ST. LOUIS, Mo. — The cost of controlling weeds in canola fields could drop as much as two-thirds once herbicide-resistant varieties are approved by government, say officials with the Monsanto Co.
After years of painstaking and costly work, Monsanto is ready to reap some benefits too.
“Plant biotechnology is transitioning from a fledgling science to an attractive business,” said Ron Fraley, vice-president of Monsanto’s agricultural group.
Here at Monsanto’s Life Sciences Research Centre, a sprawling complex capped with 1.5 acres of rooftop greenhouses, scientists have spent about $1 billion researching commercial applications for biotechnology.
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Over the past decade 1,000 scientists at the facility have been developing herbicide-tolerant and insect-resistant crops, as well as drugs for humans and animals.
Now within a couple of years of having Roundup Ready canola set to sell, Monsanto is determining how best to recoup the estimated $10 million it cost to develop.
“We hope to have two strings of income for us, but there would still be a significant saving (to farmers),” said Aaron Mitchell, biotechnology manager of Monsanto’s Canadian subsidiary.
Less expensive
Roundup Ready plants have an extra gene that makes them tolerant of the company’s popular broad spectrum herbicide. This means farmers can use less expensive herbicides to control weeds.
In the case of canola, instead of using a herbicide at an average cost of $15 per acre, farmers growing tolerant varieties could control weeds for about $5 an acre.
That should generate a major increase in sales and market share for the company.
But the second source of revenue is more nebulous.
Although the Roundup Ready gene is being developed as part of a specific variety of canola, Mitchell said that is only temporary. Monsanto hopes to sell the gene to other plant breeders to insert into their varieties. But to what extent it will be able to extract royalties from the seed market is questionable.
“With open-pollinated varieties, farmers have the option of going back to their bin (for next year’s seed),” Mitchell said. If the seed royalties are too high, that’s exactly what will happen.
“Obviously seed companies would not want that to happen, so the royalties will have to be in line with what is reasonable,” he said.
