Monsanto Completes Regulatory Submissions For World’s First Drought-Tolerant Corn
9 March 2009 According to a company press release, Monsanto Company has announced the completion of regulatory submissions in the US and Canada for the world’s first GM drought-tolerant corn product, which was developed in partnership with Germany-based BASF as part of the two companies’s research and development R&D and commercialization collaboration in plant biotechnology. Monsanto and BASF are jointly contributing US $1.5 billion over the life of the collaboration, the purpose of which is to develop higher-yielding crops and crops more tolerant to adverse environmental conditions such as drought. Field trials for the drought-tolerant corn conducted in the US’s Western Great Plains last year met or exceeded the 6% to 10% target yield enhancement – about 7 to 10 bushels per acre – over the average yield of 70 – 130 bushels per acre, says the company.
Monsanto applied for US Department of Agriculture (USDA) approval of the product following its submission
to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last December. The company has also completed submissions to the relevant Canadian agencies, which will be followed by regulatory submissions in Japan, Mexico, and Korea in the next several months.
In its fourth-annual R&D pipeline update in January, Monsanto announced that drought-tolerant corn had moved to the fourth – and final – phase before an anticipated market launch around 2012, pending regulatory approvals. The corn is part of a family of drought-tolerant products Monsanto plans to bring to the market over
the next several years.
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