Monsanto offers millions in rebates to farmers

Monsanto said Tuesday it’s offering millions of dollars in larger and new rebates to farmers who use more than one herbicide, including those from competitors, to prevent the further spread of superweeds that are resistant to the company’s Roundup weedkiller.

The herbicides that qualify for rebates include otherMonsanto products such as Warrant, as well as rival companies’ chemicals, including Valent’s Valor and Syngenta’s Dual Magnum, said Janice Person, a  Monsanto spokeswoman.

Scientists and weed specialists say farmers should stop relying solely on Roundup but rather a mixture of herbicides to stop the infestation of hardy pigweed and tall waterhemp from invading farms.

Starting in 2011, cotton farmers in the southeast and mid-south United States who followMonsanto’s so-called Roundup Ready PLUS recommendations are eligible for a rebate of up to $20 per acre, up from an earlier rebate of $12.50 per acre.

Soybean farmers using the company’s recommendations are eligible for new rebates of up to $3 per acre.

The company has not placed a cap on the dollar amount it plans to spend on the rebates, Person said.

“We have talked with farmers, weed scientists and others in the industry to develop a set of best management recommendations to control glyphosate-resistant weeds where they exist and reduce the risk of developing these weeds on other fields where farmers are growing Roundup Ready crops,” said Mike Frank, vice president ofMonsanto’s crop protection business, in a statement. “The Roundup Ready PLUS platform was designed to improve on-farm productivity, sustain the benefits of conservation tillage and provide effective weed management. We have assembled a set of recommendations, products and incentives packaged together to bring solutions to the farm.”