London, United Kingdom
September 11, 2008
Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON) sees a significant growth
opportunity in continuing to create more yield for farmers
worldwide through its investment in plant biotechnology and
breeding, leading to more than doubling the company's 2007's
gross profit in 2012, Steve Padgette, Monsanto's vice president
of biotechnology, will tell investors.
Padgette will deliver his remarks as part of the UBS Best of
Americas Conference on Friday in London. The opportunity for
Monsanto is global and exists not just with the technologies in
hand, but with what is yet to come in its R&D pipeline, Padgette
will state.
"After more than 10 years of farmers planting biotech traits,
the prospects for growth are substantial," Padgette said. "The
opportunity for existing biotech traits outside the United
States is nearly 275 million acres and a little more than a
third of those acres carry Monsanto's trait technology
currently."
The opportunity for international growth is most imminent and
substantial in Brazil and Argentina where Monsanto is launching
new trait packages. In Argentina, Monsanto has received approval
for a double-stack trait combination, YieldGard® Corn Borer with
Roundup Ready® Corn 2, and plans to offer the combination on
more than 1 million acres in its first year of introduction. In
Brazil, Monsanto received planting approval for the YieldGard
Corn Borer trait and is planning for a 1 million to 2 million
acre launch for the upcoming 2008-2009 season.
Padgette will also discuss the progress and momentum behind a
number of projects in Monsanto's R&D pipeline, highlighting key
soybean and corn projects.
"Yield is a priority for farmers," Padgette said. "When we ask
farmers today what they want from us in terms of new soybean
products, they universally say that they want us to bring the
yield improvements they've seen in corn to soybeans."
Padgette will announce that Monsanto's high-yielding soybeans,
the first biotech product in soybeans focused solely on
improving yield, delivered a 6 to 10 percent yield advantage in
the company's recent Latin American trials.
The higher-yielding trait, which is part of the yield and stress
collaboration with BASF, will be stacked on top of Monsanto's
Roundup Ready 2 Yield™ soybean platform. Roundup Ready 2 Yield
soybeans, which deliver a 7 to 11 percent yield advantage over
the popular first generation Roundup Ready® technology, recently
received regulatory approval in China for importation, placing
them one step closer to the expected controlled commercial
release on 1 to 2 million acres in 2009.
BASF Collaboration
Next week, Padgette will be speaking at a joint BASF and
Monsanto investor event held in Ghent, Belgium. Monsanto's
collaboration with BASF works to identify and commercialize
novel yield and stress trait technologies for farmers.
"We are extremely pleased with the progress in our yield and
stress collaboration with BASF," he said. "Since the start of
the collaboration, we have been able to increase the size of our
yield and stress transformation pipeline by one-third and have
almost 175 field trial locations. Over 90 percent of the genes
nominated by BASF have been unique, providing a nice complement
to Monsanto's lead genes."
Monsanto Company is a leading global provider of
technology-based solutions and agricultural products that
improve farm productivity and food quality.
Monsanto remains focused on enabling both small-holder and
large-scale farmers to produce more from their land while
conserving more of our world's natural resources such as water
and energy. |
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