March 10, 2009

Monsanto Company announced that it has completed regulatory submissions in the US and Canada for the world's first biotech drought-tolerant corn product developed together with Germany-based BASF.

The company applied for USDA approval of its drought-tolerant corn product following its submission to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last December. It also has completed submissions to relevant Canadian agencies. Regulatory submissions in key import markets such as Japan, Mexico, and Korea, will be made in the next several months.

Drought-tolerant corn is designed to provide farmers yield stability during periods when water supply is scarce by mitigating its effects on a corn plant. Field trials for drought-tolerant corn conducted last year in the Western Great Plains met or exceeded the 6 percent to 10 percent target yield enhancement - about 7 to 10 bushels per acre - over the average yield of 70-130 bushels per acre in some of the key drought-prone areas in the US.

Drought-tolerant corn technology is part of Monsanto's R&D and commercialisation collaboration in plant biotechnology with Germany-based BASF. The two companies are jointly contributing US$1.5 billion over the life of the collaboration, which is aimed at developing higher-yielding crops and crops more tolerant to adverse environmental conditions such as drought.

In its fourth-annual Research and Development (R&D) pipeline update in January, Monsanto announced that drought-tolerant corn had moved to the fourth - and final - phase before an anticipated market launch around 2012, pending regulatory approvals. This first biotech drought-tolerant corn is part of a family of drought-tolerant products Monsanto plans to bring to the market over the next several years. The company's second-generation drought-tolerant corn product, which is expected to have broad-acre application, is in Phase 2, consisting of lab and field testing of plant genes.