Dow, Monsanto get approval for SmartStax Corn

U.S. and Canadian farmers are one step closer to realizing the greater whole farm corn yield advantages of a new corn seed trait combination that will provide the most comprehensive insect and weed control and allow farmers to significantly reduce their refuge. These benefits will be realized through SmartStax^TM, which is the outcome of a cross licensing agreement and research and development collaboration signed in 2007 between Monsanto Company and Dow AgroSciences LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company.

SmartStax, the agriculture industry’s most advanced, all-in-one corn trait platform, received registration from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and regulatory authorization from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and remains on track for a 2010 commercial launch. SmartStax combines each company’s industry-leading corn traits to provide farmers the absolute broadest spectrum of above- and below-ground protection available against insects and weeds versus any product in the market today.

Using multiple modes of action for insect control is the state-of-the-art proven means to reduce structured refuge and maintain long-term durability of corn trait technologies. SmartStax uniquely features a combination of insect control traits that significantly reduces the risk of resistance for both above- and below-ground pests. As a result, the decisions by the EPA and CFIA will allow reduction of the typical structured farm refuge from 20 percent to 5 percent for SmartStax in the U.S. Corn Belt and Canada, and from 50 percent to 20 percent in the U.S. Cotton Belt.

As part of today’s announcement, the companies noted that the new corn seed technology is expected to be offered to farmers on 3 million- to 4-million-plus acres in its first year of availability. The product’s launch would represent the largest introduction of a corn biotech seed product in the history of agriculture.