.
In Iowa, Crosbie, who was born and raised on a northwest Iowa farm has been instrumental in gaining financial support for research in biotechnology. He was one of the leaders who successfully campaigned for the $30.5 million Molecular Biology Building at Iowa State, which was built in 1991.
The Plant Sciences Institute is committed to enhancing the value of Iowa crops by enabling fundamental scientific research in plant sciences that lead to biotechnological improvement to crop quality and productivity.
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