St. Louis, Missouri
August 6, 2007
Monsanto Company's (NYSE: MON) research-and-development
(R&D) pipeline is poised to deliver another wave of value to
farmers worldwide, as positive results from its Southern
Hemisphere field research program confirm the momentum in
Monsanto's industry-leading seeds-and-traits product pipeline.
"The most successful R&D program in the ag industry is getting
stronger, with novel solutions that put the premiums of higher
yield and enhanced farm management tools in the convenience of a
seed," said Robb Fraley, Monsanto's chief technology officer.
"Farmers are increasingly voting for these technologies with
their seed purchases, and the next projects being testing in the
field today will give them even greater value.
"We're seeing impressive results from the tests on all three of
our high impact technologies (HIT), strong progress across our
portfolio of breakthrough soybean technologies, and a quick
start and great progress in the yield and stress projects
associated with our BASF collaboration."
The Southern Hemisphere field testing provides a valuable set of
data that complements the company's primary field research in
North America and helps continue to advance key research
programs, including its HIT projects.
Projects in the HIT program are targeted for larger-acre
commercial launches in high-yielding seed offerings. This
approach is expected to enable more farmers to access new
technologies in their early years of commercial launch.
Research highlights -- Roundup
RReady2Yield soybean technology
One of the cornerstones of Monsanto's soybean pipeline is the
company's second-generation herbicide-tolerance technology,
Roundup RReady2Yield soybeans.
Monsanto announced last week that this technology, also one of
its HIT projects, recently completed the regulatory processes in
the United States and Canada, and now one step closer to
farmers' fields. Roundup RReady2Yield is the first soybean trait
technology developed in more than a decade and represents the
future platform for Monsanto's entire soybean portfolio.
Monsanto plans to stack new technology offerings with Roundup
RReady2Yield so farmers get the maximum performance out of a
single seed.
"Roundup RReady2Yield is certainly the centerpiece of our
soybean pipeline,"
said Fraley. "However, farmers that make the investment in
Roundup RReady2Yield can expect more than just the yield and
plant health benefits of this particular trait, because they are
really accessing the first of what will become a platform of new
traits that will be stacked on top of Roundup RReady2Yield."
Monsanto has been conducting field tests in South Africa and
Argentina on Roundup Ready soybeans treated with Roundup
herbicide to continue investigating the potential for protection
against Asian Soybean Rust.
Compared with non-treated soybean controls, soybeans treated
with Roundup agricultural herbicide at application timings not
currently labeled for use appear to demonstrate a reduction of
Asian Soybean Rust severity.
Monsanto is researching the potential for future registration
and use of novel, proprietary Roundup formulations over the top
of Roundup RReady2Yield soybeans to provide farmers with
properties that could mark a step-change in overall soybean
yield and performance.(1)
Research highlights -- Soybean
technology platform
Monsanto's portfolio of soybean technologies has the potential
to redefine the soybean industry in the next decade, according
to Fraley. Some of the key results the company is already seeing
include:
-
Higher-yielding soybeans: Monsanto researchers
confirmed that the insertion of a single gene can boost the
intrinsic yield potential of the soybean plant, which would
create an incremental yield increase
over other traits. Significantly, the first of the new Phase
II commercial-track events demonstrates up to a 10 percent
increase in yield across 10 environments in Argentina,
exceeding the targeted 5 to 7 percent product concept yield
boost. The company is currently testing an additional 60
events in the U.S. during the 2007 growing season. This
product has been developed as part of Monsanto's ongoing
collaboration with Mendel Biotechnology, Inc. Today, this
technology is one of the yield and stress projects included
in Monsanto's R&D collaboration with BASF.
-
Vistive III soybeans (HIT): Vistive III soybeans
are designed to lower linolenic acid and saturate content
while boosting oleic content to give soybean oil a health
profile similar to olive oil while maintaining the
versatility and cost-effectiveness of soybeans for food
applications. Results from 14 locations in Argentina showed
that the lead event continues to meet the product
composition targets for an oil profile of 55 to 75 percent
oleic acid content and less than 7 percent saturate content.
Additional testing confirmed the agronomic yield targets for
the product concept.
-
Dicamba-tolerant soybeans: In the first season of
South American testing and the second overall season of
testing, research indicates that dicamba-tolerant soybeans
have demonstrated tolerance at both pre-emergent and
post-emergent application timing, indicating that the trait
is conveying the desired level of herbicide tolerance in the
Phase II commercial-track events. Dicamba-tolerance is the
third-generation weed control trait that will be stacked
with Roundup RReady2Yield to give farmers' the most advanced
in-seed weed-control system available.
"With the traits in development
today, soybeans are poised to emerge from the shadow of corn in
terms of technology application," said Fraley. "With shifts in
planting patterns driving the need for increased yield and
improved-quality oils, the combination of our in-house efforts
and our network of partners is focused on giving farmers the
tools they need for an emerging opportunity in soybeans."
Other Research Highlights
In addition to projects in the emerging soybean R&D pipeline,
the Southern Hemisphere testing provided additional results for
other key yield-and-stress projects, including
drought-tolerant
corn and higher-yielding canola. These projects are also part of
the company's multi-year R&D collaboration with BASF that
focuses on the development and commercialization of
yield-and-stress technologies.
In the second year of South American testing, the lead corn
drought gene was tested in variable environmental conditions
across three locations. The drought-tolerant technology
consistently delivered yield improvements compared with controls
under water-stressed conditions, with yield advantages of up to
12 bushels per acre in the Argentinean locations. Monsanto is
currently in the midst of its fifth season of field testing its
lead drought-tolerant genes in the United States. The 2007 U.S.
field testing for drought-tolerance represents a significant
expansion in the number of locations, different test
environments, and germplasm backgrounds, as Monsanto researchers
are working to validate product performance of the drought lead
in environments ranging from dryland acres to drought insurance
in the Corn Belt.
"Our first-generation drought-tolerant corn trait is one of the
centerpieces of our pipeline, and we're pleased with the results
we're seeing again this year," Fraley said. "Beyond this
first-generation, the combined capabilities in our collaboration
will help us develop more leads and even better-performing
upgrades, and deliver these innovations to farmers faster.
"Our second-generation drought-tolerant corn is tracking just
one phase behind our first-generation product, which is
unprecedented speed in this industry and speaks to the additive
opportunity from these multi-generation product families," said
Fraley.
In its first year of field testing the Phase II Higher-Yielding
canola project, the technology showed a significant yield
improvement of more than 15 percent over controls. Sixty events
are being tested in expanded U.S. and Canadian field trials this
summer as event selection continues to make progress. When
commercialized, Monsanto plans to offer the Higher-Yielding
canola trait in a stacked combination with its second-generation
weed-control trait for canola, Roundup RReady2Yield canola.
More information about Monsanto's R&D collaboration with BASF:
http://www.monsanto.com/monsanto/layout/basf/default.asp.
More information on Monsanto's complete R&D pipeline:
http://www.monsanto.com/monsanto/content/sci_tech/prod_pipeline/productPipeline.pdf.
Monsanto Company is a leading global provider of
technology-based solutions and agricultural products that
improve farm productivity and food quality.
Roundup, Roundup RReady2Yield, and Vistive are registered
trademarks of Monsanto Technology LLC.
References to Roundup herbicides in this release mean Roundup
branded herbicides, excluding lawn-and-garden herbicide
products.
(1) Glyphosate herbicides are not registered or labeled for use
to protect against or control Asian Soybean Rust, and existing
maximum residue limits may not be adequate for this potential
use. It is a violation of federal law to use a registered
herbicide product in a manner inconsistent with its labeling. |
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