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U.S. and International Soybeans
Despite a reduction in total soybean acres planted in the United States, we are seeing growth in both our Asgrow national brand and our ASI companies. Collectively, Monsanto’s soybean brands were used on approximately 27 percent of U.S. soybean acres in 2007.
Farmers planting these brands already use our first-generation soybean technology, Roundup Ready, for weed control. Backed by our work in both breeding and biotechnology, we have just begun to unlock the potential of our trait technology for this important crop. Roundup Ready 2 Yield, which gained U.S. and Canadian regulatory approvals this year, is scheduled to be launched by 2010. We believe this product, which offers a yield improvement of 7 percent to 11 percent per acre compared with Roundup Ready soybeans, has the potential to be used on 40 million to 50 million acres of U.S. soybeans after 2010.
João Riceto Baggio, Brazilian soy farmer.
Increasingly, Brazilian farmers like Baggio are using Monsanto’s Roundup Ready soybean technology to reduce their on-farm costs. This strong adoption of our product establishes a footprint for Monsanto’s second-generation
soybean technology, Roundup Ready 2 Yield with insect-protection. This product is expected to be available after the turn of the decade, once all necessary approvals have been granted.
Our product development strategies recognize the emerging split of the soybean market into commodity and value-added segments.
We are differentiating ourselves in the commodity segment by offering superior yield and yield protection. Roundup Ready 2 Yield will provide substantially increased yield while creating a strong foundation for the growth of double- and triple-stacked products. In fact, we expect soybeans to follow the pattern of corn. It is reasonable to expect that we will be stacking three or more traits by the middle of the next decade. Adding traits for insect control, higher yield, and dicamba tolerance — all in our R&D pipeline — will transform the landscape of soybean production and create new value for our business well into the next decade.
On the value-added side, our first-generation Vistive soybeans, which have been bred to offer the dietary advantages of low levels of linolenic acid, have enjoyed strong growth. We are in the process of developing Vistive II soybeans, which offer health and flavor characteristics similar to olive oil. Monsanto’s scientists are also creating soybeans with higher oil yields, which can boost oil output for food production with potential use for biodiesel.
In Brazil, farmers used our Roundup Ready soybean technology on 26 million acres of the 50 million acres planted in 2007, representing nearly a 35 percent increase in trait acres compared with the prior year. This growth is a strong step toward the 90 percent penetration level that we estimate could happen around the end of this decade.
The penetration in Brazil also establishes a platform for the introduction of our Roundup Ready 2 Yield and insect-protected soybean product after the turn of the decade, once regulatory approvals have been granted.
