3 Ways to Increase Your Agriculture Yield: Monsanto Company (MON) and More

On Wednesday, Deere said it earned $649.7 million, or $1.65 per share, for the quarter ended Jan. 31. Those figures compare with $532.9 million, or $1.30 for the comparable quarter a year earlier. Analysts who follow Deere had anticipated per-share earnings of $1.39 for the latest quarter.

E I Du Pont De Nemours And Co (NYSE:DD)
As I noted, Delaware-based DuPont competes with Monsanto is a number of areas. While it also operates several other segments, including electronics and communications, performance chemicals, and performance materials, DuPont’s largest and most noteworthy group is its agriculture segment. That unit produces corn hybrid, soybean, canola, sunflower, sorghum, wheat, and rice seed products. It also manufactures fungicides and insecticides.

For the final quarter of 2012, the company earned $111 million, or $0.12 per share, a sharp decline from the comparable year-over-year $373 million, or $0.40 per share. Nevertheless, DuPont topped the analysts’ consensus by $0.07 per share. Significantly, while some of the company’s segments struggled amid global economic softness, its agriculture unit expanded its own contribution to DuPont’s top line by 18%.

Foolish takeaway
Unless humankind develops both a viable substitute for regular food consumption and an ability to predictably control climactic conditions, my bet will remain with agriculture as an area to which Fools should pay special attention. While there are numerous other companies of merit in the industry, I believe that the three I’ve discussed here provide a solid foundation for examining this vital sector.

The article 3 Ways to Increase Your Agriculture Yield originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by David Lee Smith.

Fool contributor David Lee Smith and The Motley Fool have no position in any of the stocks mentioned.

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