OAKVILLE, Man. — If nothing else, Danielle Berard will remember one lesson from the morning of June 23: it’s nearly impossible to talk over the sound of a freight train.
Berard, a Monsanto Canada agronomist, was one of several company reps who spoke at a field training session about 250 metres from the main Canadian National Railway line in south-central Manitoba.
While the train thundered past and interrupted Berard’s presentation, the momentum of the freight train was an apt analogy for Monsanto’s determination to introduce its new technology, the Roundup Ready Xtend crop system.
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Monsanto has been touting its new glyphosate-dicamba tolerance trait for soybeans for several years.
Monsanto is still waiting on Chinese approval for the genetically modified technology. Until that happens, China won’t import soybeans with dicamba-glyphosate tolerance and Monsanto can’t fully release the trait onto the market.
Despite the roadblock, Monsanto is moving forward in a big way to commercialize Roundup Ready 2 Xtend soybeans.
“We have high confidence that we will get regulatory approval,” said Jennifer Ewankiw, Monsanto Canada’s crop protection marketing manager, who attended the training session at an experimental plot near Oakville.
“We have taken a lot of risk. A lot of dollars have gone into ensuring we have a seed supply.”
Monsanto has contracted farmers in Manitoba, Ontario and across the United States to replicate soybean seeds with the new trait so that varieties will be available for next growing season.
“We have seed production (farmers) growing our product and are launching in more (soybean) maturing zones than we had originally expected due to delays in regulatory approvals,” Ewankiw said.
“So (we’ll be) ready to go in Ontario, Manitoba and into Saskatchewan.”
Monsanto has been selling soybeans with tolerance to glyphosate for nearly 20 years, but it plans to shift completely over to the new trait.
“Within five years we’d like to transition from Roundup Ready … to the Xtend system,” she said.
“We like (our) products in the market to be the best products possible, and this one offers the most options for growers.”
Bruce Murray, a Dekalb agronomist with Monsanto in southeastern Manitoba, said a tank mix of dicamba and glyphosate should slow the progress of glyphosate resistant weeds on the Prairies.
“This is a really nice tank mix made available to producers because we put a tolerance into a plant,” he said.
“If we’re serious about keeping some of these herbicides alive … we have to do more tank mixes.”
Soybeans are becoming increasingly popular in Manitoba and eastern Saskatchewan, but Murray said they should never bump other crops out of the rotation.
“Three crops are better than two crops. Don’t drop anything,” he said.
“Diversifying the system is the way to go. This (Xtend) is just another option with a really nice herbicide option…. It’s an easy way to get better.”
Ewankiw said Monsanto expects China to approve the soybean trait in July or November.
“China only approves traits a couple of times per year.”
robert.arnason@producer.com
