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Cookies on My Account

What are cookies?

Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer or phone by websites that you visit. We use cookies on this site to help improve the site and to compile statistics that allow us to understand how users use our site and so help us improve it.

We use cookies in several places – we’ve listed the main cookies used on this site below with more details about why we use them, how long they will last and how to set your preferences.

Cookies used on this site

Server-set cookies

Cookie nameWhat it doesWhen it expires
PHPSESSIDThis cookie is used by the PHP web server to identify the unique browsing session. It is required for Forms to work. Contains the unique ID for the browsing session.when the user closes the browser
APP_LANGLanguage cookie that keeps information of user’s system language. Contains environment variable with the user's system languageafter 24 hours
CAPITACONNECTThis cookie stores information about the user opening the CAPITA portal. Contains variable information about the user opening the CAPITA portal.after one hour
AchieveFormsRedirectLinkCookie that keeps the redirect link after email verification.after 24 hours
PETITIONS_LANGThe language cookie stores information about the user's selected language.after 24 hours
X-FS-IAFIDCookie that keeps AFID for the authenticated CSA by session idafter one hour
firmstep2serverUsed to direct your request to the appropriate server. No personal information is stored.when the user closes the browser
firmstep2sessionA unique identifier given to you for the duration of your site visit. It is used to ensure that you and only you are shown information relevant to you. It contains no personally identifiable information, but is temporarily linked to your user account when you log in.when the user closes the browser
support_loginCookie that keeps information if a support login was enabledafter one year

Javascript-set cookies

Cookie nameWhat it doesWhen it expires
__unamGoogle analytics cookie is set as part of the ShareThis service and monitors clickstream activity. Contains: pages viewed, navigation from page to page, time spent on each page. The ShareThis service personally identifies you only if you have separately signed up with ShareThis for a ShareThis account and given your consent.three years after the last browsing session
__utma Google Analytics uses the information from this cookie to calculate things like Days and Visits to purchase. This cookie keeps track of the number of times a visitor has been to the site pertaining to the cookie, when their first visit was, and when their last visit occurred.two years after the last browsing session
__utmbGoogle analytics cookie in connection with __utmc, this cookie can provide information on how long the user was on the website. Contains timestamp of when the user visited the website.30 minutes after the last browsing session
__utmc Google analytics cookie in connection with __utmb, this cookie can provide information on how long the user was on the website. Contains timestamp of the exact moment in time when a visitor leaves a sitewhen the user closes the browser
__utmz Google analytics cookie contains information on the visitor traffic source that explains how the user reached the site. Contains information on search engines and the entered search terms, or where the IP address of the visitor is located.six months after the last browsing session
_gat This external Google Analytics cookie is used by Google Analytics to monitor the query rate against your own servers. This cookie file helps Monsanto identify areas of the site that need improvement. Cookie does not allow Monsanto to identify you personally because no information or personal information is tracked.after the last browsing session
_gidGoogle Universal Analytics cookie. Stores and updates a unique value for each page visited. Used to distinguish users.after 24 hours
_gaGoogle analytics cookie. This is set by the google analytics software to track navigation and application usage. The ID is used only to identify the session for the statistics and is completely anonymous.two years after the last browsing session
localtimeKeeps information about the user's local time.after two minutes
SESSIONCHECKCookie that keeps encrypted  information about session id (a unique number that a website's server assigns a specific user for the duration of that user's visit).after the last browsing session
AWSELBAmazon Web Services Elastic Load Balancer. Used to direct your request to the appropriate server. No personal information is contained or used.after seven days
SESSfsauthsessionThis cookie is used by the web server software to identify the unique browsing session. A similar function to PHPSESSID, but for a different part of the server. It contains the same information as PHPSESSID. It is required for Forms to work.when the user closes the browser
_lastloginIt's used to keep track of usage and to manage caching. Contains the epoch number of the last login.when the user closes the browser
signed_sid Sets permanent cookie to indicate a petition has already been signed on the user’s computer.never
confirmed_ Sets permanent cookie to indicate this user's email address is now confirmednever

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Statistics (measuring website usage)

We currently use Google Analytics to compile statistics about people who visit the My Account website. Google Analytics uses JavaScript and cookies (listed above) to monitor how people are using the site. The information typically collected is the IP address of the user (which is anonymised), which pages were visited and for how long, date and time of visit, browser type, search terms etc. 

The information we get from Google Analytics helps us ensure this website is meeting users’ needs and to help us understand how we could do it better.

For further information on how Google Analytics collects and uses data see the Google Privacy Policy (external link)

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Disabling / enabling cookies

You can also accept or decline cookies by changing the settings in your browser. However, you may not be able to use all the interactive features of our site if cookies are completely disabled. In order to block or delete cookies, check the Help menu of your web browser and type in 'delete cookies' or 'block cookies' to find a step by step process of how to do this.

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Page last updated:

18 August 2020

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