Monsanto (MON) is a name I've had on the radar a long while, as part of the global agriculture boom. [Oct 9: Looking Ahead to Monsanto] It has always been deemed 'expensive' but frankly due to it's scarcity value (only one relative true peer in Syngenta (SYT)) it will probably trade at a premium for a long while. The trick for a stock like this is it must be bought during a serious market swoon, i.e. mid March to get a price that can create comparable upside to some other ideas in the fund.

First let's quickly point out the company has come out with a reiteration last week of guidance to double gross profit by 2012

• Monsanto says it still expects its gross profit to more than double by 2012 by increasing productivity and yields to farmers.
• In 2007, the company's gross profit was $4.29 billion. If the company can double that number, its gross profit will reach about $8.5 billion by 2012. Gross profit is the difference between income and the expenses directly attributed to it.

Now on to some commentary today by the company to double yields by 2030 (again we need breakthroughs left and right across agriculture and energy to compensate for a new batch of 2.5 billion humans set to join us by 2050)

• Monsanto Co. Chief Executive Hugh Grant set a bold goal for the company on Wednesday, promising to develop by 2030 new strains of corn, soybeans and cotton that can yield twice as much grain and fiber per-acre while consuming just two-thirds the water.
• A key part of realizing the goal is breeding crops that need less water to survive, he said. (for those readers who were not around in the fall - i.e. most of you - I had maintained then that in the future wars between countries will be fought over fresh water, not oil... err weapons of mass destruction - that will be the ultimate shortage; the one truly non negotiable factor in human life)
• While grain yields have been relatively flat over the last decade, its possible they could double over the next 22 years, said Michael Aide, chair of the Southeast Missouri State University Department of Agriculture. Farmers in southeast Missouri, for example, can grow about 200 bushels of corn per acre, far more than double what they could grow during World War II, he said. Over the last 60 years, yield increases have come in big jumps when new technologies like artificial fertilizer were introduced.