Former CEO Hugh Grant: Life After the Monsanto Sale

Fresh off 15 years at the helm of Monsanto, Hugh Grant says he’s not ready retire. PHOTO: VICTOR MORIYAMA/BLOOMBERG NEWS

By Jacob Bunge

After nearly 40 years at Monsanto Co., the company that spread genetically engineered seed across the U.S. heartland and beyond, now-former chief executive Hugh Grant doesn’t know exactly what’s next, aside from a desire to stay in agriculture.

Mr. Grant earlier this month oversaw the sale of his former employer to Bayer AG , a more-than-$60 billion deal that has reordered the global agricultural industry. The German drug and chemical conglomerate now is the world’s biggest supplier of crop seeds and pesticides to farmers, acquiring the top global franchise in biotech seeds engineered to survive chemical sprays and repel destructive bugs—products pioneered by Monsanto that have transformed American agriculture.

In Monsanto, Bayer also bought a company that regularly ranks among the world’s most-hated, with environmentalists and consumer groups long targeting Monsanto for promoting a chemicals-reliant method of farming they say poses a threat to wildlife and human health. Monsanto has maintained that its products pose no threat to human health if used properly; the World Health Organization has said that genetically engineered crops currently on the market are safe to eat.

Mr. Grant, who has heard out and debated Monsanto’s critics in a soft Scottish brogue over the past 15 years as CEO, stepped down June 7, the day the deal closed. During his tenure, Monsanto’s sales nearly tripled to $14.6 billion, and its share price climbed by more than 12 times, boosted by expanding seed sales that Monsanto says helped farmers from Iowa to India raise bigger crops.

As Mr. Grant prepared to pack up the model of a John Deere harvester he kept in his office, he spoke about Monsanto’s culture and legacy, and what comes after reshaping an industry and singing karaoke with farmers. Here, edited excerpts from his interview with The Wall Street Journal.

WSJ: Closing this deal comes after two years of first negotiating the sale to Bayer and then working through the regulatory process. After your last day, what do you have planned next?

Mr. Grant: I really don’t have it figured out. I don’t think I am going to wiggle my toes in the sand. I would like to think I could continue to have a voice in agriculture. It’s been my whole life.

WSJ: Will you look for another CEO position, or continue your work on boards?

Mr. Grant: I’m on the board of PPG Industries Inc., the lead director there. Otherwise, I really don’t know. There’s two fields in ag I think are particularly interesting. One is the increasing importance of data science and improving decision quality in farming. That’s a big piece of the future in agriculture when land is finite and demand for food continues to grow. The other one is the conundrum on how we use less water. There’s business opportunities in both of those areas.

Digital agriculture powered by data science reminds me now of when we were in the mid-90s when biotech first happened. I think it’ll change agriculture that much. We’re in one of those renaissance periods I think where the integration, as you bring biotech and chemistry and seed together, there’s a renaissance now where the application of data, and how you unlock that next tranche of productivity—it feels like that’s just around the corner. I’m also looking at some private-equity opportunities.

WSJ: Are you talking with anyone right now?

Mr. Grant: That’s yet to come. For the last two years I’ve been completely immersed in this deal, so I’ve not been focused on anything else. That’s the next piece.

WSJ: Were you asked to stay on in any capacity, as an adviser or director?

Mr. Grant: I’ve been pretty clear: Bayer has built a really, really good team. The leadership team is a blend of Monsanto and Bayer, and I feel very good about the quality of the team. Now they get the opportunity to really drive innovation. It’s cool. I’m proud of what we’ve built at Monsanto, proud of the innovation, and I think the deal will take it to a whole new level. The [agriculture] market continues to have a crushing need for innovation.

‘I always felt if you are going to work and dedicate yourself to something, it should be meaningful, and I feel like what we created has been meaningful.’

—Hugh Grant, former Monsanto chief executive

WSJ: Bayer and Monsanto have been two very different companies. How do you think the integration will go, culturally?

Mr. Grant: At Monsanto, for the last six to seven years, we measure [employee] engagement scores every quarter. During the last two years, our engagement scores have risen. We’re seeing 86 [out of 100] engagement. That’s the anticipation of the organization, of what this deal can do and how it’s going to accelerate innovation.

So when you ask how the culture will be going forward, I’m very optimistic. I have an organization here that’s very keen to get going. They’re uniquely focused on agriculture. For the new company, if you want to be in agriculture and make a difference, this is the place to be. The culture is obviously going to change but I believe it will become even stronger. There’s a piece of that driven by needs and opportunities that are in agriculture today. There are so many things that need solving.

WSJ: Bayer announced this month that it will mothball Monsanto as a company name. How does that make you feel?

Mr. Grant: I’ve been here 37 years, so I have some nostalgia. I did a town hall a few weeks ago, and alluded to the fact that the name would change. And I told the team, if you want to do a selfie, with the sign at the front gate, the time is running out. Since then I’ve been mailed hundreds of selfies of people taking their team’s photographs—some are hilarious—in front of the sign.

I’m really proud of what Monsanto achieved. We didn’t just lead an industry—we kind of formed it, with all the challenges and benefits that come with it. My personal view on the name is that it’s a lot less about what the company is called, it’s a lot more about what you achieve. That really sounds corny, but I really believe that. I expected from the beginning the name would change. But the brand names of the seed companies will not change, and the heart of all this is technology. This was a deal based on innovation, and that continues. I wouldn’t lose sleep on the [Monsanto] name.

WSJ: What has this whole time been like for you, personally?

Mr. Grant: It’s been extraordinarily emotional. There are a handful of us that took the company through the spinoff and IPO. We relaunched the company [after its 2002 spinoff from Pharmacia Corp.], coincidentally still called Monsanto, because we couldn’t afford to change the name back then. We built the company from scratch. So it feels like my baby. I always felt if you are going to work and dedicate yourself to something, it should be meaningful, and I feel like what we created has been meaningful. So yes, it’s been emotional.