Monsanto to sales and distribution facilities in 51 countries. In 2005, it finalized the purchase of Seminis Inc, a leading global vegetable and fruit seed company, for $1.4 billion. This made it the world's largest conventional seed company. In 1999 Monsanto sold off NutraSweet Co. In December of the same year, Monsanto agreed to merge with Pharmacia & Upjohn, in a deal valuing the transaction at $27 billion. The agricultural division became a wholly owned subsidiary of the "new" Pharmacia; Monsanto's medical research division, which included products such as Celebrex. In 2000: Pharmacia spun off its agro-biotech subsidiary into a new
Monsanto of 2004 about 150,000 small farmers had left the countryside; including 50% as of 2009 in the Chaco region. "The Guardian" reported that a Monsanto representative had said, "any problems with GM soya were to do with use of the crop as a monoculture, not because it was GM. If you grow any crop to the exclusion of any other you are bound to get problems." In 2005 and 2006, Monsanto attempted to enforce its patents on soymeal imported into Spain from Argentina by having Spanish customs officials seize the soymeal shipments. This has been an attempt made by Monsanto