“See the next decade of biotechnology products.” That’s what Monsanto says its Technology Showcase Tour: The Road Map to Success will demonstrate to farmers in Progress City, IL. The gene optimization, desired trait characteristics and advanced product development that Monsanto promotes with its products is all on display in a live side-by-side comparison of crops with Monsanto products and crops without. The Tour demonstrates how Monsanto works with gene traits to not only protect crops from bugs and weeds, but to “propel yields into the next decade.” Monsanto says its products help match demand with innovative technology, making it possible to meet global feed markets, global food markets and global biofuel markets.

The Tour spelled out how the hybrid system works using female and male parents, which are crossed to produce seed with hybird characteristics. Monsanto displayed these new elite commercial hybrids that it says look bigger and have more yield potential. Researchers are mining corn hybrids not just from the U.S., but from Argentina and Brazil. Representatives say that enables researchers to bring new combinations of genes that benefit growers. They offer new breeding tools that lets scientists pick the valuable gene out of a Brazilian corn line that might be super heat tolerant or a gene from an Argentinian corn line that might have great disease resistance and bring those genes together in a special combination that helps farmers. Monsanto says their tool for breeding is fundamentally changing the yield production for corn production.

Monsanto demonstrated the same ideals in its soybean products. The company says it has found a way to use the RoundUp Ready gene in a place in the soybean chromosome that’s “super hot for yield.” Data shows about a 7 to 11% increase in soybean breeding terms. Monsanto say that’s close to the gain that would be expected from 10 years of breeding. Researchers say there is a huge yield potential embroiled in this product that will provide growers with that “step-change they need to meet that great need for soybean products and the pressure for competition with corn for ethanol.

The pipeline also demonstrates work transforming soybean crops capable of producing oil that is Monsanto claims is virtually identical to olive oil. Oil that is lower in saturated fat and free of harmful trans fats. Monsanto has a million and a half acres dedicated to this demonstration of the first large-scale, identity-preserved value-added gene traits in soybeans.

I spoke briefly with Soybean Trait Manager Gary Elmore about the myriad of technology Monsanto is demonstrating. You can listen to Gary briefly run through what’s going on at the Monsanto Road Map to Success Tour here:
gary_elmore.mp3

Or you can download here: Monsanto Soybean Trait Manager Gary Elmore (1:10 min MP3)

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