Released: May 14, 2003

Note to Editors: This is one of two news releases being issued today by the K-State Research and Extension News Unit on this topic. The companion article, in question-and-answer format, is longer and provides greater detail.

K-State-Formed Company To Sell Roundup Ready Soybean Seed

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State University is planning to launch a nonprofit company called Wildcat Genetics that will pave the way for the sale of Roundup Ready soybean seeds using varieties developed by K-State researchers.

The announcement comes six years after K-State signed a research licensing agreement with Monsanto, the developer of Roundup Ready® technology, which renders crops immune to the herbicide Roundup®. The licensing agreement allowed the university’s scientists to develop soybean varieties best suited for Kansas and incorporating the Roundup Ready® technology.

"Our focus is on providing Kansas soybean producers with the best possible crop plant varieties and on getting K-State soybean germplasm back into production on a major scale," said Forrest Chumley, associate director of research for K-State Research and Extension. "We are confident that K-State genetics offers a competitive advantage for soybean producers in our region."

Chumley said that unlike soybean varieties developed for other parts of the country, K-State varieties have been developed with the state’s specific climatological needs in mind. However, K-State varieties have lost favor with growers in recent years because they did not have the popular Roundup Ready® trait.

"Most soybean producers in Kansas and elsewhere are planting Roundup Ready® varieties, most of which were developed by major agricultural companies. The price farmers pay for this seed includes a royalty that is transferred to Monsanto by the retail seed companies," Chumley said. "The new K-State Roundup Ready® varieties will fit into this system without noticeable changes for the farmer, other than superior crop performance."

This sort of endeavor – the formation of a nonprofit genetics wholesale company – is new to K-State, but numerous other universities have undertaken similar arrangements with commercial firms in efforts to commercialize crop varieties with farmer-preferred proprietary traits, he said.

The plans, still to be finalized, call for K-State to provide parent seed to Wildcat Genetics. Wildcat Genetics will sell parent seed to retail seed companies, which in turn will expand the seed and sell it to soybean growers. The nonprofit company will work with Monsanto to obtain a parent seed license that will allow it to obtain and sell the parent seed to licensed retail seed companies.

The company is expected to be operational this summer. Foundation seed will be available to seed companies in 2004, and the new varieties should be available to growers in 2005, Chumley said.

Neither K-State nor Wildcat Genetics will make any payments to Monsanto, he said. However, Wildcat Genetics will be paid the parent seed price and, possibly, royalties on retail sales by the retail seed companies distributing the new varieties. K-State will, in turn, be paid by Wildcat Genetics for net seed sales. Wildcat Genetics will return net revenues to K-State to support plant research and breeding programs.

Chumley said that the university does not anticipate other agreements between Monsanto and K-State in connection with Roundup Ready® soybeans, but that through Wildcat Genetics, similar arrangements with other companies are possible.

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K-State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well-being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county Extension offices, experiment fields, area Extension offices and regional research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K-State campus, Manhattan.

Story by:
Mary Lou Peter, Communications Specialist
mlpeter@oznet.ksu.edu
K-State Research& Extension News