| class="wikitable sortable" border="1"
! Year !! Event type !! Details |
| 1901 | Company | Monsanto is founded in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1901 as a chemical company,[{{Cite news |url = http://www.genengnews.com/gen-articles/biotech-firms-need-innovation-strategies/5563/ |title=Biotech Firms Need Innovation Strategies |last = Glick |first=J. Leslie |date=September 1, 2015 |work=Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News |access-date=September 29, 2015 |page = 11}}{{Open access}}] by John Francis Queeny, a 30‑year veteran of the pharmaceutical industry. Its first products are commodity food additives, like the artificial sweetener saccharin, caffeine, and vanillin.[Erik Simani, World Resources Institute. 2001. [http://pdf.wri.org/bell/case_1-56973-475-5_full_version_a_english.pdf The Monsanto Company: Quest for Sustainability]]{{rp|6}}[{{cite web|title=Our history - Early years|url=http://www.monsanto.com/whoweare/Pages/monsanto-history.aspx|publisher=Monsanto official website|access-date=September 27, 2013}}][Marc S. Reisch for Chemical & Engineering News. January 12, 1998 [http://pubs.acs.org/cen/hotarticles/cenear/980112/coal.html From Coal Tar to Crafting a Wealth of Diversity]][Robert Ancuceanu. [http://practica-farmaceutica.medica.ro/reviste_med/download/practica_farmaceutica/2011.2/PF_Nr-2_2011_Art-1.pdf Saccharin – urban myths and scientific data] Practica Farmaceutică 2011 4(2):69-72][{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/sweetstuffameric0000warn |url-access=registration |title=Sweet Stuff: An American History of Sweeteners from Sugar to Sucralose | publisher=Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press |author=Warner, Deborah Jean |year=2011 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/sweetstuffameric0000warn/page/182 182]–190 |isbn=978-1-935623-05-2}}] |
| 1919 | Expansion | Monsanto expands into Europe in 1919 by entering a partnership with Graesser's Chemical Works at Cefn Mawr, near Ruabon Wales, to produce vanillin, aspirin and its raw ingredient salicylic acid. |
| 1929 | Company | Monsanto's shares go on sale at the New York Stock Exchange. |
| 1935 | Acquisitions | Monsanto acquires the Swann Chemical Company in Anniston, Alabama, entering the business of producing PCBs on an industrial scale.[Robin, Marie-Monique, The World According to Monsanto: Pollution, Corruption, and the Control of the World's Food Supply New Press, 2009, {{ISBN|1-59558-426-9}}][{{cite web|title=Poisoned By PCBs: "A Lack of Control"|url=http://www.chemicalindustryarchives.org/dirtysecrets/anniston/2.asp|website=Chemical Industry Archives|access-date=30 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151210110457/http://www.chemicalindustryarchives.org/dirtysecrets/anniston/2.asp|archive-date=10 December 2015}}][{{cite journal|last1=Head|first1=Thomas R. III|title=PCBs—The Rise and Fall of an Industrial Miracle|journal=Natural Resources & Environment|date=Spring 2005|page=18|url=http://www.americanbar.org/tools/digitalassetabstract.html/content/dam/aba/publishing/natural_resources_environment/environ_mo_premium_nr_nre_spring05_Head.pdf|access-date=30 November 2015}}][{{cite web|last1=Montague|first1=Peter|title=How We Got Here -- Part 1: The History of Chlorinated Diphenyl (PCB's)|url=http://www.hudsonwatch.net/rachels01.html|website=HudsonWatch.net}}] |
| 1936 | Acquisitions | Monsanto acquires the Thomas & Hochwalt Laboratories in Dayton, Ohio, in order to acquire the expertise of Charles Allen Thomas and Dr. Carroll A. ("Ted") Hochwalt. The acquisition was subsequently made Monsanto's Central Research Department.[Ralph Landau, [http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=4548&page=338 "Charles Allen Thomas," Memorial Tributes], vol. 2, National Academy of Engineering]{{rp|340–341}} |
| 1940s (early) | Products | Monsanto becomes one of the world's leading manufacturers in both rubber and plastics (like polystyrene). |
| 1944 | Products | Monsanto begins manufacturing DDT. |
| 1945 | Products | Monsanto starts producing and markets agricultural chemicals, including 2,4-D. These eventually become what the company is known for.[{{cite web |url=http://www.monsanto.com/whoweare/pages/monsanto-history.aspx |title=Company History |newspaper=Monsanto.com |access-date= August 14, 2016}}] |
