SEED INDUSTRY NEWS 

DUPONT AND MONSANTO REACH LICENSE AGREEMENTS
DuPont Pioneer and Monsanto Company have announced a series of technology licensing agreements that will expand the range of seed product offerings. The agreements include a multi-year, royalty-bearing license for Monsanto’s next-generation soybean technologies in the United States and Canada. Through these agreements, DuPont will be able to offer Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield soybeans as early as 2014, and Genuity RR 2 Xtend glyphosate and dicamba tolerant soybeans as early as 2015, pending regulatory approvals. DuPont will also receive regulatory data rights for soybean and corn traits previously licensed from Monsanto, enabling it to create a wide array of stacked trait combinations. Monsanto will receive access to certain DuPont disease resistance and corn defoliation patents. DuPont and Monsanto also agreed to dismiss their respective antitrust and first-generation RR soybean patent lawsuits pending in U.S. federal court.

SUPERFAST PLANT BREEDING CUTS PRODUCTION TIME
Many plant breeding projects depend on getting pure lines of plants but this can take a lot of time due to the fact that, up to now, self-pollination is required for several generations. Until recently, the fastest way to obtain pure lines was to exploit differences in latitude or altitude, such as the shuttle breeding technique. However, even this technique achieved only two or three generations a year. A team of international researchers has now developed a new technique that enables up to eight generations of wheat and nine generations of barley to be achieved a year. The team has perfected a method of embryo culture and was able to achieve these results by combining it with specially modified water, light, temperature, humidity and potting-mix management. The study has just been published in the international journal, Euphytica.

ASTA AND CROPLIFE OFFER NEW SEED TREATMENT WEBSITE
The American Seed Trade Association and CropLife America have jointly produced a guide to seed treatment stewardship website. The guide is the result of an industry-wide initiative to promote the safe handling and management of treated seed. Endorsed by the National Corn Growers Association, the Farm Bureau and the American Soybean Association, the guide provides farmers and seed companies with critical information and up-to-date guidelines for managing treated seed effectively to minimize the risk of exposure to bees and other non-target organisms.

GIANT VIEWS: MBS GENETICS SPANNING THE SEED INDUSTRY
Hear what Gary Smelser, president of MBS Genetics LLC, had to say when he recently sat down with Shawn Brook, president of Seed World. Smelser talks about the company’s goal of providing the best seed stocks and services to the seed industry. “Our main focus is to secure genetics in order to have a regular flow of products for our customers. We strive to be a people-to-people business through trust and the sharing of information to meet all of our customer’s needs,” says Smelser. To see more Giant Views videos, click here.

GENE ALLOWS CORN TO GROW IN POOR CONDITIONS
In a recent study by University of Florida Genetics Institute, corn varieties that can grow successfully in acidic soil were found to contain three copies of a particular gene. Expression of these genes allows plants to tolerate aluminum at high levels in acidic soils. The findings also suggest that gene copy number may be a rapid evolutionary response to new environments or climate change. The triplicate gene may ultimately be used to breed or genetically modify plants to adapt to soil containing high levels of aluminum.

EVOGENE REPORTS YEAR END 2012 RESULTS
Evogene Ltd. has announced its financial results for the year ending Dec. 31, 2012.  Revenues for 2012 were approximately $17.1 million, representing an increase of approximately 15 percent compared to revenues of $14.9 million for the same period in 2011. This increase in revenues primarily relates to the November 2011 extension of Evogene’s multi-year collaboration with Monsanto. “Our position as a world leading discoverer and developer of improved plant traits was significantly strengthened during the past year. Included in our industry collaborations at year end were substantial collaborations with five of the seven leading seed companies in the world. These collaborations cover many important crops, including the four largest food and feed crops―wheat, corn, rice and soybeans,” says Ofer Haviv, Evogene’s president and CEO.

SGS GERMANY CERTIFIED TO AUDIT SEED TREATMENTS
The European Seed Association’s quality assurance scheme for seed treatment and treated seed, the European Seed Treatment Assurance, has announced that SGS Germany is the first company to be accredited by ESA to carry out seed treatment audits for the certification of seed treatment plants. ESTA combines a number of elements to guarantee professional, high quality seed treatment applications such as independent certification of treatment sites by accredited auditors, defined quality reference values with a uniform testing protocol, and safe use information and respective labeling for users. “The accreditation of SGS as first ESTA certifying body marks an important step in the implementation of the scheme,” says Garlich von Essen, ESA’s secretary general. “It shows that the concept is workable and is now being taken up in practice by seed companies.”

AVAILABILITY OF BIOTECH PETITIONS
The United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has announced that the agency has forwarded biotechnology regulatory actions to the Federal Register for publication. With the revised regulatory review process of APHIS, the public can now provide input on petitions for non-regulated status passed by developers of new biotech crops namely, insect resistant and herbicide tolerant soy, herbicide tolerant soy, and herbicide tolerant cotton. The petitions for non-regulated status are available for public comment for 60 days. Through the public review, APHIS will be able to identify any possible environmental and interrelated economic issues which will be considered during the preparation on its final assessments and regulatory determinations.

NAPB ANNUAL MEETING BEING HELD IN JUNE
Early registration is open for the annual meeting of the National Association of Plant Breeders from June 2-5, in Tampa, Fla., to be jointly held with the Plant Breeding Coordinating Committee. The annual meeting features tours, sessions on policies and business, plant breeding education, populations and phenotypes, data collection and archiving and analysis. In addition, there will be a plenary talk about sustainability and plant breeding, workshops with panel-fueled discussions on data collection, archiving and analysis, and on life skills for plant breeders. Attendance does not require prior membership.