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Monsanto has led the effort to bring biotechnology to bear on food production. Through some management missteps and consumer resistance the company had difficulties in its early years. But since Hugh Grant became CEO the picture has brightened with widespread adoption of the company's products. This case focuses on the company's product pipeline and the galvanizing effect of the CEO's promise to substantially improve global food production by 2030.

Once Spain's largest sugar company, Ebro Puleva has been transformed through a series of international acquisitions into the world's largest package rice company and second largest pasta company. In 2009, Chairman Antonio Hernandez Callejas must decide how to proceed now that the firm's sugar business has been sold. A specific question is whether the firm should sell its dairy business, which is limited to Spain. The case discusses the firm's branding strategy, approach to integration, and organizational structure used to manage a global business. The case also describes several changes in consumer behavior and the retail food market brought on by the global financial crisis.

Rabobank decides to focus primarily on food and agriculture firms and farms on a global basis.

CEO Michael Mendes has transformed a grower-owned cooperative into a publicly traded top marketer of snack foods. Diamond's organization, culture, product development process, advertising and promotion strategy, and specifically its marketing department have been built "from the ground up" to address fundamental changes in retail structure and consumer behavior. Can the Diamond model be successfully applied to other food categories?

Woolf Farming Company, a privately owned family farming business in California's Central Valley, found its business threatened by a lack of water, brought on by a combination of drought, poor quality well water and unavailability of surface water due to federally imposed pumping restrictions. Woolf had been farming crops for more than 30 years, but this was the first time they suffered a water shortage so severe that crops had to be abandoned in the field. Even if there was short-term relief in the form of an increased allocation of water from the government, Woolf was concerned about water reliability and the need for additional infrastructure to provide long term water security to the region. If convinced that the water problem would be resolved, then Woolf should move quickly to purchase more land which was currently available at distressed prices. Yet some board members questioned the logic of additional investment in the region whose resources were so uncertain and wondered whether it was more prudent to pursue growth elsewhere. At the same time, some of Woolf's owners began to believe that more of the company's resources should be prioritized for dividends and other distributions as opposed to purely growth. What, if anything, could Woolf and other farmers do to influence the outcome?

Hungary's top producer of poultry products is deciding the company's future strategy in the face of new opportunities in Central and Eastern Europe, a changing retail market in Hungary, and the possibility of increased global competition.

With many countries facing scarcity of freshwater and farmable land, Brazil decided to leverage its wealth of both resources to attract global agribusiness players to the historically poor Sao Francisco Valley (SFV) in the country's northeast. To do so, Brazil was instituting its first public-private partnership (PPP) in irrigation at Pontal, a partially built irrigation project in the SFV. In exchange for partial reimbursement from the Brazilian government and free use of 30,000 hectares land for 25 years, the private-sector partner would finish constructing the irrigation infrastructure and establish agricultural operations on the project; the partner was also required to integrate some local smallholders into the production chain. In December 2009, Codevasf was almost ready to start accepting bids for Pontal. For Clementino de Souza Coelho, director of infrastructure for Codevasf, the stakes were high: if successful at Pontal, PPPs could be replicated throughout the SFV, transforming the historically poor region into an agribusiness hub, as well as be a model for the rest of the world.

In December 2008, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA determined that high-purity Rebaudioside A (Reb A), a natural and calorie-free product that a young company named PureCircie manufactured from the Stevia plant, could be used in beverages, foods, and as a table top sweetener in the U.S.-the largest market for sugar and sweeteners in the world. While the FDA's determination was the breakthrough the company had hoped for, much remained uncertain-most obvious would consumers accept Reb A as a substitute for sugar or the myriad sweeteners already established in the market place? The potential seemed high given consumers' growing concerns about obesity and diabetes. Yet, nothing was certain. What worried the company's leadership was the prospect of Reb A taking off-that is, being widely accepted by consumers and used by food and beverage (F&B) companies in mainstream mass-market products such as carbonated soft drinks-and the timing of the take off. If Reb A did go mainstream PureCircle would need to at least double its capacity to secure its position in the industry. If leadership overbuilt the company's capacity and Rebaudioside A ultimately remained a niche product they would severely jeopardize PureCircle's viability. Yet if leadership waited too long, the opportunity to create substantial wealth for the company's shareholders would be lost. As it was the company's founder and CEO had already gambled by investing in enough production capacity for acceptance in the niche beverage market -- before a market for Reb A had been established.

In response to new laws governing liability and several food safety scares in the 1990s, European retailers drove the creation of a universal production standard based on Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) for fresh fruit and vegetables and a third-party certification system to monitor compliance. By 2008, the GLOBALGAP standard had expanded to cover coffee, tea, livestock, and aquaculture. Over 90,000 producers in 87 countries had been certified. Looking ahead, GLOBALGAP's board and management were discussing a number of questions, including: should GAP include environmental and social aspects beyond food safety; what was GLOBALGAP's role outside of Europe; and how GLOBALGAP as a 'hidden asset' compared to ethical labels such as Fair trade.

Marks & Spencer initiated a comprehensive approach to sustainability (reduction of waste, carbon emissions, fair trade) called Plan A. Does it offer a competitive advantage?

In 2006, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation joined together to form a new organization, AGRA, to tackle the historic challenge of increasing agricultural production in Africa. Launched with much fanfare and led by former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan as chairman of the board, AGRA sought to help millions of African farmers and their families achieve food security and lift themselves out of poverty. By 2008, AGRA had assembled a strong leadership team and had funded numerous small projects ranging from seed development to education. However, it needed to secure additional funding from public and private donors, gain the cooperation of governments, and catalyze private markets to achieve its goals.

