Gene stack licensing agreement forged

MIDLAND, Mich. – Dow AgroSciences LLC, a subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company, recently formed a cross-licensing agreement with Monsanto that breaks new ground in the commercialization of gene stack technology.
The agreement is aimed at launching SmartStax, the most complete yield protection ever made available in a corn hybrid, featuring eight different Dow AgroSciences and Monsanto herbicide tolerance and insect-protection genes.
Availability. This technology is expected to be available to corn growers by the end of the decade.
The agreement will generate new royalty revenues for Dow and provide an important platform for future business growth, as the company incorporates SmartStax into new, higher-yielding hybrid seed combinations and stacks it with the other trait technologies currently under development.
According to the companies, SmartStax will include above- and below-ground insect protection systems, including Dow AgroSciences’ Herculex I and Herculex RW technologies; Monsanto’s YieldGard VT Rootworm/RR2 and YieldGard VT PRO technologies; and the two established weed control systems, Roundup Ready and Liberty Link.
Both Dow and Monsanto will cross-license, under royalty- bearing agreements, their respective systems.