Here’s an interesting article on Monsanto in the NY Times,
Monsanto Seeks Big Increase in Crop Yields 
Excerpt: "Monsanto, the leader in agricultural biotechnology, pledged Wednesday to develop seeds that would double the yields of corn, soybeans and cotton by 2030 and would require 30 percent less water, land and energy to grow.
The announcement, coming as world leaders are meeting in Rome to discuss rising food prices and growing food shortages, appears to be aimed at least in part at winning acceptance of genetically modified crops by showing that they can play a major role in feeding the world.
Much of what is in the commitment are things the company was doing anyway. But Monsanto’s chief executive, Hugh Grant, said in an interview Wednesday that the company wanted to make the goals public “so this isn’t just a bound report on some library shelf.” He said it was only coincidence that the announcement was made at the same time as the meeting in Rome.
Monsanto said it had developed its commitment after consulting farmers, political leaders, academics and advocacy groups as to what needed to be done to increase food production without converting more forests into farmland or increasing pollution.
It is a matter of debate how much genetic engineering, which involves adding bacterial or other foreign genes to the DNA of plants, could contribute to improving output.
A recent review of agricultural technology, sponsored by the United Nations and the World Bank, depicted a limited role. But in Rome on Tuesday, the United States secretary of agriculture, Edward T. Schafer, said biotechnology would be essential if the world was to increase food supply by 2030 to meet rising demand.
Soybeans, corn and cotton that have been genetically engineered to provide herbicide tolerance, insect resistance or both are widely grown in the United States and several other countries. But they are largely shunned in Europe and some other areas because of concerns about potential environmental and health effects. 
Perhaps seeking to avoid controversy, Monsanto’s announcement did not mention the term “genetic engineering.” It referred instead to “other technologies” beyond breeding.
Monsanto’s goal of doubling yields by 2030 over levels in 2000 might require a sharp acceleration in the rate by which agricultural productivity has been increasing. James E. Specht, a soybean genetics expert at the University of Nebraska, said he doubted it could be done…"
