St. Louis, Missouri and Monterey,
California
June 23, 2009
Monsanto Company (NYSE:
MON) announced today it has entered into a collaboration
agreement with Dole Fresh
Vegetables, Inc., to develop new products that will enhance
consumer vegetable choices.
The five-year collaboration will focus on broccoli, cauliflower,
lettuce and spinach. Plant breeding will be used to improve the
nutrition, flavor, color, texture, taste and aroma of these
vegetables. Any new products realized from this collaboration
could be commercialized by Dole in North America.
"The consumer wins because Dole's market knowledge combined with
our research and development capabilities will help bring new
healthy and flavorful products to consumers," said David Stark,
vice president of consumer traits at Monsanto. "We are very
excited and pleased to bring this focus to our business via this
collaboration with Dole and its strong brand."
"Dole prides itself on innovation and bringing consumers high
quality, nutritious, and great-tasting products," said Roger
Billingsley, senior vice president of research & development for
Dole Fresh Vegetables. "We are looking forward to collaborating
closely with Monsanto to do just that."
This type of collaboration combines the strengths of the two
industry leaders, each bringing their unique capabilities to the
partnership. Monsanto's agricultural expertise that improves the
speed and accuracy of new and beneficial characteristics will be
guided by Dole's knowledge of consumer needs and marketing.
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.
Dole, with 2008 net revenues of $7.6 billion, is the world's
largest producer and marketer of high-quality fresh fruit and
fresh vegetables, and is the leading producer of organic
bananas. Dole markets a growing line of packaged and frozen
foods and is a produce industry leader in nutrition education
and research. |
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