St. Louis, Missouri
May 13, 2009
The company expects U.S. and
international seeds and traits gross profit to almost double by
2012 from 2008 baseline; anticipates launching a new HIT project
every one to two years.
With global demand for grain expected to continue to rise,
Monsanto Company (NYSE:
MON) announced today which of its current pipeline products will
be the next wave of high impact technology (HIT) products
focused on contributing to improving farmers' yields and driving
the long-term growth in the company's seeds and traits platform.
After creating the standard for HIT projects, Monsanto has
raised the bar. Now a HIT project must have the potential to be
planted on more than 45 million acres and deliver more than $300
million gross revenue opportunities by 2020 in the country of
initial launch. This is the message Monsanto executives will
deliver at investor conferences today and tomorrow.
Chief Technology Officer Robb Fraley will deliver a presentation
at the BMO Capital Markets 2009 Agriculture, Protein &
Fertilizer Conference today, and tomorrow Kerry Preete, Monsanto
Vice President, International Commercial, will present at the
Gabelli & Company's Specialty Chemical Conference. Both
conferences will be held in New York.
Fraley will highlight seven HIT projects that are expected to
launch by the middle to the end of the next decade, positioning
the company to launch a HIT project every one to two years. Two
HIT projects, Genuity™ Roundup Ready 2 Yield™ soybeans and
Genuity™ SmartStax™ corn, which is in its final stages of
regulatory review, will serve as the foundation for the new HIT
projects' family of traits. The company's new corn HIT projects
will include traits from the drought-tolerant family; the
broad-acre, higher-yielding family; and the nitrogen-utilization
family, all of which are part of our yield and stress
collaboration with BASF. The new soybean HIT projects will
include the insect-protected technology for Brazilian farmers
and the broad-acre, higher-yielding family of soybeans.
"The world population is expected to top 8 billion people by
2030, with significant dietary shifts toward more meat
consumption. To help meet the growing food demands, we're
focused on growing more grain with fewer resources through the
application of new HIT products," Fraley will say. "Innovation
from breeding and biotechnology has consistently delivered on
the promise of more yield, helping farmers increase
productivity."
Optimizing innovation globally
By leveraging its successful innovation, Monsanto is
well-positioned to optimize the key drivers of its gross profit
through price, seed share and trait penetration, Preete will
tell investors tomorrow.
"Our international segment is a key part of our growth expected
from seeds and traits going forward," Preete will say.
"Monsanto's ability to optimize the value of its products,
deliver innovation and enhance biotech trait penetration on a
well-established seed footprint applies no matter where you are
in the world."
Preete will also highlight that the company expects its U.S.
seeds and traits gross profit to double by 2012 from a 2008
baseline, with growth of nearly 85 percent from international
seeds and traits forecasted for the same time frame.
Monsanto Company is a leading global provider of
technology-based solutions and agricultural products that
improve farm productivity and food quality. Monsanto remains
focused on enabling both small-holder and large-scale farmers to
produce more from their land while conserving more of our
world's natural resources such as water and energy. |
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