BASF and Monsanto Co. said Wednesday that they are expanding their joint efforts to develop higher-yielding and stress-tolerant crops to include wheat and may add more than $1 billion to those efforts.   Read More...

Corn Products International has agreed to buy the starches arm of Dutch paintmaker Akzo Nobel N.V. for around $1.3 billion.   Read More...

Mosaic Co. is in talks to acquire Mexican fertilizer company Grupo Fertinal SA in a deal that could be worth up to $1 billion, people familiar with the matter said.   Read More...

Pioneer Hi-Bred said Wednesday that it has agreements to buy NuTech Seed of Ames and two other seed companies, AgVenture of Kentland, Ind., and Hoegemeyer Hybrids of Hooper, Neb.   Read More...

Monsanto Co. said Wednesday it granted a new royalty-bearing, Roundup Ready 2 Yield license to Dow AgroSciences for genetically modified soybean seeds.   Read More...

Novus International Inc. said Tuesday it acquired several food and feed pigment and ingredient companies in Spain and Mexico for an undisclosed amount.   Read More...

Dow Chemical Co. plans to add a gene to its corn, cotton and soybean seeds that will allow farmers to use a second herbicide to control weeds not killed by Monsanto ’s Roundup herbicide, Bloomberg News reports.   Read More...

The Coca-Cola Company confirmed Thursday morning that it had agreed to acquire the North American operations of its largest bottler, reversing a 24-year-old strategy of keeping its bottling operations separate from its main soft-drink business.   Read More...

The Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce says Kraft Foods Inc. plans to invest $9 million in two new manufacturing lines in the Springfield area.   Read More...

Norwegian fertilizer company Yara International ASA said Monday it has agreed to acquire U.S. competitor Terra Industries Inc. for $4.1 billion.   Read More...

St. Louis biotech firm Divergence Inc. said Tuesday it received two Small Business Innovation Research grants totaling $500,000, along with renewed funding from the National Corn Growers Association, to support its work to prevent crop damage from parasites.   Read More...

The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and EnviroLogix Inc., a company that develops and manufactures lab-based agricultural diagnostics, said Tuesday they will partner to create technologies that increase nutrients in local crops as one of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Grand Challenges in Global Health.   Read More...

Sure, some delicacies might taste just like chicken, but they usually feel and look much different. Soy meat alternatives, such as the soy burger, have become more popular recently, with increased sales of eight percent from 2007 to 2008. Now, scientists at the University of Missouri have created a soy substitute for chicken that is much like the real thing. The new soy chicken also has health benefits, including lowering cholesterol and maintaining healthy bones.   Read More...

Nestle took a big step up in the frozen pizza sector on Jan. 5, saying it had bought Kraft Foods' pizza units in the U.S.and Canada for $3.7 billion.   Read More...

Specialty food maker TreeHouse Foods Inc. agreed to buy health food products maker Sturm Foods from private equity firm HM Capital Partners for $660 million to strengthen its private label presence in the hot cereal and powdered soft drink mix categories.   Read More...

Novus International Inc. plans to buy the animal nutrition division of Albion Laboratories Inc. in Clearfield, Utah.

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A team of scientists led by researchers at The Genome Center at Washington University have sequenced the entire gene map of corn, helping unravel the basic biology of the nation's largest crop and providing information that could lead to key developments for corn growers.   Read More...

The University of Missouri’s agricultural education program ranks fourth out of 82 universities offering similar degrees, according to a recent study.   Read More...

Missouri's corn and soybean crops have received plenty of attention for their expected bumper yields.   Read More...

Ice cream swooshes out of metal nozzles and swirls into 38,000 "party pails" per day here, one of many ways Kroger Co. is using its massive manufacturing capability to feed growing demand for low-priced store brands.   Read More...