Monsanto Monsanto The Monsanto Company () was an American agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation that existed from 1901 until 2018 when it was acquired by Bayer. It was headquartered in Creve Coeur, Missouri. Monsanto developed Roundup, a glyphosate-based herbicide in the 1970s, and became a major producer of genetically engineered crops. Monsanto was one of four groups to introduce genes into plants (1983), and was among the first to conduct field trials of genetically modified crops, (1987). It was one of the top 10 U.S. chemical companies until it divested most of its chemical businesses between 1997 and 2002, through a
Monsanto was the first method for the catalytic production of pure chiral compounds. Knowles' team designed the "first industrial process to chirally synthesize an important compound"—L‑dopa, which is used to treat Parkinson's disease. In 2001, Knowles and Ryōji Noyori won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. In the mid-1960s, chemists at Monsanto developed the Monsanto process for making acetic acid, which until 2000 was the most widely used production method. In 1964, Monsanto chemists invented AstroTurf (initially ChemGrass). In the 1960s and 1970s, Monsanto was a producer of Agent Orange for United States Armed Forces operations in Vietnam, and settled out of