Monsanto Receives Approval for the First Stacked Trait Corn Product in Argentina

04/09/07 Monsanto Company received approval from the Argentina Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food for the company's stacked corn trait product containing the insect protection trait YieldGard Corn Borer (as known in the United States) with Roundup Ready Corn 2 technology. This approval clears the way for the first stacked trait product to be used by Argentine farmers to increase their productivity and add the convenience of reduced pesticide sprays.

This step completes the necessary regulatory approvals for this stacked trait product. The stacked trait approval was issued after a thorough product safety scientific review conducted by the Argentina regulatorybodies of Conabia and Senasa. Monsanto now will work to receive local approvals for the hybrids containing these technologies.

"We're pleased with the decision of the Argentina Agriculture Secretary," said Brett Begemann, Executive Vice President of International Commercial for Monsanto Company. "This approval represents a new opportunity for farmers to access more benefits in one seed while lowering their costs of production and increasing their yields. The approval also adds a new value opportunity for Monsanto in a key, expanding corn market in Latin America."

Argentine farmers planted nearly 8 million acres of hybrid corn in the 2006-2007 growing season. The Monsanto DEKALB brand is the number one corn seed company in Argentina and was sold on 40 percent of the acres last season. By 2010, the company estimates that the Argentine corn market could be as large as 10 million acres as Argentina produces more corn to meet the needs of export markets in Latin America.

Monsanto's stacked traits have the potential to be of value to farmers on more than three-quarters of the corn acreage in Argentina either through its DEKALB brand or through its licensees. Today, the corn borer pest infests more than 80 percent of the corn acres in that country.