Syngenta Crop Protection, Greensboro, NC, says the EPA has announced a favorable reregistration decision for the herbicide atrazine, paving the way for its continued use by American farmers for weed control in corn, grain sorghum, sugar cane and other crops.

In announcing highlights of its amended Interim Reregistration Eligibility Decision (IRED), the EPA restated earlier conclusions, including identifying atrazine as “not likely” to cause cancer in humans. An IRED is a document issued by the EPA in the course of reregistering a pesticide. The EPA plans to issue the tolerance reassessment and final reregistration decision for atrazine in 2005-06, once cumulative risks for all triazine herbicides are considered.

Monsanto Company, St. Louis, MO, announced that the EPA has granted registration for YieldGard Plus corn — a major step toward providing the first biotech product designed to control both corn borer and corn rootworm pests. The EPA granted Monsanto registration for YieldGard Plus corn, completing the agency's comprehensive environmental safety assessment.

YieldGard Plus corn joins Monsanto's YieldGard family of insect-protected products for corn, which also includes YieldGard Corn Borer and YieldGard Rootworm corn. For more information, visit www.monsanto.com.

Monsanto Company, St. Louis, MO, announced that its researchers are applying conventional breeding and biotechnology techniques to develop soybeans that will produce oil containing less trans-fat and saturated fat. The announcement follows the recent establishment of federal guidelines that will require food manufacturers to disclose the amount of trans-fat on food labels by 2006.

Monsanto is applying conventional breeding techniques to produce a soybean low in linolenic acid. This soybean would produce a soy oil that could help reduce trans-fats in many foods and even eliminate them in some. This product should be available in limited quantities in time to meet the 2006 labeling guidelines.

BASF has announced that it will discontinue its Harvest Partners preferred customer program, a grower loyalty program launched in 1992. According to a company spokesperson, the program is not consistent with BASF's channel-focused strategy today.

The Harvest Partners preferred customer program offered growers award credits that could be redeemed for merchandise and services. Members will have every opportunity to redeem their outstanding award credits before the program end, the company says. The deadline for redeeming points is February 27, 2004.

Syngenta Crop Protection has announced registration of Touchdown Total, a new potassium glyphosate herbicide formulation for over-the-top use in glyphosate-tolerant soybeans, cotton and corn, in addition to preemergence burndown treatments in no-till and other conservation tillage cropping systems.

In a related action, the company filed a lawsuit against Monsanto, seeking a “declaratory judgment” that three Monsanto patents (related to potassium glyphosate herbicides) are invalid and not infringed by Syngenta.

The lawsuit is not expected to affect availability of product for retailers during the introductory season next year.

Want to use this article? Click here for options!
© 2007 Penton Media, Inc.