Categorized | Education

Monsanto funds education, research at UH

MEDIA RELEASE

The College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (CTAHR), at the University of Hawaii at Manoa has received $500,000 from Monsanto Company to establish the Monsanto Research Fellows Fund.

The fund will assist graduate students pursuing a Masters or Ph.D. degree and post doctoral researchers at the College related to the study of plant science and protection.

“We are very grateful to Monsanto Company for its generous financial support of CTAHR students engaged in agricultural research – Hawaii’s future leaders of sustainable industries and a strong, diversified economy,” said UH Manoa Chancellor Virginia S. Hinshaw.

The goal of the new fund is to enable eligible students to enhance their educational and professional development through fellowship programs, including financial support for student research and participation in national professional conferences.

“We are deeply appreciative of Monsanto’s investment in our college and students,” said Dr. Sylvia Yuen, CTAHR’s interim dean. “Because of workforce shortages, there is a critical need to educate the next generation of researchers preparing to tackle the difficult problem of producing more food on less land in a sustainable way, using less water and energy, to feed a growing population. This gift will allow CTAHR to attract the best and brightest young people to engage in this important work.”

This gift is part of the Monsanto Fellows in Plant Breeding Program, designed to prepare students for successful careers in plant breeding and encourage the development of future leaders in the agricultural industry.

Monsanto additionally supports higher education in Hawaii through internships, scholarships, facility tours and contributions toward various educational programs.

“Many leaders and agricultural experts – including Governor Abercrombie, Chair Kokubun of the Hawaii Department of Agriculture, and the Hawaii Farm Bureau – have expressed how vital it is for Hawaii’s agricultural industry to be strong and vibrant, not just today, but tomorrow and beyond as well,” said Fred Perlak, Ph.D., vice president of research and business operations for Monsanto in Hawaii. “This gift to CTAHR is an effort to do our part toward contributing to this greater goal.”

The College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (CTAHR) is committed to the preparation of students and all citizens of Hawaii for life in the global community through research and educational programs supporting tropical agricultural systems that foster viable communities, a diversified economy, and a healthy environment. CTAHR actively helps Hawaii diversify its economy, ensure a sustainable environment, and strengthen its communities, and serves as the premier resource for tropical agricultural systems and natural resource management in the Asia-Pacific region.

The University of Hawaii at Manoa serves approximately 20,000 students pursuing more than 225 different degrees. Coming from every Hawaiian island, every state in the nation, and more than 100 countries, UH Manoa students matriculate in an enriching environment for the global exchange of ideas.

The University of Hawaii Foundation, a nonprofit organization, raises private funds to support the University of Hawaii System. Our mission is to unite our donors’ passions with the University of Hawaii’s aspirations to benefit the people of Hawaii and beyond. We do this by raising private philanthropic support, managing private investments and nurturing donor and alumni relationships.

Monsanto Company is a leading global provider of technology-based solutions and agricultural products that improve farm productivity and food quality. Monsanto remains focused on enabling both small-holder and large-scale farmers to produce more from their land while conserving more of our world’s natural resources such as water and energy.

— Find out more:
www.uhfoundation.org
www.ctahr.hawaii.edu
http://manoa.hawaii.edu
www.uhfoundation.org
www.monsanto.com

6 Responses to “Monsanto funds education, research at UH”

  1. Geoff Shaw says:

    The university should not be accepting this blood money. A state run institution should not allow any corporation to influence its research and we would all have to be idiots to assume that a gift of this size does not come with strings attached. We should be writing the Chancellor and the Governor to inform them that the citizens of Hawaii do not appreciate this type of corporate pandering to create the illusion that their intentions are honorable. Monsanto’s only intention is to create an agriculture based monopoly so they can poison the planet.

  2. Miles says:

    “Monsanto Company is a leading global provider of technology-based solutions and agricultural products that improve farm productivity and food quality. Monsanto remains focused on enabling both small-holder and large-scale farmers to produce more from their land while conserving more of our world’s natural resources such as water and energy.”