| 1946 | Products | Monsanto develops and markets the "All" laundry detergent until they sell the product line to Lever Brothers in 1957.[{{cite magazine |author= |date=September 15, 2003 |url=http://adage.com/article/adage-encyclopedia/unilever-lever-brothers/98749/ |title=Unilever (Lever Brothers Co.) |magazine=AdAge |access-date=January 13, 2025}}] |
| 1952 | Products | Monsanto (a major manufacturer of 2,4,5-T) informs the U.S. government that its 2,4,5-T is contaminated.[Schuck, 1987: [https://archive.org/details/agentorangeontri00schu/page/17 p. 17]] |
| 1961 | Products | President Kennedy authorizes the use of the Rainbow Herbicide defoliants in the Vietnam War – many of which are manufactured by Monsanto. This includes Agent Orange, which is applied starting in 1965. These are used until 1971. |
| 1960s (mid) | Products | William Standish Knowles and his team (at Monsanto) invent a way to selectively synthesize enantiomers via asymmetric hydrogenation. This was an important advancement because it was the first method for the catalytic production of pure chiral compounds.[William S. Knowles. [https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2001/knowles-lecture.pdf ASYMMETRIC HYDROGENATIONS]. Nobel Lecture, December 8, 2001] |
| 1968 | Products | Monsanto becomes the first company to start mass production of (visible) light emitting diodes (LEDs), using gallium arsenide phosphide, ushering in the era of solid-state lights.[{{Cite book|author=E. Fred Schubert|title=Light-Emitting Diodes|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2003|chapter=1|isbn=978-0-8194-3956-7}}] Monsanto was a pioneer of optoelectronics in the 1970s. |
| 1970 | Legal | The United States Department of Agriculture halts the use of 2,4,5-T (manufactured by Monsanto) on all food crops except rice. |
| 1972 | Products | DDT is banned under most circumstances. |
| 1974 | Products | Harvard University and Monsanto sign a ten-year industrial-funded research grant to support the cancer research of Judah Folkman.[Patricia K Donahoe. [http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/folkman-judah.pdf Judah Folkman: 1933–2008. A Biographical Memoir] National Academy of Sciences, 2014][Harvard Medical School [http://www.fa.hms.harvard.edu/about-our-faculty/memorial-minutes/f/judah-folkman/ Bio at Harvard Medical School]] |
| 1974 | Products | Monsanto puts up Roundup, or glyphosate, on the market. Glyphosate becomes one of the most commonly used herbicides. |
| 1977 | Products | Monsanto stops producing Polychlorinated biphenyls. |
| 1979 | Products | Monsanto strikes a deal with Genentech in 1979 to license Genentech's patents and collaborate on development of a recombinant version of Bovine somatotropin. |
| 1980 | Legal | The first US Agent Orange class-action lawsuit us filed for the injuries military personnel in Vietnam suffered through exposure to dioxin in the defoliant.[{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1347&dat=19800125&id=ZdMSAAAAIBAJ&sjid=0_oDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5065,3012612 |title=Dying Veteran May Speak From Beyond The Grave In Court: Lakeland Ledger |date=1980-01-25 |access-date=2012-07-07}}] The suit is settled in 1984, with slightly over 45% of the sum paid by Monsanto alone. |
| 1983 | Products | Monsanto is one of four groups announcing the introduction of genes into plants in 1983.[{{cite web|url=http://www.vib.be/en/about-vib/plant-biotech-news/Pages/The-race-towards-the-first-genetically-modified-plant.aspx|title=The race towards the first genetically modified plant|publisher=Plant Biotech News|date=19 June 2013}}] |
| 1984 | Legal | The trial of Kemner vs. Monsanto (one of the Monsanto legal cases) opens in Illinois.[{{cite web|url=http://www.leagle.com/xmlResult.aspx?xmldoc=19911722576NE2d1146_11573.xml&docbase=CSLWAR2-1986-2006 |title=KEMNER v. MONSANTO CO. – July 22, 1991 |publisher=Leagle.com}}] |
