New York, New York
September 26, 2002
Continuous innovation is a
cornerstone of Monsanto
Company's leadership in the agricultural industry, Chief
Technology Officer Robert T. Fraley, Ph.D., said today at the
15th annual Credit Suisse First Boston Chemicals Conference.
"In 2001, new or improved Monsanto products that had been on the
market for less than five years contributed 87 percent of the
company's overall revenue," Fraley said. "Our innovations have
added value to the products farmers want and need to be
productive."
Monsanto's steady stream of new products during the past several
years includes seven new biotech traits, 24 new Roundup
herbicide formulations launched around the world, and a wide
range of new corn hybrids and branded seed varieties. In
addition to holding a leadership position in agricultural
chemicals, biotechnology traits and seeds, Monsanto is unique in
its ability to offer these as an integrated solution to farmers.
Innovations Continue for Roundup Herbicide
Introduced more than 25 years ago, Roundup brand agricultural
products have maintained their industry leadership position in
large part because of Monsanto's efforts to continually improve
its formulations and manufacturing technologies. Breakthroughs
in the company's manufacturing process for Roundup
-- including new catalyst technology -- have reduced
manufacturing costs by a third since 1996, while also reducing
manufacturing waste.
Monsanto's formulations innovations for Roundup continue with
this fall's launch of the Roundup WeatherMAX formulation in the
United States. Roundup WeatherMAX combines Monsanto's
second-generation TranSorb technology with a formulation that is
50 percent more concentrated, which reduces handling and
transportation costs. The improved TranSorb technology allows
Monsanto to provide farmers with an industry-leading "30-minute
rainfast" warranty.
"Monsanto's continuous development of formulations for Roundup
allows us to offer improved herbicide performance to farmers,"
Fraley said.
"More than 400 weed control field trials and 5,000 head-to-head
comparisons demonstrate that the new patented Roundup WeatherMAX
will provide farmers with more consistent weed control in tough
and ideal conditions as compared with imitator glyphosate-based
products."
Greater Productivity from Seed and Trait Pipeline
Monsanto continues to upgrade its seed portfolio with new
hybrids and varieties. For example, in 1998, 56 percent of the
company's DEKALB brand hybrid corn portfolio consisted of
products that were "new" (less than three years old). In 2002,
Fraley said the DEKALB portfolio was 75 percent new, with a goal
of 80 percent of the portfolio being new in 2004.
"At the 80 percent new hybrid level, we can optimize inventory
turnover and our cost of goods sold," Fraley said.
Fraley also noted that the company's research-and-development
(R&D) investment is accelerating its successes in the breeding
area. "Since 1998, our use of molecular markers for conventional
plant breeding and molecular breeding has doubled annually,"
Fraley said. "This has helped us to cut the time to integrate
traits into germplasm by one year, while reducing our cost to
generate marker data points by a third."
And in the discovery area, genomics and biotechnology have
generated a 1000-fold increase in the number of genes
identified, and a 100-fold increase in gene function testing.
"I'm excited by the opportunity we have," Fraley said.
"Monsanto's investment in genomics is accelerating the pace of
gene discovery, while our biotechnology and breeding capacity is
shortening the time to market for genes and traits now at the
discovery phase. Our pipelin represents a strong technology
platform for the company's future."
Fraley also noted that the company's investment in new product
R&D is recouped about four years after a new biotech trait is
launched. "We make careful, focused investments in R&D in a
cost-effective and timely manner, and these investments are
contributing greatly to the revenue stream of the company,"
Fraley said.
"This not only enhances our financial performance, but allows us
to reinvest so that we can discover and develop the innovative
agricultural products of tomorrow," Fraley said.
Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON) is a leading global provider of
technology- based solutions and agricultural products that
improve farm productivity and food quality.
Roundup, Roundup WeatherMAX,
TranSorb technology and DEKALB are trademarks or registered
trademarks owned by Monsanto Technology LLC.
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