Risk Premiums Could Be Up to 24 Percent Lower for Farmers in Four-State Pilot

ST. LOUIS (September 26, 2007) A new pilot program recently approved by the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) will provide farmers an opportunity to pay lower premiums if they plant a majority of their corn acres using hybrid seeds that feature YieldGard Plus® with Roundup Ready® Corn 2 or YieldGard VT Triple(tm) technology from Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON).

The insurance product will be offered as a pilot program in cooperation with Western Agriculture Insurance Company and will be called the Biotech Yield Endorsement (BYE). Western Agriculture Insurance will make the program available to all other approved insurance providers to offer to their farmer customers. …more

Proprietary innovation increases yields up to 12 percent

DES MOINES, Iowa, Sept. 26, 2007 - Pioneer Hi-Bred, a DuPont business, announces it is commercializing soybean varieties developed using a technology that increases yields by as much as 12 percent per acre. Pioneer is introducing five varieties with the technology for 2008 planting, pending wide-area product advancement trial results.

This announcement officially launches one of the company’s three soybean yield traits from its pipeline to commercial status. It will be commercially known as Accelerated Yield TechnologyTM (AYTTM). AYTTM uses proprietary molecular breeding techniques to rapidly scan and identify genes that increase yield then incorporate them into elite soybean genetics. …more