In 20 years, Sunny Verghese had built Singapore-based Olam International from a small Nigerian export company into a $5 billion global leader in agricultural commodities with a core competence in Africa. Olam's growth had come by pursuing product and geographic adjacencies and its 'farm gate to factory gate' approach had been extended to 14 agricultural products, including cashews, sesame, cocoa, and coffee. In mid-October 2008, Olam's stock price declined to $1 a share from a high of $3.71 in early 2007 as part of the global economic crisis. Verghese had to decide whether to change the firm's strategy based on the new economic environment.

In 13 years, Bruce Taylor had built Taylor Fresh Foods into a $1 billion company and the top supplier of salads to the U.S. food service industry and to supermarket deli departments. In 2008, he was convinced that the time was right to make a big push in the fresh food area to satisfy consumers that were demanding more convenient, natural, good-tasting, and locally-grown foods. Bruce needed an action plan to make Taylor Fresh the industry leader before his competition woke up to the opportunity that lay before them all.

Brazilian meat packer JBS surprised many in the U.S. beef industry when it acquired Swift & Co.--a company more than five times its size--in 2007, then moved to acquire the U.S.'s fourth and fifth largest beef producers in 2008. The new JBS Swift slashed costs and restructured, turning around a quarterly loss of $99 million to a gain of $140 million within 6 months. JBS aimed to position itself to supply beef markets around the world, but it faced a perfect storm of rising feed and fuel prices, a global credit crisis and industry analysts skeptical about the company's debt load.

ViniBrasil is a small wine venture in Brazil started by a top Portuguese wine company, Dao Sul. ViniBrasil grows its grapes in a novel environment (close to the equator) using innovative management practices such as controlled irrigation and year-round harvesting. ViniBrasil 'Rio Sol' wines, which have received several awards, are sold mainly in Brazil where per capita wine consumption is low and there is strong competition from inexpensive imports. Dao Sul must decide how to expand the Brazilian market and also if there is international potential for the new Brazilian wines.

In April 2008, Paul Bulcke took over as CEO of the world's largest food and beverage company. His predecessor, Peter Brabeck, had delivered 12 years of outstanding results while moving the company toward a new vision of health, nutrition, and wellness. Bulcke's challenge was to swiftly execute the vision and deliver the organic growth and improved margins necessary to meet the "Nestle model."

In 2005, COFCO Ltd., one of China's largest and most successful companies, acquired Xinjiang Tunhe, a tomato processing firm, which had been, in recent years, poorly managed. COFCO changed Tunhe's management team and set out to create a culture of professionalism and impressed upon the employees that the customer came first. Qin Yelong, Tunhe president, had ambitious goals for the company. he wanted Tunhe to be the world's largest supplier of tomato products (primarily paste) within three years. To do so, Tunhe needed to secure relationships with top-of-the-line international customers, such as H.J. Heinz and Unilever. These companies were interested in Tunhe as a supplier, but needed assurances that the company could provide a reliable supply of high quality, competitively priced, and safe tomato paste year in and year out before they would finalize long term contracts with Tunhe. Qin and his management team knew that to be number one, Tunhe would need to take a lead role in modernizing China's current "peasant mode of agriculture." Indeed, Tunhe's tomato supply came from 200,000 mainly uneducated farmers, working small parcels of land (less than 0.2 hectare on average) with little to no mechanization, scattered across the regions of Northwest China. The challenge: How to manage so many farmers (the number was expected to grow to 300,000 if Qin's revenue targets were achieved) so as to ensure consistent tomato quality and safety without dramatically increasing costs. Qin realized that Tunhe had an opportunity to create a new mode of agriculture, which could be the model for all agribusiness in China moving forward. On the other hand, a misstep could lead Heinz and other large international companies to look elsewhere for their supply requirements.

As a farmer-owned cooperative, South Dakota Wheat Growers (SDWG) serves the needs of its 3,600 active farmer-members by supplying farm inputs and organizing the marketing and transportation of grain produced in the co-op's service territory. For almost 80 years, the majority of grain was shipped out of the area by rail to markets in the East and the Pacific Northwest. However, the recent expansion in ethanol production is changing the pattern of grain flow along with stimulating the local farm economy. SDWG's management and producer board must decide how to continue to meet the needs of their producer-owners under the new conditions.

Until industry deregulation in 2006, Queensland Sugar ran Australia's single desk marketing system for raw sugar exports. Since deregulation, eight of the ten Queensland sugar millers have elected to continue collective marketing through QSL. However, several millers are threatening to leave the group and market on their own. Their primary objection is to QSL's board structure, which is currently divided equally between millers, growers, and independent directors. The case describes the evolution of Australia's sugar industry; the differing interests of growers, millers, and customers; and the impact of changes in global supply (e.g., the rise of Brazil as a major sugarcane and sugar producer) and demand (e.g., the increased use of sugarcane for ethanol production).

Entrepreneur Pearse Lyons had built Alltech into the fastest growing company in the global animal health industry through innovative technology, creative marketing, and strong branding. Sel-Plex, a proprietary Alltech product, had shown important health benefits for animals and humans. Although numerous branded selenium-enriched products were being sold in supermarkets around the world, the company's current business model (selling Sel-Plex as an ingredient) did not allow it to participate in the value created. Lyons and Alltech's directors must choose between three different options for Sel-Plex, which include continuing with the current strategy, partnering with animal producers, or marketing Sel-Plex directly to consumers in tablet form.