| 1985 | Acquisitions | Monsanto purchases G. D. Searle & Company for $2.7 billion in cash.[[https://www.nytimes.com/1985/07/19/business/monsanto-to-acquire-g-d-searle.html Monsanto To Acquire G. D. Searle]. NYTimes.com (July 19, 1985).][[https://www.chicagotribune.com/1986/06/30/buying-searle-a-healthy-move-for-monsanto/ Buying Searle A Healthy Move For Monsanto – Chicago Tribune]. Articles.chicagotribune.com (June 30, 1986).] |
| 1986 | Products | Monsanto sells its American-based commodity plastics, or polystyrene, business to Polysar Ltd., a Canadian petrochemical company.[{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/05/17/business/monsanto-to-sell-plastics-segment.html |title=Monsanto to Sell Plastics Segment |newspaper=The New York Times |date= May 17, 1986 |access-date= August 14, 2016|last1=Times |first1=Special to the New York }}] |
| 1993 | Products | Monsanto's Searle division files a patent application for Celebrex.[[http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cder/ob/docs/patexclnew.cfm?Appl_No=020998&Product_No=003&table1=OB_Rx Orange Book: Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic Equivalence Evaluations]. accessdata.fda.gov][{{cite web|url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US5466823 |title=Patent US5466823 – Substituted pyrazolyl benzenesulfonamides – Google Patents}}] |
| 1994 | Products | Monsanto introduces a recombinant version of bovine somatotropin, brand-named Posilac.[{{cite web | url = http://www.monsantodairy.com/about/general_info/index.html | title = General information – Posilac| year = 2007 | publisher = Monsanto | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080101123956/http://www.monsantodairy.com/about/general_info/index.html| archive-date = January 1, 2008}}] |
| 1995 | Products | Monsanto's potato plants producing Bt toxin (genetically modified to make a crystalline insecticidal protein from Bacillus thuringiensis) are approved for sale by the Environmental Protection Agency, after having approved by the U.S. FDA, making it the first pesticide-producing genetically modified crop to be approved in the United States.[[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=A0YyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=jOYFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4631,1776980&dq=bacillus+thuringiensis+potato+1996+approved&hl= Genetically Altered Potato Ok'd For Crops]
]Lawrence Journal-World, May 6, 1995. |
| 1996 | Products | Monsanto introduces genetically modified Roundup Ready soybeans that are resistant to Roundup (greatly improving a farmer's ability to control weeds, since glyphosate could be sprayed in the fields without harming their crops).[{{cite web |url=http://web.mit.edu/demoscience/Monsanto/players.html |title=The Roundup Ready Controversy |newspaper=Web.mit.edu |access-date= August 14, 2016}}] |
| 1996 | Acquisitions | Monsanto acquires Agracetus, the biotechnology company that had generated the first transgenic varieties of cotton, soybeans, peanuts, and other crops, and from which Monsanto had been licensing technology since 1991.[{{Cite press release|title = WR Grace Sells Agracetus to Monsanto for $150M|url = http://www.biotechprofiles.com/companyfiles/madisonnetwork/c81a944349224f0984a586f89719edb6.pdf|date = April 8, 1996|publisher = W. R. Grace|via = BiotechProfiles}}] |
| 1997 | Divisions | Monsanto spins off its industrial chemical and fiber divisions into Solutia.[[https://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/10/business/monsanto-chooses-a-spinoff-of-its-chemical-operations.html?ref=monsantocompany Monsanto Chooses a Spinoff Of Its Chemical Operations – New York Times]. Nytimes.com (December 10, 1996).] This marks the beginning of its pivot from chemical businesses into biotechnology. |
| 1998 | Products | Monsanto introduces genetically modified Roundup Ready corn that is resistant to Roundup. |
| 1999 | Corporation | Monsanto merges with Pharmacia and Upjohn, |
| 2000 | Corporation | Pharmacia spins off its Monsanto subsidiary into a new company,[{{cite news |title = Monsanto Raises $700 Million in IPO|date = October 18, 2000|url = https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-oct-18-fi-38228-story.html|work = Los Angeles Times|agency = Bloomberg News}}] The "new Monsanto" is legally distinct from the old pre-2000 Monsanto. |
