Achievements
in Plant
Biotechnology
2000

Evaluation
Corn

Monsanto offers three biotech corn products with potential to improve crop yields and enable farmers to reduce their use of agricultural chemicals - advantages that provide economic benefits to growers and environmental benefits to consumers.

The three products are: YieldGard insect-protected corn - grown commercially in the U.S. since 1997 - which features whole plant, whole season protection against destructive corn borers; Roundup Ready corn - commercialized in the U.S. in 1998 - which provides built-in tolerance of Roundup Ready herbicide for broader spectrum weed control in the growing crop; and Roundup Ready/YieldGard tacked trait corn - introduced to U.S. Growers in 1999 - which provides tolerance to Roundup herbicide and corn borer protection in a single plant.

YieldGard Corn
In 2000, YieldGard corn was grown on over 10 million acres in the U.S. and on nearly two million total acres in Argentina, Canada and South Africa. The year 2000 also marked the first year for YieldGard plantings in Germany.

YieldGard corn contains an insecticidal protein, called Bacillus thurengiensis (B.t.), that provides season-long protection from European and southwestern corn borers - pests that feed on all parts of the plant throughout the growing season. Severe infestations of corn borers can significantly reduce yield, grain quality and sustainability. YieldGard corn works by expressing an insecticidal protein throughout all parts of the plant, protecting it from damage. It also effectively controls multiple generations of pests during the growing season, allowing the corn crops to optimize their yield potential.

Benefits
YieldGard is available to growers in a wide range of corn hybrids, and it has consistently proven its ability to produce more bushels of corn per acre than non-B.t. hybrids. However, the yield advantage offered by YieldGard hybrids varies from year to year depending on the level of corn borer infestation. Side-by-side YieldGard and non-Bt comparison trials conducted at hundreds of U.S. sites during the past four years show an average 10 percent yield increase with YieldGard corn as compared to non-B.t. Hybrids

As a result, growers who planted YieldGard were highly satisfied. Ninety-three percent of U.S. Growers who planted YieldGard in 2000 indicated they were satisfied with the product overall, and 94 percent reported YieldGard to be a fair to very good value, with nearly 70 percent of growers rating YieldGard corn to be a greater value than non-Bt corn. On average, these growers placed an added value of $13.54 per acre on their YieldGard hybrids.

With Roundup Ready corn, farmers can control 145 weed species with a single herbicide by applying Roundup herbicide over the top of their growing plants.

In Canada, B.t. corn was grown on about one-third of the total corn acres in 2000, with YieldGard making up the majority of the market. Canadian farmers achieved an average five bushel per acre yield advantage with YieldGard over conventional hybrids.

In Argentina, where the product brand name is Maizgard, Monsanto's B.t. Hybrids provided growers with a 14 percent per acre higher yield than conventional hybrids. Yield and grower satisfaction data for YieldGard corn grown in South Africa during the 2000-2001 season were not available as of this printing.

Roundup Ready Corn
With conventional corn hybrids, growers use a variety of herbicides to control the spectrum of weeds that compete with their crops. This necessity can have economic and performance ramifications, both of which are addressed by Roundup Ready corn.

Benefits
With Roundup Ready corn, farmers can control 145 weed species with a single herbicide by applying Roundup herbicide over the top of their growing plants. In fact, 96 percent of surveyed U.S. Roundup Ready corn growers reported they were satisfied with the Roundup Ready corn system overall. In addition, 89 percent of Roundup Ready corn growers (in 2000) indicated Roundup Ready corn was a some-what or much better value compared to non-Roundup Ready corn.

In Canada, where 2000 was the second commercial year for Roundup Ready corn, growers planted seed with Monsanto's herbicide tolerant trait on 80,000 more acres than in 1999. Nearly 100 percent of surveyed Roundup Ready corn growers there reported equal or better weed control with the Roundup Ready system as compared to conventional systems and rated crop safety as good to excellent. 2000 also was the second commercial year for Roundup Ready corn in Bulgaria.

Roundup Ready/YieldGard Stacked Trait Corn
Crops with more than one biotech trait are called "stacked trait " plants, and Monsanto's new Roundup Ready/YieldGard stacked trait corn was grown on more than 140,000 U.S. acres in 2000. Anecdotal information indicates growers were satisfied with the system and plan to use it again. In fact, Roundup Ready/YieldGard stacked trait corn could be planted on one million acres in the 2001 growing season based on seed orders as of this printing.