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Monsanto Company receives First Place Gulf Guardian Award in the Business/Industry Category

Release Date: 06/07/2013
Contact Information: William McBride, 404-562-8378 (direct), 404-562-8400 (main), [email protected]

Stennis Space Center, MS – The Gulf of Mexico Program recently announced the Monsanto Company will receive a First Place 2013 Gulf Guardian Award in the Business/Industry Category for their Mississippi Watershed Project. The awards ceremony will be held on June 26, 2013, at the Tampa Bay Grand Hyatt beginning at 6PM.

The Monsanto Mississippi River Project engaged four NGOs (Audubon Society, Delta Wildlife, Iowa Soybean Association, and The Nature Conservancy) to advance conservation efforts that are reducing sediment and nutrients flowing to the Gulf of Mexico. The partnership effort was used to leverage conservation investments throughout the project area which are producing significant and quantifiable improvements in water quality, while creating and improving habitat for many species of fish and wildlife. With this project, Monsanto has set the bar for agribusiness conservation investments in the Mississippi River Basin.

The Gulf of Mexico Program initiated the Gulf Guardian awards in 2000 as a way to recognize and honor the businesses, community groups, individuals, and agencies that are taking positive steps to keep the Gulf healthy, beautiful and productive. First, second and third place awards are given in seven categories: individual, business/industry, youth environmental education, civic/nonprofit organizations, cultural diversity/environmental justice, partnership and bi-national efforts.

The Gulf of Mexico Program began in 1988 to protect, restore, and maintain the health and productivity of the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem in economically sustainable ways. The Gulf of Mexico Program is underwritten by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and is a non-regulatory, inclusive consortium of state and federal government agencies and representatives of the business and agricultural community, fishing industry, scientists, environmentalists, and community leaders from all five Gulf States. The Gulf Program seeks to improve the environmental health of the Gulf in concert with economic development.

Ben Scaggs, Director of the Gulf of Mexico Program said, “Given all the incredible challenges that the Gulf has faced over the last several years and the work that has continued with strength and vigor despite what sometime seem like overwhelming obstacles, it is difficult to adequately and succinctly express the community value of the awards and the role they play in reminding us of what yet needs to be done while giving us all the energy and optimism to stay the course.”

For more information please contact Stephanie Regagnon, Director, Sustainable Agriculture Policy, Phone: (314) 694-5900 or Email: [email protected]

Editor’s Note: For more information about the Gulf Guardian Awards and the Gulf of Mexico Program, call the Gulf of Mexico Program Office at 228-688-3726 or visit our web site at https://www.epa.gov/gmpo.

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