Monsanto Company (MON) has signed a long-term supply contract with Air Products (APD), the leading global hydrogen provider. According to the contract, Air Products will build a new world-scale hydrogen production plant to be located at Monsanto's Luling, Louisiana, Roundup facility. The new hydrogen plant is scheduled to be on-stream in Jan 2012.  Air Products will build a steam methane reformer (SMR) producing over 100 million standard cubic feet per day (MMSCFD) of hydrogen. The SMR will be connected to Air Products' East Gulf Coast pipeline network, which supplies refineries with hydrogen needed to make cleaner burning transportation fuels, in addition to meeting the hydrogen needs of the local petrochemical industry. In addition, the facility will produce additional hydrogen via a clean-up of a hydrogen-rich off-gas feed coming from Monsanto. Monsanto will use steam from Air Products' SMR process to benefit its Roundup production plant. ...

China’s January exports fell 17.5%, the fastest pace in nearly 13 years and worse than most preliminary forecasts.

Shipments to the United States fell 9.8%. And exports to China’s largest trading partner, the European Union, fell 17.4%. China exports fell a slight 2.8% in December.

China imports also plunged 43.1% in January, nearly double December’s drop, and further stretching China’s $39.1 billion trade surplus and salting tensions between their many trading partners – most of whom are under severe economic duress.

“It’s a very eye-catching trade surplus and people will ask how it can be so high at a time that everybody else’s economy is suffering,” Dariusz Kowalczyk, chief investment strategist at SJS Markets Ltd in Hong Kong, told Bloomberg. “What’s happening here is really dramatic, underscoring plunging global demand.”…

Monsanto Co. (MON) recently declared a quarterly dividend of 24 cents per share. The company noted that the dividend is payable on January 30 to shareowners of record on January 9. The dividend translates into a yield of 1.3%, which is better than the industry average.

< ?DART(15);?> Company Description

Monsanto Company is a leading global provider of technology-based solutions and agricultural products that improve farm productivity and food quality.

Rewarding Shareholders with Solid Income

The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of 24 cents per share. Monsanto noted that the dividend is payable on January 30 to shareowners of record on January 9. The dividend translates into a yield of 1.3%, which is better than the industry average.

Record results in the Fourth Quarter

Monsanto announced record net sales of $2 billion for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008, a 35% increase from last year. MON noted that key drivers for the quarter

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Headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, J. Alexander’s Corporation is a contemporary American restaurant focusing on food quality and professional service. They are a NASDAQ-traded company that positions themselves between the heavily-themed casual dining restaurant venue and the fine-dining, white-tablecloth dinner houses. Their first restaurant opened in Nashville in 1991.

The company focuses their expansion efforts in areas that have a metropolitan population of 1.5 million or more. They look for locations in affluent upscale areas that are near high-end retailers. Their desire is not to expand for the sake of expansion, but instead to open unique restaurants of quality in well-chosen locations. Therefore, they have modest expansion plans. They do not want to be a cookie-cutter “chain” and compromise their food and service quality.

J. Alexander’s is an upscale restaurant known for their wood-fired cuisine. The company operates thirty J. Alexander’s restaurants in Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan,

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Monsanto Company (MON) recently announced its expansion of a joint venture with China National Seed Group Corp. The joint venture provides corn seed to Chinese farmers. In early August, Monsanto declared a quarterly dividend of 24 cents per share, which is payable on October 24, 2008, to shareowners of record on October 3, 2008.

Company Description

Monsanto Company is a leading global provider of technology-based solutions and agricultural products that improve farm productivity and food quality.

Growth Through Expansion

The company just announced its expansion of a joint venture with China National Seed Group Corp. The joint venture provides corn seed to Chinese farmers.

Under the deal, China Seed, a subsidiary of Sinochem Corp., and Monsanto Far East Ltd., a Monsanto subsidiary, will increase their investment in CNSGC-Dekalb Seed Co. formed in 2001. The agreement will allow the joint venture to expand its existing corn seed business by combining its business

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Guangdong Administration for Industry and Commerce has published its third quarter monitoring report on Guangzhou's food quality, which shows that 20% food products sold in major supermarkets, including Trust-Mart, are substandard. This spot check covered ten supermarkets, including Trust-Mart, Vanguard, GrandBuy, Park N Shop, Friendship Store, Xin Da Xin, Jiaguang Supermarket, Jusco, Tee Mall, and Homecity [...]

One of the themes the fund is currently investing in is the secular agricultural boom as people in developing economies upgrade their food quality, as their incomes grow. Thus far, I have been focused mostly on the fertilizer companies, although the equipment and seed plays have also done great. However, in the past few days I have read multiple articles on a new ETF which, if you want to play this trend in 1 fell swoop, provides an interesting (and global) way to diversify across multiple subtrends on this play. The ETF is called Market Vectors Agribusiness (MOO) … yes MOO. How cute. Here is a fact sheet about the ETF.