As farmers continue planting in the United States this spring, Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON) initiated proactive steps to provide clear information to its U.S. farmer customers regarding Monsanto corn trait products and reinforced the company’s expectation that its products will remain fully available and marketable.

With the potential confusion surrounding media reports that the European Union’s is instituting special testing requirements that assures corn gluten feed that enters the EU does not contain Syngenta’s Bt10 trait product, Monsanto officials believed it was important to provide the information to its farmer customers. 

These new EU measures aimed at Syngenta’s Bt10 trait product do not restrict farmers’ options for the marketability and acceptance of corn produced from Monsanto’s internationally approved biotechnology traits.  Syngenta’s Bt10 product has never been used or sold by Monsanto.

Additionally, Monsanto continues to see strong demand for its products, especially Monsanto’s corn seed and biotechnology traits, according to Kerry Preete, vice president of U.S. Crop Production for Monsanto.  In its latest crop bulletin, the U.S. Department of Agriculture indicates that the warm weather across the Corn Belt is favorable for planting, and Monsanto is reporting significant planting throughout the Corn Belt.  Monsanto continues to see strong demand for its U.S. corn seed and biotech traits, including Roundup Ready Corn 2, YieldGard Corn Borer and YieldGard Rootworm.  As a result, Monsanto remains confident that it will meet the operational and financial commitments it has made for its 2005 fiscal year.

“We recognize that farmers may have questions about the EU process.  It’s important that they understand and are confident that – with Monsanto’s widely accepted products – they will continue to have all the marketing options with approved biotech traits that they had last year,” said Preete.  “We recognize the importance of marketing for our farmer customers, and our top priority is ensuring they get the information they need and they can plant their corn fields with confidence this year and for many more to come.”

Notably, Monsanto has in place an extensive seed-quality assurance program that screens the parent seed that is used by Monsanto’s DEKALB and Asgrow brands and provided by Holden’s to its seed partners to produce hybrid seed for growers.  The company’s combination of foundation and commercial seed quality assurance processes and production methods are designed to guard against the possibility of unintended and unapproved events, such as Syngenta’s Bt10, being introduced into its seed lines.  These practices have been demonstrated to be effective in producing the highest quality seed products for Monsanto’s customers and seed partners.

Today, Monsanto’s customers have more corn trait technologies available than ever before, and continue to have strong marketing options for these technologies.  YieldGard Corn Borer and Roundup Ready Corn 2 single events are both fully approved by the EU.  YieldGard Rootworm, YieldGard Corn Borer with Roundup Ready Corn 2, YieldGard Rootworm with Roundup Ready Corn 2, YieldGard Plus, YieldGard Plus with Roundup Ready Corn 2, and Herculex® with Roundup Ready Corn 2 can all be marketed under the Market Choices® certification mark, which identifies appropriate markets for grain, including domestic feed use.

Additionally, Monsanto also has extensive information on grain marketing options for farmers who may have questions about corn traits they are using.  Information is available through a toll-free hotline at 1-866-SELLCORN (1-866-735-5267) and through the Internet at www.866sellcorn.com. 

Monsanto Company is a leading global provider of technology-based solutions and agricultural products that improve farm productivity and food quality.

DEKALB, Asgrow, YieldGard and Roundup Ready are registered trademarks of Monsanto Company and its wholly owned subsidiaries.  Herculex is a registered trademark of Dow AgroSciences LLC.  Market Choices is a registered certification mark used under license from the American Seed Trade Association.