SmartStax corn receives import approvals

INDIANAPOLIS –Two more key regulatory milestones have been reached for the 2010 commercial launch of SmartStax, the corn industry’s eagerly anticipated seed trait combination. U.S. and Canadian corn farmers are now two steps closer to being able to plant the most comprehensive insect and weed control product in the industry, allowing them to significantly reduce their refuge acres.

Monsanto Company and Dow AgroSciences LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company, have received import regulatory approvals from Korea and Taiwan for corn grain produced from SmartStax.

Reviewed and approved

The food and feed safety of SmartStax corn was reviewed and approved by the Korean and Taiwan agencies charged with regulating biotech traits.

These two additional approvals follow U.S., Canadian and Japanese regulatory approvals announced by the companies in July 2009.

With these approvals, SmartStax cultivation in the U.S. and Canada has taken a major step forward. Grain produced from SmartStax corn can now be imported to Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand, among other countries.

Result

SmartStax is the result of best-in-class trait integration that combines each company’s industry-leading corn traits to provide growers the broadest spectrum of above- and below-ground protection against pests and weeds versus any competitor in the market today.

The multiple modes of action in SmartStax are the only proven means to reduce structured refuge and maintain long-term durability of corn trait technologies.

U.S. and Canadian corn farmers who plant SmartStax will be able to substantially reduce the structured refuge from the typical 20 percent to 5 percent in Canada and the U.S. Corn Belt and from 50 percent to 20 percent in U.S. cotton growing areas.

By combining a comprehensive approach for insect and weed control with reduced above- and below-ground structured refuge, farmers who adopt SmartStax will have the opportunity to increase whole-farm corn yields.

Outcome

SmartStax is the outcome of a cross-licensing agreement and research and development collaboration signed in 2007 between Monsanto and Dow AgroSciences.

Monsanto will bring the corn product to market as Genuity SmartStax. Dow AgroSciences plans to offer SmartStax through its seed brands which include Mycogen, Dairyland, Renze, Brodbeck, Triumph and Pfister.