Monsanto adds to Brazil research fund

Monsanto has invested R$3.8 million ($2.2 million) in eight projects to be run in 2012 by the Brazilian agricultural research corporation, the Embrapa. The money is sourced from royalties on the sale of Embrapa’s genetically modified glyphosate-tolerant Roundup Ready soybean varieties. It adds to some R$29 million ($16.7 million at the current rate) that Monsanto has provided since 2006 as part of a research fund set up by the companies ( Agrow No 573, p 19). The Embrapa/Monsanto research fund is aimed at developing sustainable solutions for Brazilian agriculture. The projects include among others: the management of a Bt maize refuge areas and of Bt protein toxicity in pollinators; the virulence and genetic variation of rice blast ( Pyricularia grisea) and invasive grasses; obtaining drought-tolerant GM crops; and developing Bt and Roundup Ready 2 soybean lines and related stewardship programmes.