Genuity VT Double Pro RIB Complete corn receives Canadian approvals

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has approved Genuity(R) VT Double PRO(TM) RIB Complete(TM) corn, making it the second product in the Genuity(R) family of corn trait technologies to be approved as a single bag refuge solution for corn. Genuity(R) VT Double PRO(TM) RIB Complete(TM) joins Genuity(R) SmartStax(R) RIB Complete(TM) as refuge in the bag products available to Canadian corn growers for 2012 planting.

With these latest approvals, Canadian farmers will have more product options that allow them to benefit from the simplicity, convenience and refuge compliance benefits that technologies with the RIB Complete(TM) designation provide.

"With the approval of Genuity(R) VT Double PRO(TM) RIB Complete(TM), farmers can now get the simplicity and convenience that RIB Complete(TM) products provide, in an above-ground only insect protection package," says Mike Nailor, Corn and Soybean Business Lead, with Monsanto Canada, noting that Genuity(R) VT Double PRO(TM) provides control of primary pests including European corn borer, corn earworm and fall armyworm. "Simply put, Genuity(R) VT Double PRO(TM) RIB Complete(TM) provides farmers who are primarily concerned about above-ground insects with a refuge in the bag option that is specific to the needs of their farm, in a way that simplifies refuge requirements and increases their whole farm yield opportunity."

Genuity(R) VT Double PRO(TM) RIB Complete(TM) products contain a blend of 95 percent Genuity(R) VT Double PRO(TM) corn seed and 5 percent refuge (i.e. non-Bt) seed that farmers can plant across their entire field. Farmers who use these products will no longer need to plant a separate, structured refuge for insect pests for those given fields.

In corn production, a refuge is an integral component of good stewardship and resistance management. The refuge provides a shelter for insects susceptible to Bt technology so that any rare, individual insects that survive after feeding on Bt corn can mate with susceptible insects and produce susceptible offspring. This preserves Bt technology - a technology that is vitally important to farmers because it protects the corn plant from the damaging yield losses caused by insect pests.

There are several benefits associated with Genuity(R) RIB Complete(TM) products according to Dr. Mark Lawton, Technology Development Lead for eastern Canada. "Genuity(R) RIB Complete(TM) products provide farmers with automatic compliance with all refuge requirements which in and of itself is fundamentally important. Above and beyond that, it's the simplicity and convenience of not having to plan or plant a separate, structured refuge and manage multiple seed types and bags, and the associated savings in time and labour where farmers will really see the benefits. During planting, time is one of if not the most important resources a farmer has and the RIB Complete(TM) technology literally provides farmers with more time," says Lawton.

"Farmers have told us they want to do the right thing and plant a refuge and, in fact, that is one of the conditions of use when they purchase a corn product with Bt technology; but they have also told us the complexity of planting a refuge is a challenge in the spring. With Genuity(R) RIB Complete(TM) products we're taking the burden of refuge compliance off the shoulders of farmers by including the refuge in the bag, which means when farmers plant a product with the RIB Complete(TM) designation they are automatically compliant."

The approval of Genuity(R) VT Double PRO(TM) RIB Complete(TM) was made possible, in part, because of its multiple modes of action for control of European corn borer, corn earworm and fall armyworm which supports a reduced refuge requirement to just 5% of planted acres. It is the only technology on the market targeted specifically for above-ground insect protection to offer multiple modes of action against these key pests.

Nailor says Genuity(R) RIB Complete(TM) corn hybrids will be available from Monsanto's DEKALB(R) seed brand and from a number of other leading seed brands who license the Genuity(R) VT Double PRO(TM) and Genuity(R) SmartStax(R) technologies from Monsanto for sale starting this Fall for 2012 planting. "We're proud to be leaders in the evolution of refuge and that we were able to respond to feedback from our customers and provide them with a simple and convenient solution to refuge compliance that increases their yield opportunity at the same time."