MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS
1.Gates Foundation taps a second St. Louisan
2.Danforth Center teams with Gates

EXTRACTS: With assistance from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center will help put bioscience technology into the hands of impoverished African farmers. (item 2)

[Lawrence Kent of the Danforth Center] was recruited [a year ago] for the position [at the Gates Foundation] by Rob Horsch, a former Monsanto executive who left for the foundation last fall [ie fall 2007]. Both will be working to fund projects aimed at small farmers in the developing world.

[The Monsanto-funded Danforth Center's president, Roger Beachy] said it won't hurt to have two people familiar with St. Louis researchers holding the strings to the Gates Foundation's large purse. (item 1)

GM WATCH COMMENT: Kent showed his PR skills at the Danforth Center, helping it to gloss over a public relations debacle after it emerged that its virus-resistant GM cassava had lost its resistance 7 years into the project! (GM cassava fails in Africa)
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=6979

For how the Danforth Center is heavily financially dependent on Monsanto:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=200
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1.Gates Foundation taps a second St. Louisan
By Eric Hand
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 5 January 2007 http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/E34D9E8106D7B38E8625725A00160E76?OpenDocument

A second prominent figure in the St. Louis plant science community will be leaving for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has been gobbling up America's best and brightest to help it spend billions of dollars on issues of global poverty and hunger.

Lawrence Kent, the director of international programs at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in Creve Coeur, said he would begin work in Seattle on March 1.

He was recruited for the position by Rob Horsch, a former Monsanto executive who left for the foundation last fall. Both will be working to fund projects aimed at small farmers in the developing world.

"What it says is that the Gates Foundation knows where to get good people," said Danforth Center president Roger Beachy.

"He knew Africa," Beachy said. "He had the same philosophy that I do, which is that science should be useful."

Beachy said it won't hurt to have two people familiar with St. Louis researchers holding the strings to the Gates Foundation's large purse.

The foundation has a $32 billion endowment that is just beginning to incorporate money from a $31 billion pledge made by billionaire investor Warren Buffett last year.

Kent will report to Horsch, and Horsch will report to Dr. Rajiv Shah, the director of agricultural development programs, which will fund projects in four areas: technology to improve seeds and crop yields; fertilizer, irrigation and other farm management systems; access to markets; and advocacy for improved agricultural policies.

As to whether the Gates Foundation supports controversial biotechnologies, Shah said: "We do believe in the power of science and technology to transform peoples' lives. That said, all of our funding to date in the agriculture portfolio has been looking at conventional ways to improve crops." He added, "At the end of the day, we believe countries and farmers should make up their minds about the technology."

Kent has been involved in trying to bring a genetically modified cassava, an important potato-like crop, to African nations. The plant is suffering from a continent-wide disease that has cut yields in half. Scientists at the nonprofit Danforth Center, which freely licenses its technology to poor countries, have genetically engineered a cassava that is resistant to the plant virus causing the disease. The center also is part of a consortium that has received money from the Gates Foundation's global health initiatives to fortify cassava with vitamins and minerals.
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2.Danforth Center teams with Gates
Evan Binns
St. Louis Business Journal, December 19 2008 
http://stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories/2008/12/22/story11.html?surround=etf&b=1229922000%5e1750290

With assistance from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center will help put bioscience technology into the hands of impoverished African farmers.

The Danforth Center recently received $5.4 million from the foundation as part of the Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative. The funds will be used to create and manage a resource network to help African scientists safely incorporate biotech advances into subsistence farming. The grant also will support research that increases the nutrients of key regional crops.

Dr. Paul Anderson, executive director of international programs, will manage the network to ensure that products modified in labs are safe for environmental use and human consumption. Dr. Hector Quemada will serve as the project director for the biosafety network, and Dr. Mark Halsey will act as assistant director. Other members of the International Programs office include: Dr. Martin Fregene, Dr. Jeff Stein, Dr. Bill Doley and Ann Kruse.

“We’ll advise projects (in host countries) on safety necessities, compliance and testing capabilities,” Quemada said, making sure technologies increase nutrients in a socially and culturally acceptable way. Countries where the Danforth Center will collaborate include Kenya, Uganda and Burkina Faso.

The initiative is unique because the Gates Foundation grant effectively establishes the Danforth Center International Programs office as a public bioscience intermediary with oversight expertise. “It’s really an acknowledgment of our capability to guide product development,” Anderson said. “If another organization wants to put research to work in Africa but doesn’t know how or have the resources, they can turn to us.”

The core focus of the Danforth Center’s International Program office has been putting biotech products into the hands of subsistence farmers throughout the world. The center is currently involved in several projects that aim to improve the food security and nutritional content of African subsistence crops. According to Anderson, the Danforth Center’s ability to take products from conception to testing on the ground in biotech-friendly African countries is what distinguishes it in bioscience sectors.

“Success with this new initiative will provide a blueprint for other institutions and companies seeking to introduce nutritionally enhanced crops in the countries that will most benefit from approving and growing them,” said Anderson.

The Danforth Center has an annual budget of $19 million and employs 213 people.