Nufarm Limited announced today that it has acquired a licence to develop and commercialise Roundup Ready® canola in Australia. Nufarm has paid Monsanto a total of $10 million for Monsanto’s Roundup Ready® canola germ plasm and a licence to the Roundup Ready® canola trait.

The agreement complements Nufarm’s recent acquisitions of several seed businesses in Australia and allows Nufarm to accelerate the development and introduction of new seed technologies.

Roundup Ready® is a genetic trait that allows farmers to use Roundup herbicide over the top of their crops, offering broad spectrum and efficient weed control and simplifying production of those crops.

Nufarm’s Managing Director, Doug Rathbone, says the agronomic and economic benefits of the trait have been embraced by the world’s largest canola growing market, Canada, where Roundup Ready® canola was first introduced in 1996 and now represents about 45 percent of all canola grown in Canada.

The Roundup Ready® canola trait was approved by the Australian Office of Gene Technology Regulator (OGTR) in December 2003, but has not yet been commercialised in Australia following the imposition of State Government moratoriums in the major canola growing States.

Mr Rathbone says that, pending relevant State government authorisation, Nufarm’s Australian canola seed business platform is ideally placed to develop and bring to market Roundup Ready® canola varieties.

“Nufarm now has a clear leadership position in the Australian canola seed business,” he said. “We will continue with the Roundup Ready® breeding program, with the objective of commercialising the product when market conditions allow.”

Approximately one million hectares of canola are grown in Australia each year. Canola is an oilseed crop with properties that make it suitable for use in home kitchens, restaurants, and food processing applications. Canola is also being sought to meet increasing demand from the emerging bio-fuels industry.