| 2000 | Competition | Syngenta is formed in 2000 by the merger of Novartis Agribusiness and Zeneca Agrochemicals.[Andrew Ross Sorkin for the New York Times. 3 December 1999 [https://www.nytimes.com/1999/12/03/business/international-business-astrazeneca-and-novartis-to-shed-agricultural-units.html AstraZeneca and Novartis To Shed Agricultural Units] Accessed 27 May 2013][Staff, PRNewsWire. 13 November 2000. [http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Syngenta+Begins+Trading+on+the+New+York+Stock+Exchange.-a066871612 Syngenta Begins Trading on the New York Stock Exchange] Accessed 27 May 2013] By 2009, it ranks third in seeds and biotechnology sales.[{{cite web |url=http://www.seedsavers.org/site/pdf/HeritageFarmCompanion_BigSix.pdf|title=The Big Six: A Profile of Corporate Power in Seeds, Agrochemicals & Biotech |last=Shand |first=Hope |publisher=The Heritage Farm Companion|date=Summer 2012 |access-date=31 May 2013}}] |
| 2007 | Acquisitions | Monsanto purchases Delta & Pine Land Company, a major cotton seed breeder, for $1.5 billion.[{{cite web | title = Monsanto Company Completes Acquisition of Delta and Pine Land Company, Seeks Approval of Related Divestitures | date = June 1, 2007 | url = http://news.thomasnet.com/companystory/524921}}] As a condition for approval from the Department of Justice, Monsanto was obligated to divest its Stoneville cotton business, which it sold to Bayer, and to divest its NexGen cotton business, which it sold to Americot.[{{cite web|url=http://www.hpj.com/archives/2007/jun07/jun11/Monsantoreachesagreementwit.cfm |title=Monsanto reaches agreement with Department of Justice to acqui |publisher=Hpj.com |date= June 7, 2007}}] Monsanto also exited the pig breeding business by selling Monsanto Choice Genetics to Newsham Genetics LC in November, divesting itself of "any and all swine-related patents, patent applications, and all other intellectual property".[Richard Twine. [https://books.google.com/books?id=C6osZJLbJ3cC&dq=%22monsanto+pig+patent%22&pg=PA108 Animals as Biotechnology: Ethics, Sustainability and Critical Animal Studies]. Earthscan, 2010 {{ISBN|978-1-84977-635-6}}]{{rp|108}} |
| 2013 | Acquisitions | Monsanto purchases the San Francisco-based Climate Corporation for $930 million.[{{cite news | title=Monsanto posts deeper fourth-quarter loss, unveils acquisition | url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-monsanto-results-idUSBRE9910J520131002 | work=Reuters | date=2 October 2013 | author=Gillam, Carey }}] Climate Corporation makes more accurate local weather forecasts for farmers based on data modeling and historical data; if the forecasts were wrong, the farmer was recompensed.[Vance, Ashlee (2 October 2013) [https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20140224185238/http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-10-02/monsanto-buys-climate-corporation-for-930-million-bringing-big-data-to-the-farm Monsanto's Billion-Dollar Bet Brings Big Data to the Farm] Bloomberg Business Week, Technology, Retrieved 16 July 2014] |
| 2013 | Public | The March Against Monsanto, a worldwide protest against Monsanto and GMOs takes place.[Associated Press. May 25, 2013, [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/25/march-against-monsanto-gmo-protest_n_3336627.html?ncid=txtlnkushpmg00000029&ir=Business Protesters Rally Against U.S. Seed Giant And GMO Products]. The Huffington Post. Retrieved May 25, 2013.] |
| 2015 | Products | Monsanto rolls out seeds engineered with new herbicide resistance, releasing dicamba-resistant cotton. |
| 2016 | Acquisitions | Bayer acquires Monsanto for 63 billion dollars.[{{Cite web |date=September 2018 |title=Bayer completes biggest acquisition in its history |url=https://www.bayer.com/media/en-us/bayer-completes-biggest-acquisition-in-its-history/}}] |
| 2016 | Products | Monsanto buys a license from Broad Institute of Harvard University and MIT to use the CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing technology.[{{cite web |url=http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/47123/title/Monsanto-Buys-Rights-to-CRISPR/ |title=Monsanto Buys Rights to CRISPR |newspaper=The-scientist.com |access-date= October 3, 2016}}] |