Monsanto invests in wheat with purchase of WestBred

Farm and Ranch July 15, 2009 Monsanto Company announced Tuesday that it had purchased the assets of WestBred, a Montana-based company that specializes in the development of wheat varieties.

Several WestBred wheat varieties are grown in the Pacific Northwest.

Monsanto says their 45 million dollar investment will bolster the future growth of Monsanto’s seeds and traits platform and allow farmers to benefit from the company’s experience in drought, disease, and pest-tolerance innovations.

Carl Casale is Monsanto’s executive vice president of global strategy and operations.

Casale: “Today’s investment will allow us to use our technology platforms to provide wheat growers tangible benefits. Beginning with breeding, researchers will apply Monsanto‘s demonstrated expertise and conventional and marker assisted breeding tools to develop better yielding varieties using WestBred germplasm as a foundation. These varieties could be available to farmers within a few years. Longer term, these seeds will serve as the foundation for the development of new biotechnology traits, including yield and stress.”

Monsanto will explore herbicide-tolerant and disease-resistant biotech traits, but the company does not plan to include further development of the first-generation Roundup Ready trait in wheat.

Both the National Association of Wheat Growers and U.S. Wheat Associates said they welcomed Monsanto’s return to investment in development of biotechnology traits in wheat.

I’m Bob Hoff and that’s the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.