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Monsanto Puts a Name on New Weed Tech

Monsanto unveiled the new name for its glyphosate/dicamba tolerance technology in advance of the official opening of the trade show at Commodity Classic in Nashville this morning. The company is calling the technology Roundup Ready 2 Xtend and it is the newest Genuity soybean trait. In its press announcement, Monsanto calls Roundup Ready 2 Xtend "the industry's first biotech-stacked traits in soybeans, offering tolerance to glyphosate and dicamba herbicides, once approved."

With this technology, you'll be controlling weeds with Roundup Xtend which the company calls an enhanced dicamba and glyphosate herbicide premix. This is a "low-volatility formulation."

According to the announcement the new technology will be "an integral component of Monsanto's Roundup Ready PLUS Weed Management Solutions platform." That program provides farmers solutions for effective weed control and the new platform will offer future solutions.

In the press announcement, the company quotes Johnny Dodson, a Halls, Tenn. farmer and past president of the American Soybean Association: "Monsanto’s introduction of this new crop system will be another tool for a farmer’s weed control program, both for those dealing with glyphosate-resistant weeds and those who are trying to minimize the risk of developing resistant weeds. Dicamba is a mode of action that has not been available to soybean producers as an in-crop herbicide."

Once approved, the new technology will be available in all Monsanto soybean brands and broadly licensed to independent seed companies. Although soybean farmers will have first access to Roundup Ready Xtend crops and Roundup Xtend herbicide, Monsanto also plans to have a follow-up introduction for cotton with Bollgard II RR Xtend with LibertyLink. In addition to glyphosate tolerance, this Genuity cotton product would provide growers with dicamba and glufosinate tolerance, pending regulatory approvals.