March 2, 2012

 

France's Vilmorin examines GM corn in Europe
 

 

Despite widespread hostility in the region to GM crops, French seed group Vilmorin is testing genetically modified corn in Europe, as it expects the benefits of such varieties eventually to lead to their acceptance, the company said.

 

Vilmorin has folded its GM corn research into a joint venture with German peer KWS SAAT, and the partners could market their own GM varieties as soon as 2014, Chief Executive Emmanuel Rougier said on Thursday (Mar 1).

 

"Europe will not be able to avoid the use of GM crops one day," he said at a presentation of first-half results. "They will become indispensable to achieve competitive production."

 

France has been one of the most vigorous opponents of GM crop cultivation and its government is preparing a new ban on planting Monsanto's MON810 corn after courts last year struck down a previous ban dating back to 2008.

 

Biotech firms have scaled backed GM research in Europe in view of stalled EU talks on crop approvals and with public opposition going as far as ransacking tests.

 

Vilmorin no longer does field tests in France due to a hostile climate but last summer ran tests in some other EU countries, notably in Spain which currently has the highest use of GM corn in the 27-member EU, Rougier said.

 

The field experiments showed good results for corn with herbicide-tolerant and insect-resistant properties, he said.

 

Vilmorin sells GM corn outside Europe, principally in the US, but does not currently have its own patented traits, which means it incorporates strains from other companies such as Monsanto to which it pays royalties.

 

It formed the corn joint venture with KWS, called Genective, late last year to develop varieties for different regions including Europe. The two companies are already commercial partners in the US through their joint venture AgReliant.

 

Vilmorin also seeks to boost its research strength in wheat through a string of small-scale deals, including a partnership with Finland's Boreal Plant Breeding and a full takeover of French durum wheat seed firm Eurodur.

 

Vilmorin this week posted an operating loss of EUR17.2 million (US$23 million) in its fiscal first half to December 31, in keeping with the seasonality of its activity that is weighted towards its second half to end-June.

 

It reiterated full-year guidance for like-for-like sales growth above 7% and an operating margin of 11%.

 

Forecasts for higher US corn plantings and expectations winter losses in Europe would lead to switching to spring crops would support second-half activity but any boost would be limited by tight seed supply, Rougier said.

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