Three decades ago, Robert T. Fraley helped invent the genetically modified seeds that have become a $17-billion global industry and ushered in a new era of agricultural productivity. So it’s little surprise that this longtime Monsanto Co. executive doesn’t want the crops dubbed Frankenfood, which is what critics like to call them.
Fraley retired in June as Monsanto’s chief technology officer but says he will continue to be an evangelist for the scientific advancements that he says turbo-charged harvests and helped farmers stay a few steps ahead of Mother Nature. GMOs have become Fraley’s legacy, and he’s convinced the world will need more such innovations to keep pace with the demand for more food as populations and incomes grow.
“There are so many examples where science can be slowed down or thwarted because of inaccurate information,” such as the efficacy of vaccines or the impacts of climate change, Fraley, 65, said by telephone from Monsanto headquarters in Saint Louis. “We’re living in a time where there’s spectacular advances, and the biggest challenge is making sure they can benefit consumers.”
In the past six years, Fraley has ramped up his public appearances and his presence on social media. The goal was to become the friendly face of GMO seeds and foods, and to help the public understand and accept scientific advances that are occurring “at a fantastic pace.” At stake, he says, is global food security and the reduction of agriculture’s environmental footprint.
It’s also a crucial growth opportunity for Monsanto, which was acquired this year by Bayer AG for $66 billion. The deal closed in June, making Monheim, Germany-based Bayer the largest maker of seeds and agricultural chemicals. Fraley, who earned $5.3 million last year, according to company documents, plans to remain a consultant for Bayer through the end of the year. After that, he’ll continue advocating for the technology.
Biotech products accounted for 34 percent of the global crop-protection market and 30 percent of the commercial seed market, according to Cropnosis. GMO crops and seeds could be worth $36.7 billion by 2022, Transparency Market Research estimates. Monsanto’s seed sales, most of which were genetically modified, were a record $11 billion in its 2017 fiscal year.
Fraley, who grew up on a farm in Hoopeston, Illinois, joined Monsanto at 27 with a PhD in microbiology and biochemistry. He worked on a team that successfully inserted foreign genes into plants in the early-1980s. The result was a sales blockbuster: seeds that tolerate the company’s powerful glyphosate-based herbicide known as Roundup. Today, more than 90 percent of United States soybean and corn crops are grown with Roundup Ready seeds modified to withstand the chemical.
GMO ‘hysteria’
“If it hadn’t been for the hysteria against GMOs, he should have won the Nobel Prize in chemistry by now,” said Jonas Oxgaard, an analyst who covered Monsanto at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. “He largely built the science side of Monsanto.”
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