The recent ruling by a Federal
District Court that Syngenta Seeds, Inc., did not infringe
patents of Monsanto with respect to development of GA21, its
Agrisure™ GT glyphosate-tolerance trait for corn, is an
important victory for growers, according to leaders at
Syngenta.
“This decision is important
for corn growers because it ensures there will continue to
be more than one source of glyphosate tolerance in the
marketplace,” explains Jeff Cox, head of global corn and
soybean seeds at Syngenta in Golden Valley, Minn. “We were
confident that the patent infringement lawsuits filed by
Monsanto were baseless, and that the Court would confirm
that our GA21 corn was not covered by Monsanto’s patents.
Now that the cloud of uncertainty has been lifted by the
Court, we can move forward aggressively with our plans to
provide an even broader range of glyphosate-tolerant corn
products for growers.”
Cox further explains that the
Syngenta strategy for serving customers is to offer a broad
range of seed genetics, traits and crop protection
products. “Winning the battle to retain rights to the
Agrisure GT trait and, separately, introducing our agreement
with Pioneer Hi-Bred International, which provides access to
the promising Optimum™ GAT™ trait for glyphosate tolerance
and additional corn genetics, are significant steps in our
ability to provide choices of elite genetics and traits, as
well as trusted relationships to our growers. With multiple
sources of genetics, traits and seed brands, we can provide
each individual grower with unique products to increase
productivity.”
Syngenta acquired rights to
GA21 corn from Bayer CropScience in 2004, and since then it
has become an alternative choice for glyphosate tolerance in
corn through multiple seed brands. “While some tout the
available second generation, glyphosate-tolerance corn trait
as being better, GA21 remains the standard today,” says Jack
Bernens, head of the Agrisure Traits business for Syngenta.
“In Monsanto’s own regulatory submissions to the Federal
regulatory bodies, such as the USDA, they have compared the
so-called second generation trait NK603 from Monsanto with
GA21 and determined both provide similar levels of
glyphosate tolerance and are essentially equivalent events.
That’s the same thing we hear from our customers”
The Agrisure GT trait is
available to corn growers as a single trait and in stacks in
elite hybrids of NK® Brand, Garst® and
Golden Harvest®, and a number of other seed
companies who license the trait through GreenLeaf Genetics.
Syngenta is a world-leading agribusiness committed to
sustainable agriculture through innovative research and
technology. The company is a leader in crop protection, and
ranks third in the high-value commercial seeds market.
Sales in 2005 were approximately $8.1 billion. Syngenta
employs some 19,000 people in over 90 countries. Syngenta
is listed on the Swiss stock exchange (SYNN) and in New York
(SYT). Further information is available at
www.syngenta.com.
