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Mount Olive, New Jersey and Buenos
Aires, Argentina
June 11, 2003
BASF
and Nidera announced today
that they have signed a breeding, development, and commercial
agreement to provide growers inArgentina, and ultimately to
growers worldwide, with new hybrids of herbicide-tolerant
CLEARFIELD sunflower for use with the CLEARFIELD Production
System as early as the 2003 Argentine season. Bred to be
tolerant to the imidazolinone family of herbicides, CLEARFIELD
technology combines high yielding hybrids such as those from
Nidera with CLEARFIELD herbicides, which are custom designed for
the needs of the growers in the primary markets. In Argentina,
the new CLEARFIELD herbicide CLEARSOL* is the only post-emergent
product for sunflowers that provides broad-spectrum weed control
due to contact as well as residual activity. In the United
States, the product used in CLEARFIELD sunflowers is Beyond™
herbicide. Specific herbicides are also being developed for
CLEARFIELD sunflowers in Europe.
According to Dwight More, BASF’s
Global Marketing Manager for CLEARFIELD Oilseeds, “The agreement
provides that Nidera will utilize traditional plant-breeding
methods to produce thesunflower hybrids. BASF and Nidera
anticipate that Nidera’s elite germplasm and breeding skills
will result in the successful development and rapid introduction
of Nidera sunflower hybrids containing the CLEARFIELD trait.
Sunflower growers need a post-emergent herbicide that controls
many weeds in one treatment. With CLEARFIELD herbicides such as
CLEARSOL in Argentina and Beyond™, the product used in
CLEARFIELD sunflowers in the United States, farmers have access
to products designed for use with CLEARFIELD sunflowers.
The Director of Nidera’s Seed
Division, Francisco Firpo, comments, “CLEARFIELD technology will
revolutionize sunflower production and enable farmers to produce
sunflowers more efficiently for higher profits. The agreement
with BASF will permit both parties to capitalize on BASF’s
expertise in herbicide tolerant crops and weed control and on
Nidera’s expertise in breeding high performing hybrids, and
their marketing and distribution expertise. It will result in
the introduction of exciting new products and weed control
options to growers in Argentina and other countries. Nidera is
concentrating its plant breeding efforts on developing new
CLEARFIELD sunflower hybrids with tolerance to CLEARSOL due to
the importance of this technology to the sunflower industry.
Nidera is pleased to be a leader in developing CLEARFIELD
sunflower hybrids and to work with BASF on this technology.”
The CLEARFIELD Production System
has been launched in corn, canola, wheat and rice.CLEARFIELD
sunflower is another key crop in the CLEARFIELD* Production
System, which matches carefully selected advanced hybrid seed
with custom-designed imidazolinone herbicides. The imidazolinone
family of herbicides has demonstrated over many years that it
provides effective, extended weed control in high yielding crops
and is the only product group to offer broad-spectrum control
with both contact and soil activity. As a result of this
agreement,the same type of protection will soon be available to
Nidera customers.
Key components resulting from the
agreement include: the launch of new Nidera CLEARFIELD hybrids
which will be available in Argentina for use with CLEARSOL in
the crop to be planted in 2003, and the breeding of additional
Nidera CLEARFIELD hybrids for use by sunflower growersin
Argentina and several other important sunflower producing
countries. In addition, through the agreement there will be
efforts to develop new technology in CLEARFIELD sunflowers.
All current CLEARFIELD varieties
as well as those that BASF will develop using this technology
are recognized as non-GMO by international regulators.
Currently, BASF possesses the world’s largest portfolio of
non-GMO herbicide tolerant traits and has established
relationships with more than 100 seed companies worldwide. By
combining the key benefits of maximum seed yield potential with
superior season-long weed control, the CLEARFIELD* Production
System has proven to be an important advantage to countless
growers striving for optimum farm management.
Nidera S.A., the largest seed
company in Argentina, is involved in Corn, Sorghum, Sunflower,
Wheat and Soybean seed breeding, marketing, and distribution;
and has an extensive research & development program for
Argentina as well as for the Mercosur, EU and USA markets.
Nidera is well known as an innovator and developer of new
proprietary germplasm and technologies for Argentine farmers
that have contributed to the country’s agricultural growth since
1990. It has an extensive farming and processing operation
throughout the country and its products and quality have ample
recognition among farmers and technical support groups.
With sales of EUR 3 billion in
2002, BASF’s Agricultural Products division, headquartered in
Mount Olive, New Jersey, USA, is a leading supplier and marketer
of herbicides, fungicides and insecticides. Based on its broad
experience in R&D, manufacturing, marketing and sales, the
vision of BASF’s Agricultural Products division is to be the
world’s leading innovator optimizing agricultural production,
improving nutrition and enhancing the quality of life for a
growing world population.
BASF is the world’s leading
chemical company, offering its customers a range of
high-performance products, including chemicals, plastics,
performance products, agriculturalproducts, fine chemicals as
well as crude oil and natural gas. Its distinctive approach
tointegration, known in German as “Verbund,” is its strength. It
enables BASF to achieve costleadership and gives the company a
competitive advantage. BASF conducts its business inaccordance
with the principles of sustainable development. In 2002, BASF
had sales of EUR 32billion (circa USD 34 billion) and over
89,000 employees worldwide. Further information onBASF is
available on the Internet at
www.basf.com.
* CLEARFIELD is a registered
trademark, Beyond and CLEARSOL are trademarks of BASF.
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