ST. LOUIS, Sept. 15, 2010 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Early 2010 corn harvest results in the South for farmers using Monsanto Company's (NYSE: MON) products that maximize yield potential – particularly Genuity® VT Triple PRO™ – are encouraging, Brett Begemann, the company's executive vice president of seeds and traits, will tell investors today at the Credit Suisse 23rd Annual Chemical and Ag Science Conference.
Monsanto's value proposition comes from delivering products that perform on the farm and increase the profitability of the farmer, Begemann will say. With the United States Department of Agriculture reporting total corn harvest currently is 11 percent complete, Monsanto's initial data for the areas first harvested in the Southern Corn Belt – where Genuity VT Triple PRO is the lead refuge reduction product – shows yield advantages for its customers, Begemann will tell investors.
"When the farmer wins and sees yield advantages on farm, that's a win for us, and I feel very good about this year's harvest so far," Begemann will say. "What's important at the end of the day is doing right by our farmer customers, and what I'm hearing from them is that our new approach of bringing them more products at more price points does just that."
In corn, the reduced-refuge family dual mode above-ground technology is giving farmers the ability, for the first time, to control corn earworm. In Monsanto's preliminary yield trials of more than 1,400 comparisons in the South, Genuity VT Triple PRO is demonstrating a yield advantage of more than eight bushels per acre over competitors. This represents a real improvement in performance for Monsanto products in this part of the country on top of the whole yield value that comes from the benefit of refuge reduction. Harvest is at early stages in the Central Corn Belt, where the majority of Genuity® SmartStax® planting occurs. According to feedback to Monsanto's agronomists, farmers have been impressed with the root and ear protection this season and are excited about the opportunity for reduced refuge, Begemann will say. Based on these early performance indicators, Monsanto is anticipating Genuity SmartStax performance will prove itself in its launch year, creating a good platform to show farmers a new whole-farm value with this reduced-refuge technology. In soybeans, Begemann will say although the harvest is just beginning, he's also encouraged by reports of excellent crop development for Genuity® Roundup Ready 2 Yield® crop this season.
A resource page tracking 2010 harvest updates, information and data is available at: http://www.monsanto.com/productperformance/Pages/default.aspx.
Monsanto will provide a complete report on fourth-quarter and fiscal-year earnings on Oct. 6.