    Hawaii 24/7, I advise you to do some research on these claims before including such propaganda in your web content.

  3. justin doing says:

    over 300,000 east indian farmers have committed suicide because of what monsanto did to them in in india when their crops failed. Why have they not done anything about this if they are trying to help the planet? My aunt went around giving out flyers to people telling about the dangers of gmo food, and shortly thereafter had monsanto following her around in a van. And why does monsanto seem to want to buy everything? All the organic farms, not just 50/50. They seem to want take everything. Gmo food is illegal in europe and africa because of what they have seen it do to India. Genetically altered food has serious consequensces. Have you looked or talked to some of the people who promote this kind of food? They don’t look very healthy to me. Round up is not something you would drink, so why put it on your plants? Their is other natural ways to prevent pest that work. This is the same company that told us Agent orange was same? Please wake up hawaii, and america, we are better than this.

  4. Joachim says:

    Ever told your kid when inquiring about a meal, to just eat it? Didn’t work out so well, did it? That’s what the GMO industry tells the consumer effectively. Humans don’t work that way. Anthropologists and psychologists can easily explain why this instinctive reaction helped us to survive through the ages. Same reason why we buy an over processed, chemically contaminated, artificially colored and sweetened piece of peach but with a wholesome, appealing illustration on the label.

    In the absence of a very, very expensive educational consumer campaign to explain GMOs, the consumer will always reject GMO products out of pure instinct. The sneaky lobbying of the GMO industry not to have to label their products will backfire because consumers fall for conspiracies in the absence of easy available advertising. Yet the GMO industry rather sees conspiracies themselves, where they actually have a disastrous marketing problem.

    Science is not the enemy and backyard food production is not an answer either. Organic farms ignoring i.e. e-coli procedures are a growing concern. This is not a battle of science vs. activism, but a marketing issue. You may call it ‘childish’ but you better sit in some focus groups to understand why simplifications of a complicated topic are needed. Running a corporation in the hope of cornering food production and purely securing it by lobbying politicians is shoddy marketing. Then sending scientists into the pits to hash it out on ethical principles with political activists is lunacy.

    Never underestimate the customer. Never underestimate the power of their pocket book. As corporate scientists (or scientist in universities sponsored by corporations) you lost the academic comfort zone. You may get a bigger car, a shinier lab but you’re exposed to a brutal world unknown to you. The ever shifting finicky deceitful retail universe, full with human fears, needs and desires, driven by anonymous corporations. Where the PR department handles ethical concerns and anonymous shareholders elect the boards.

    $750 mil settlement of BAYER with U.S. rice farmers for GMO contamination announced a few weeks ago: Do you have any idea what this does to the wholesale buyers of rice in those affected regions? To how the wholesale food factories shift their storing, buying habits? To supermarket chain buyers of how they stock rice products? And that’s just damage control. The purchase for next quarter will be adjusted preemptively, and people will lose jobs and funding and income all along the supply chain. Welcome to the new world of retail food, goodbye to the academic freedom of science.

    BioTech has to understand consumer psychology as much as the genetic traits of an organism to succeed. Consumers don’t try to decipher numbers on a label. They think childish. But when you fool them, they’ll punish you harshly.

    It is economical suicide for a farmer to bet the business on GMO! That would mean to build a company on consumer deception and hoping that GMO lobbyists are always succeeding with our politicians.

  5. Randy says:

    …and the evil spreads! I just read another article, where 50 high school grads were awarded scholarships in the agricultural field, in Canada (to push Monsanto GMOs). I’ve been trying to tell people for two years, that within a few more years, there’ll be no real food left. I REFUSE TO EAT GMOS!

  6. Dalani says:

    Watch this movie and learn more about Monsantos continuing push for agribiz world domination
    http://www.thefutureoffood.com/

    If you thought the movie “The Matirx” was fantasy, open your eyes and see the world as it is, and as about 6 global companies are trying to make it…

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