Monsanto, Dow Join Forces on Biotech Corn Traits
15 April 2013 
Monsanto and Dow AgroSciences have reached a cross-licensing agreement to team up on biotech herbicide and insect resistant corn.
Under the agreement, Monsanto will license Dow’s Enlist Weed Control System herbicide-tolerant trait for use in field corn. In addition, Dow will license Monsanto’s third generation corn rootworm technology, Corn Rootworm III, which is under development by Monsanto.
The U.S. companies’ agreement opens the door 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.
According to the companies, these technologies are expected to be introduced in the respective proprietary germplasms and sold competitively as next-generation weed and insect control products. This creates the opportunity to bring together three different modes of action for below-ground insect control in a corn product.
“This agreement builds on the success we had with the original SmartStax agreement, showing that as both companies innovate, we’ll continue to bring the best products to farmers,” said Brett Begemann, Monsanto’s president and chief commercial officer. “We continue to look for additional modes of action that offer benefit to our farmer customers and complement our existing offerings while ensuring the sustainability and durability of the Roundup Ready system. Dow’s Enlist trait is an excellent addition, specifically in its FOPs tolerance offering.”
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