The Future is Now: Hello, Genuity™
Roundup Ready® soybeans and Bollgard® cotton hit the market in 1996. YieldGard® corn followed in 1997. Over the years, these brands have grown to include the numerous trait technologies Monsanto has commercialized for farmers. And since these introductions, a new trait technology or stacked combination of traits has been released to the market each year.
But beginning in 2009, we’re taking a whole new approach to marketing our newest traits.
Introducing Genuity™, Monsanto’s new trait master brand that will serve as the umbrella brand over all future technologies and today’s market leaders. Genuity is being launched in the U.S. and Canada for the 2010 growing season.
“We wanted to create a way to unite our brands underneath a single brand platform, simplify the process by which a farmer can identify how those traits will help them on their farm, and ultimately show up differently in the market than our competitors currently do,” Dion McBay, Monsanto U.S. trait marketing lead, said.
We unveiled the Genuity brand to farmers at the 2009 Commodity Classic in Grapevine, Texas, on Feb. 26, 2009.
The Past
“When you look at where we’ve come over the last 10-12 years with biotechnology, it’d be hard to argue that there’s anything wrong with the way we’ve done things,” McBay said. “Our company success is built on bringing products and innovations into the marketplace to help farmers be more successful--and that’s what we’ll continue to do.
“But as you begin to look forward at the number of trait opportunities that will be coming through the pipeline and the number of different ways those can be stacked with one another, it could become very confusing if we continue down the path we’re currently on,” he continued.
In the U.S. we currently market more than 10 trait technologies under various brands within the Roundup Ready, YieldGard and Bollgard families, in addition to quality and value-added traits. Add these to the future products, and you also have the ability to cause confusion among our farmer customers.
And as our robust pipeline alone shows, there are many more technologies to come.
“We have a lot of trait innovations in our pipeline we think are going to be game-changers for the industry,” McBay said. “We needed to unite those products not only with each other, but also with the existing leading technologies we have in the market. Additionally, we wanted to make it simpler for farmers to identify the products they need on their farms, while differentiating our traits as the highest-performing products from the others in the pack.
“It’s become apparent that while everything we’ve done thus far has worked by design, we needed something new and different to highlight our technologies of the future,” he continued.
Enter Genuity.
“Monsanto’s science is only as good as the solutions and the value our seeds provide to farmers,” Ernesto Fajardo, Monsanto U.S. commercial lead, said. “That is why we felt we needed a brand like Genuity to simplify and more clearly connect our family of traits with the farmers who value them. Genuity will help farmers make the connection between the traits they know and trust and new trait technologies that will be introduced in the future.”
The Present
“Genuity represents only our newest and most innovative technologies,” McBay said. “As we move into 2010, we’ll use two blockbuster products to become the foundation on which the Genuity family’s built.”
Those products are Genuity VT Triple Pro™ corn and Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield® soybeans. According to McBay, because these products have already created excitement in the industry, they will create a great foundation for building the Genuity brand.
Additionally, Genuity SmartStax™ corn is scheduled to be launched in 2010, pending successful conclusion of the regulatory process. At that time, Genuity SmartStax corn would join these two products as the other pillar of the Genuity brand.
“When it comes to cotton, canola and other crops, we’ve looked at our pipeline and technologies that have been launched or represent substantial leadership in their market,” McBay said. “Because Genuity represents the best-of-the-best, only those products that are the leading technologies changing the face of their respective industries will be moved under this brand.”
For cotton, those technologies are Genuity Bollgard II® and Genuity Roundup Ready® Flex. For supporting crops, they are Genuity Roundup Ready canola, and Genuity Roundup Ready sugarbeets.
“As we look at trait technologies going into the future, our plan is to launch all of them under the Genuity platform,” McBay said. “The only exception would be quality traits, such as Vistive® . This is simply because we’re looking to better understand the best way to market enhancements in oil and grain quality so it has a positive impact on the value chain--from the farmer all the way to the food companies and the end-user consumers.”
