Monsanto’s Genuity seed products offer significant yield advantage

Corn and soybean harvest results for 2009 confirm that Monsanto Company seed products maintained a significant yield advantage compared with competitors, and new technologies such as Genuity SmartStax corn and Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield soybeans are delivering a step change in performance.

Dr Ted Crosbie, Monsanto vice president breeding, shared this year's yield trial results conducted throughout the Corn Belt with investors, at the American Seed Trade Association's annual meeting in Chicago on 8 December.

"Our performance results show that the combination of best-in-class germplasm and insect traits in our leading triple stack corn technologies continued to provide significant on-farm value, despite this year's low insect pressure and abundant moisture," Crosbie said.

"Monsanto's seed innovation is targeted at helping farmers double their yields by 2030 and our new blockbuster technologies in corn and soybeans are the gateways to this yield advancement."

This year's data set, which is generated by third parties as well as the company, highlights that:
* Corn seed brand leader DEKALB expanded its germplasm advantage in 2009 to a record level, with an overall 9.9 bushel-per-acre yield advantage versus national competitor products, improving significantly in the 105 to 115-day relative maturity (RM) zone. Additionally, farmers who planted DEKALB brand's five leading triple stack corn hybrids continue to realise strong yields compared to Pioneer brand corn hybrids. In more than 4,000 third-party and company comparisons, DEKALB brand hybrids overall out-yielded comparative Pioneer hybrids by 9.7 bushels per acre, beating the three-year average of 7.9 bushels per acre.

* The 2009 harvest season, one of the latest on record, created corn moisture challenges in several states. US farmers who use DEKALB brand triple stack hybrids experienced greater profitability from the yield and dry-down. In the 100-day RM zone, DEKALB brand YieldGard VT Triple hybrids delivered on average 10.5 bushels more per acre and were 1.8 percent drier at harvest versus competitor triple stacks, generating a $60 per acre farmer revenue advantage.

* Increased yield from a reduced refuge, improved pest control through multiple modes of action and superior germplasm combine to make Genuity SmartStax the highest yielding corn product available. In a low stress year, reduced refuge and improved pest control with Genuity SmartStax delivered a 6.3 bushel per acre advantage over competitor triple stacks. Combined with a yield advantage for DEKALB brand genetics of 8.7 bushels per acre, Genuity SmartStax demonstrated a whole-farm benefit of 15 bushels per acre against competitors.

* Through yield and other benefits, the Genuity SmartStax system is expected to deliver an estimated whole-farm revenue advantage of $60 per acre versus competitors and $47 per acre versus YieldGard VT Triple.

Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield Soybeans Are Delivering Outstanding Results
With a three-year rolling average yield benefit of more than 7 percent across more than 40,000 comparisons, Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield is a superior soybean platform compared to Roundup Ready soybeans.

"A 7 percent yield bump represents a significant step change in soybean yields," Crosbie said. "This technology is equal to six to seven years of traditional soybean breeding improvements in one year."

Data results for Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield soybeans show that:
* The Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield soybean trait won 73 percent of the reported F.I.R.S.T. trials, which are third-party farmer variety trials.

* The Class of 2010 Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield soybean advancements are delivering outstanding results with a 4.7 bushel-per-acre advantage versus national competitive Roundup Ready soybeans. The Class of 2010 represents more than 70 percent of volume available next year.

* The Class of 2010 is the first step in expanding the genetic bandwidth and diversity for the new soybean technology. In 2009, farmers had less than 15 varieties of Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield available. In 2010, there are expected to be more than 60 varieties available to farmers with more than 1,200 candidate varieties being considered for the Class of 2011.

Next year, Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield varieties are expected to be available on 8- to 10 million acres. Genuity SmartStax is expected to make its debut on more than 4 million acres.