Monsanto Announces Commitment to Help Monarch Butterflies

Monarch populations have fluctuated in recent years due to many challenges, such as climate change, habitat loss and a decline in milkweed. On March 31, Monsanto and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) announced a partnership to support the Foundation’s Monarch Butterfly Conservation Fund. Monsanto will provide $3.6 million over three years to support monarch habitat restoration, education, outreach and milkweed seed and plant production. NFWF will leverage these funds to solicit matching commitments from public and private sector donor organizations. We all know that it will take a substantial commitment and that additional funding from multiple sectors will be needed to help drive habitat improvement and expansion and achieve a resilient monarch population. In addition, Monsanto will provide $400,000 in grants to Monarch Watch at the University of Kansas, the Iowa Monarch Conservation Consortium, Pheasants Forever, the University of Guelph (Ontario, Canada), and the University of Illinois at Chicago, all of which are working on research, education and habitat restoration initiatives. These funds will support both immediate and longer term programs. We plan to fund additional efforts in 2016 and beyond. Monsanto also will apply our advanced technologies in data science and seed development, manufacturing, and distribution to advance knowledge and improve the capacity and speed of delivery of habitat restoration programs. We also plan to build permanent monarch and pollinator habitats at 70 Monsanto sites. More information on Monsanto's efforts to protect biodiversity is available on Discover.Monsanto.com.