BASF And Monsanto Enter Into Agreement For New Fungicide Seed Treatment Solution In Soybeans

BASF SE (DAX: BAS) and Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON) have signed an exclusive agreement for a new fungicide seed treatment solution for soybeans in the United States. The new product contains BASF’s top-selling fungicide F 500®, the same active ingredient found in Headline® fungicide with its disease control and plant health benefits. The treatment, which is expected to be commercialized in conjunction with the launch of Monsanto’s Roundup Ready 2 Yield™ soybean seed offering, will provide soybean farmers with early-season disease protection which results in improved stand and extra vitality.

“We’re pleased to be partnering with BASF to deliver new seed-based technology to soybean farmers,” said Carl Casale, executive vice president for Monsanto. “We feel the product will be the best seed treatment fungicide available to complement our new Roundup Ready 2 Yield soybean offering. In today’s demand-driven agriculture landscape, seed treatments are a natural fit in maximizing the realizable yield from seed and traits that are so important to farmers.”

“We’re happy that U.S. soybean growers will have access to this exciting new product from our SeedSolutions pipeline in the 2009 growing season,” said Mar-kus Heldt, head of BASF’s Crop Protection business in North America. “This fun-gicide seed treatment is the first in this new generation of BASF seed treatment products that the company plans to launch globally over the next couple of years, and it is the perfect complement to Headline® fungicide to get seedlings off to a strong start,” he added.

Under the agreement, Monsanto will have exclusive rights to commercialize the new fungicide seed treatment in soybeans. Additional details of the agreement were not disclosed.

Since building up its seed treatment research facilities four years ago, BASF sci-entists have focused on bringing new active ingredients with proven disease con-trol and other early-growth plant health benefits to seed partners and ultimately to the grower.

Earlier this year, Monsanto announced that it was establishing a global seed treatment platform focused on identifying new proprietary seed-based technolo-gies that can be launched in parallel with its higher-yielding soybean, corn and cotton seed and traits offerings.

In 2009, Monsanto plans a controlled commercial release of Roundup Ready 2 Yield soybeans that will be treated with a proprietary treatment containing F 500. Roundup Ready 2 Yield soybeans are the second generation of Monsanto Roundup Ready soybean technology that will deliver top-end yield potential, helping farmers meet the growing global food and fuel demands.