Monsanto Ready to Round Up Growth

Monsanto (NYSE: MON  ) won't be selling its Roundup Ready 2 Yield soybean seeds in Europe, but at least the U.S farmers to which it sells will be able to hock their final product there. The company announced yesterday that the European Union had approved the genetically modified soybeans for import.

The E.U. buys about 10% of U.S. soybean exports, so the lack of an approval could have hampered the launch of the Roundup Ready 2 Yield soybeans, which are now approved for import in 10 countries or regions. Monsanto expects to make a small launch next year, with a much larger push the year after.

2010 may seem like a long way off for investors, but that's the way Fools should be thinking. Seed producers, like Monsanto and Syngenta (NYSE: SYT  ) , and fertilizer producers -- such as Mosaic (NYSE: MOS  ) , Agrium (NYSE: AGU  ) , and PotashCorp (NYSE: POT  ) -- have been punished hard this year. But it's not like people will stop eating just because there's a global recession. And the recession will end -- eventually.

Investors who buy agricultural companies at these levels could see further dips -- the bottom is hard to predict, after all -- but the overall prospects of the agricultural industry are pretty strong. Monsanto is looking to double yields by 2030. With each small increase in yield, like the Roundup Ready 2 Yield products, comes the ability to increase prices. And of course, the Roundup Ready products end up boosting sales twice over -- once for the seed, and another for sales of Monsanto's Roundup herbicide.

Monsanto will grow again. Investors just need to have a little patience.