Existing products that will not be marketed under the Genuity brand--such as Roundup Ready soybeans--will maintain their current names and logos until they are phased out of the marketplace and replaced with the newer technologies that are Genuity traits.
McBay acknowledges confusion could exist in the market until this happens, but he thinks it is manageable for the short period of time it will take to transition new, higher-performing products to Genuity.
The Future
“We wanted to create a platform with the Genuity name that had the capability of going global,” McBay said. “We’ve visited with our marketing peers outside the U.S. to ensure we chose a name that didn’t have an issue in translation and that had the capabilities of becoming a global brand. We have the opportunity to demonstrate the success and blaze the way forward with our introduction here in the U.S. and Canada.”
McBay said a number of marketing divisions around the world are looking closely at how they could use the Genuity brand for trait technology platforms in their markets.
Monsanto Company is a member of BIO’s Excellence Through Stewardship(SM) (ETS) Initiative. This product has been commercialized in compliance with the ETS and Monsanto Product Launch Stewardship policies, after meeting applicable regulatory requirements in key export markets with functioning regulatory systems. Any crop or material produced from this product can only be exported to, or used, processed or sold in countries where all necessary regulatory approvals have been granted. It is a violation of national and international law to move material containing biotech traits across boundaries into nations where import is not permitted. Monsanto encourages growers to talk to their grain handler to confirm their buying position for this product. Excellence Through Stewardship(SM) is a service mark of Biotechnology Industry Organization. Cottonseed containing Monsanto traits may not be exported for the purpose of planting without a license from Monsanto.
B.t. products may not yet be registered in all states. Check with your Monsanto representative for the registration status in your state.
Growers may utilize the natural refuge option for varieties containing the Bollgard II® trait in the following states: AL, AR, FL, GA, KS, KY, LA, MD, MS, MO, NC, OK, SC, TN, VA, and most of Texas (excluding the Texas counties of Brewster, Crane, Crockett, Culberson, El Paso, Hudspeth, Jeff Davis, Loving, Pecos, Presidio, Reeves, Terrell, Val Verde, Ward and Winkler). The natural refuge option does not apply to Bollgard II cotton grown in areas where pink bollworm is a pest, including CA, AZ, NM, and the above listed Texas counties. It also remains the case that Bollgard® and Bollgard II cotton cannot be planted south of Highway 60 in Florida, and that Bollgard cotton cannot be planted in certain other counties in the Texas panhandle. Refer to the Technology Use Guide and IRM Guide for additional information regarding Bollgard II, Bollgard, natural refuge and EPA-mandated geographical restrictions on the planting of Bt cotton. ALWAYS READ AND FOLLOW PESTICIDE LABEL DIRECTIONS. Roundup Ready® crops contain genes that confer tolerance to glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup® agricultural herbicides. Roundup® agricultural herbicides will kill crops that are not tolerant to glyphosate. SmartStax™ commercialization is dependent on many factors, including successful conclusion of regulatory process. SmartStax™ has not been registered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It is a violation of federal law to promote or sell an unregistered pesticide. IMPORTANT: Grain Marketing and Seed Availability: YieldGard VT Triple PRO™ has received the necessary approvals in the United States, however, as of [date of printing], approvals have not been received in all major corn export markets. YieldGard VT Triple PRO™ seed will only be available as part of a commercial demonstration program that includes grain marketing stewardship requirements. It is a violation of national and international law to move material containing biotech traits across boundaries into nations where import is not permitted. Consult with your seed representative for current stewardship information. Bollgard® , Bollgard II® , Genuity™, Genuity and Design™, Roundup® , Roundup Ready® , Roundup Ready 2 Yield™, SmartStax™, Vistive® , YieldGard® , and VT Triple PRO™ are trademarks of Monsanto Technology LLC. Liberty Link and the Water Droplet Design® is a registered trademark of Bayer Cropscience AG. Liberty Link is a registered trademark of Bayer CropScience AG. Herculex® is a registered trademark of Dow AgroSciences LLC. ©2009 Monsanto Company.
