- Monsanto and Dow AgroSciences LLC, a subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company, have reached a cross-licensing agreement aimed at launching SmartStax™, the industry’s first-ever eight-gene stacked combination in corn. The agreement is expected to create a new competitive standard for stacked-trait offerings and present an expanded growth opportunity for both companies’ seed brands and traits businesses by the end of the decade.
Under the agreement, the companies will create a novel seed offering that combines eight different herbicide tolerance and insect-protection genes into top-performing hybrids for the most complete control ever available. The product will include the companies’ respective above- and below-ground insect protection systems, including Dow AgroSciences’ Herculex® I and Herculex RW technologies; Monsanto’s YieldGard VT Rootworm/RR2™ and YieldGard VT PRO™ technologies; and the two established weed control systems, Roundup Ready® and Liberty Link®.
The companies will hold an exclusive joint news conference via teleconference for ag media on Monday, Sept. 17 at Noon Eastern; 11 a.m. Central.
An overview of the agreement will be provided, followed by comments from Ernesto Fajardo, U.S. Crop Production Leader for Monsanto, and Jerome Peribere, President and CEO for Dow AgroSciences. Their comments will be followed by a Question & Answer session for the media.
The press conference dial-in number is 888-530-8128. If you plan to participate in the teleconference on Monday, please email Darrell Bruggink at dbruggink@bader-rutter.com.
