The new tweet from @MonsantoCo, the Monsanto corporate account, said:

• New post at Beyond the Rows (#Monsanto): A Trip through the Produce Aisle from the Eyes of a Nutrition Scientist

I thought: I'll click. I'm in need of better health and nutrition and maybe this article will be encouraging and enlightening and help me do a little better. So I did click. I found myself looking at a "blog post" with this headline and byline:

• A TRIP THROUGH THE PRODUCE AISLE FROM THE EYES OF A NUTRITION SCIENTIST By Jonathan Mein | Vegetables Division

Vegetables division? That's kind of interesting, I thought. I always think of Monsanto and the big row crops of the Midwest, corn, soybeans, and so forth. I looked at the first paragraph, which read:

• We all know that we should eat more fruits and vegetables, but not many people get to advance that cause as a career. As a Nutrition Scientist in our global vegetable division, I’m one of the lucky few.

Okay, I thought, maybe I'm going to get to learn about how better plant varieties are produced, in general, but more specifically, how we can be tempted to eat a better diet as a result. I'll read on. Paragraph two:

• The reality is that most of us don’t eat as much fruit and vegetables as we should. That is where the cool part of my job begins. I get to think about and address the challenges we face in providing consumers with safe, nutritious and, most importantly, delicious vegetables.

Okay, that was not a good sign. It essentially repeated the first paragraph: we should eat better and I work on that. My hopes for the article are slipping. Paragraph three:

• Most people don’t even realize that Monsanto has a vegetable business, let alone cares about taste, flavor, convenience, and nutrition. But in fact, we care a lot. I was in a colleague’s office the other day and made the comment that if people only knew how much time and effort goes into understanding how a tomato tastes, they would never believe it. That is true for a lot of the work we do in vegetables.

Not a good sign. Yet another paragraph that says this is a cool job and we are trying to make food better. Repeating generalities like that won't get me back to the corporate website, I promise you. If it weren't a short article with the end in sight, I would have probably stopped reading here. Fourth paragraph:

• BellaFina mini bell peppers are a perfect example of the work that we do in vegetables to provide taste, nutrition, and convenience to consumers. Not only do they taste great, but their size makes them a great vegetable option for children. As a new dad, I can appreciate making vegetables fun for everybody. Any time we can make consuming vegetables tastier, more compelling or more convenient, I feel we have done our jobs.

Okay, for the first time I start to learn something new: they actually try to breed food plants that are more interesting for kids. I had not imagined such a thing, and I'd be pleased to learn more about that. But look hard at the paragraph: except for that fact, it just repeats things that are becoming obvious by now if they weren't already. There is about one sentence of new content in this paragraph. That won't do. I want information. I'm serious here: Information advertises; advertising annoys. Luckily, the end is in near:

• I probably have spent more time thinking about broccoli nutrition over the past week than most people will over a lifetime. With almost 12 years of conventional breeding efforts behind it, our Beneforté broccoli has resulted in a variety that tastes like broccoli but with enhanced levels of the phytonutrient glucoraphanin. We’ve taken the science behind the antioxidant benefits of glucoraphanin and combined them with our expertise in conventional breeding to produce a broccoli with truly added benefits. We all know broccoli is good for you, but we’ve managed to make it even better.

Another paragraph with one sentence of new information: it's been possible to increase a particular antioxidant without losing the taste of the food. Anything interesting happen during the twelve years of breeding? Who knows, because we aren't going to hear about it. Tally so far: about two sentences of information and the rest is cheerful advertising. And finally:

• The research, thought, and passion that goes into filling your local produce aisle is a behind-the-scenes journey that starts with our people. As I walk through the produce aisle at my local grocery store, I don’t just see the bright colors, smell the sweet scents and sample the great tastes. I see the hard work that goes into that experience, and I am proud to say that I am a part of that hard work. Every time I see a tasty tomato, broccoli stalk or other vegetable go into a shopper’s cart, I can enjoy a bit of satisfaction in a job well-done.

That's a summary style of conclusion, and so it just repeats the highlights of the story. It's not the only kind of conclusion, and it's not the most interesting kind, since it just repeats, but so it goes. Nothing new in the paragraph. I bet you a dime, though, that if you actually walked through a produce aisle with this scientist you would learn far, far more than this article offers. It's just a glossy advertisement that pretended it was going to be an informative article. I learned my lesson, which is that the Monsanto Twitter account offers advertising, not useful information, and I won't click on the links it provides again any time soon. Too bad: it didn't have to be that way. That's not real blogging either--just because a company calls something a blog doesn't mean they have found the spirit of blogging. They could, though. They'd have to rethink public relations to do it. And understand that real blog posts have links.

PS. Sorry, Jonathan. I bet your boss said to write it that way.

PPS. My comment, asking for more informative postings, is still awaiting moderation a few days later at the Monsanto "blog" site. It reads:

• I thought this was going to be a more informative article. It is more advertising than information that I can use. I would visit a corporate website much more often if the mix leaned more heavily toward useful information.

• PPPS. The Monsanto posted my critical comment, just above, along with a small number of others on Monday, November 4.