INDIANAPOLIS and ST. LOUIS — Monsanto Company and Dow AgroSciences LLC have reached new cross-licensing agreements for creation of the next generation of advanced weed and insect control technology in corn.
Monsanto will license Dow AgroSciences’ new Enlist Weed Control System herbicide-tolerant trait for use in field corn. Dow AgroSciences will license Monsanto’s third generation corn rootworm technology, Corn Rootworm III, which is presently under development by Monsanto and offers a new mode of action for rootworm control.
The agreement paves the way for introduction (pending regulatory approvals) of next-generation products that build off the current SmartStax platform, which includes Dow’s Herculex and Monsanto’s insect resistance and herbicide-tolerance traits.
Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
What it means
Under the agreements, Monsanto and Dow AgroSciences will license to each other, under royalty-bearing agreements, traits for weed control as well as insect protection in corn. Specifically:
- Dow AgroSciences will license to Monsanto its proprietary Enlist corn herbicide-tolerant trait on a non-exclusive basis.
- Monsanto will license to Dow its third generation corn rootworm technology, Corn Rootworm III, on a non-exclusive basis.
SmartStax development
The agreement paves the way for U.S. introduction (pending regulatory approvals) of new, next-generation SmartStax products by the end of the decade.
Monsanto will represent both parties for joint third-party licensing of the next-generation SmartStax corn to third-party seed companies.
Dow AgroSciences will out-license the rights to the Enlist trait technology.
Both parties will retain the right to independently stack additional trait technologies.
As currently sold, SmartStax corn includes Dow AgroSciences’ above- and below-ground insect resistance traits, Herculex I and Herculex RW, and glufosinate herbicide tolerance trait; Bayer Crop Sciences’ Liberty Link; and Monsanto’s above- and below-ground insect resistance traits YieldGard VT Rootworm/RR2 and YieldGard VT PRO as well as Monsanto’s Roundup Ready glyphosate tolerance trait.
