Innovative technologies are required to meet the agricultural needs of a growing world population, which is estimated to reach 9 billion by 2050. Monsanto is committed to meeting these needs by improving the lives of farmers. Our goal is to use breeding, biotechnology and improved farming practices to develop crops that produce more yield while conserving natural resources. A key step in this process lies in identifying plants that possess traits that enable farmers to produce more yield with less water and fertilizer. To speed the identification of plants that have the traits farmers need, we have developed a high-throughput phenotyping facility that fuses automated plant handling and imaging technology. This facility allows us to quantify growth and whole plant physiology in precisely controlled environments. Here we present the opportunities and challenges inherent in high-throughput screening of biological systems, particularly as they apply to plant biotechnology.

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