Agro Perspectiva

Monsanto Chief Technology Officer to Discuss Company's Research and Development Efforts to Increase Farm Productivity

10.03.2010 10:45 "Agro Perspectiva" (Kyiv) — Innovation in agriculture has brought improved productivity and new value to farmers, Monsanto Company’s (NYSE: MON) Robb Fraley will tell investors today at the Credit Suisse Global Agrochemicals Conference in London. That value will continue to translate to opportunity for both Monsanto and its farmer customers, Fraley will say. Explaining that this opportunity will stem from Monsanto’s continued ability to offer farmers better products, Fraley will discuss the general landscape for agricultural innovation through technology. As companies across agriculture compete to help farmers meet growing global demand for food and feed, increasing interest in and adoption of biotechnology send a promising signal for agriculture, he will explain. «Success for Monsanto is delivering outstanding seeds and traits that increase productivity on farm, whether that’s through breeding or biotechnology,» Fraley will say. «We’ve talked about growing global demand before, and let me be clear: the question isn’t whether we’ll see the demand we’re expecting, but whether it may in fact be greater. Farmers will be challenged with meeting this demand, and our central focus is on helping them do just that. This isn’t science for science’s sake, but rather for the sake of innovation that creates better yield and real value on the farm.» Earlier this year, Monsanto announced a record-breaking pipeline update with 11 project advancements. Touching on some of those advancements, Fraley will discuss the roles of Genuity™ SmartStax™ corn and Genuity™ Roundup Ready 2 Yield® soybeans as platform technologies. Genuity™ SmartStax™ corn already offers the most comprehensive grower protection package available on the market, providing higher yield on reduced refuge with broader insect control. Monsanto recently completed its regulatory submissions in conjunction with Dow AgroSciences for its Genuity™ SmartStax™ refuge-in-a-bag product that would provide greater convenience for farmers, allowing fence row to fence row planting without a separate refuge. A full toolkit of reduced-refuge products for corn growers complement the Genuity™ SmartStax™ foundation, including Genuity™ VT Double PRO™, the industry’s only above-ground stack with a 5 percent refuge and Genuity™ VT Triple PRO™, the only triple-stack product with reduced refuge for the South. In soybeans, Fraley will discuss the opportunity created as Genuity™ Roundup Ready 2 Yield® matures into a platform for additional next-generation trait products currently in development in Monsanto’s soybean pipeline. «We are committed to maintaining this momentum in our pipeline,» Fraley will say. «Farmers have spoken. We know what they want, and that’s a seed they can depend on to deliver the yields they need. Over the next decade, we will continue to provide just that through the biotech and breeding gains you’ll see as our yield and stress pipeline emerges.»