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Replies to post #61 on Monument Circle Acquisition Corp (MON)
12/06/09 11:06 AM
<Q – David Begleiter>: Thank you. Good morning. Paul, does this announcement impact at all the litigation between DuPont and Pioneer on the stacking of Roundup on the Optimum GAT trait?
<A – Paul Schickler>: That is a separate issue. We are proceeding aggressively with continuing to test Optimum GAT soybeans. And as I said in my remarks, both the combination of product efficacy for glyphosate and ALS is leading our expectations and the product performance is excellent. We’re very excited about the combination of efficacy and product performance for soy.
<Q – Jeffrey Zekauskas>: I think I’ll ask David’s question in another way. Does the postponement of the launch in soybeans to 2014/2015 render the patent dispute moot – that is, it doesn’t matter what happens with it because you’ll be introducing your product after the Monsanto glyphosate patent expires? And when does their patent expire in corn and glyphosate tolerant corn?
<A – Paul Schickler>: I’m not going to comment on the lawsuit. But again, go back to the point I was making when the previous question from David was asked, and that is our Optimum GAT soybean from an efficacy and product performance standpoint is very strong and exciting. But even before that, we’ve got excellent high yielding industry leading soybeans in the marketplace today that will continue in the marketplace that have glyphosate tolerance.
12/06/09 11:46 AM
Optimum GAT soybeans are expected to be commercialized about two to three years later than the anticipated 2011 introduction [i.e. 2013-2014 (maybe)] due to changes in regulatory policy in key import markets and increasing complexity in managing grain stewardship. [What the heck does this mean?]
<Q – Kevin McCarthy>: Yes, good morning. In your press release, you cited changes in regulatory policy in key import markets as a reason why the Optimum GAT soybean product will be delayed by two to three years. Can you elaborate on what you were referring to there? Is it related to Japan, Europe, China, other countries, and what have been the changes that have caused this deferral?
<A – Paul Schickler>: That’s a good question because as you know, regulatory practices and regulations in some areas are nonexistent or evolving and changing. So that’s sort of the situation that we and others in the industry face. Specifically, regarding Optimum GAT soybean, the issue comes down to a couple of countries that are key export markets for growers in the United States and Canada. We adhere to industry practices and standards to make sure that export approvals for key countries are achieved before cultivation in the United States and Canada occurs. And in the case of soybeans, there’s two on that list that are critical – one is China, the other is Europe. In China’s case, what we have is a situation where Pioneer is the first company to bring a stacked trait to the market. And as a result, in addition to the individual trait components needing approval, subsequent to that the stacked combination also requires approval. So that adds to the timeline. Secondly, in Europe, another key market, we have a challenging, changing and unpredictable environment there. I think everyone is familiar with that situation. But the nuance here is that the requirements or the importance of Europe in soybeans is much different than what it is for corn. Thus, the export market of Europe is very critical and important to U.S. and Canadian growers. And for that reason, import approval in European countries by both EFSA and the European Commission needs to be accomplished before cultivation can occur in the United States and Canada. Those regulations in Europe continue to ebb and flow, and recent changes put that timeline back somewhat.
02/12/10 5:36 AM
Let’s start by taking a look at SmartStax. SmartStax is really the opportunity for our farmer customers to plant a product with the benefits of Triple on 95% of their acres instead of 80% of their acres. And as I sat here today looking at where we are in our order book, and I sat here looking backwards to what we said in November we expected for this year of somewhere around four million acres of SmartStax, I still feel good about somewhere around four million acres of SmartStax, albeit it hasn’t been easy with the challenges that we faced in the market.
Some of those coming, for example, when you think about a portfolio of products that we offer to the farmer, as with any launch, we don’t have the full portfolio of hybrids available to us to capture the farmers full farm because it’s critical that he use a diversity of genetics across that farm, and given the handful of hybrids we have, that’s difficult to do. But we understood that going into it, and we will not push hybrids beyond their means just to try to capture a farmer’s farm. We will position those hybrids one at a time with those key farmers to make sure that they get the experience that they’re expecting from SmartStax.
<Q>: Brett, what did you learn from the experience with Roundup Ready 2 soybean last year that might refine the way you’re going to market with SmartStax this year? How do you ensure you don’t have to describe the SmartStax launch as challenging?
<A – Brett Begemann>: Yes I think there is – I think there are things that I would look back on with Roundup Ready 2 Yield that we have learned that we are taking into account in SmartStax. For example, as you’re positioning, and we only had 15 varieties in the marketplace, and we can’t control where every one of those bags of seed goes. That’s the farmer that makes that choice and they can buy it freely and openly in the marketplace, and they can plant them wherever. But what I will tell you is we’re putting a lot more rigor into our sales focus, helping the dealers work with the farmers to make sure we put the right hybrids in the right fields. Now that said, part of last year’s issue was variety position. Part of it was unique weather year and for example, disease where you wouldn’t typically see disease. Those are hard things to prevent. But at the same time, there are clearly learnings from that. The other thing that’s been reinforced with Roundup Ready 2 Yield as we are trying to implement in SmartStax is something we already knew. Broad-based trial is far more important in the early years than broad-based adoption. You get a lot of people trying it, they’ll have those good experiences as reflected in Roundup Ready 2 Yield where we’ve got a significant number of Roundup Ready 2 Yield users from last year had a good experience planting up to three times as much as they did the year before. So it’s getting broad distribution and getting the products positioned specifically on the farm with the farmer.
06/15/11 4:49 AM
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