Monsanto’sย Roundup Ready seeds increased farmer’s yields, but came with a caveat. Because their pesticide resistance genes were patented, farmers had to shell out cash to Monsanto every year, instead of reusing seeds.ย Now, Monsantoโs reign is (seemingly) beginning to end. Earlier this year, the patent on Monsantoโs Roundup Ready soybean expired. Now, farmers can sowย generic genetically modified soybeans, and they can save the next generation of these seeds to replant next seasonโall without paying Monsanto a penny.
When a big pharma company facesย a patent expiration, they reformulate. โNewโ versions of a drug appearย around the time an original patent expires, with some slight tweak that suggests itโll work better.ย But slick marketing isnโt likely to sway a farmer’sย purchasing decisionโย they’reย going to pay closer attention to hard numbers.
For now, the numbers are in Monsantoโs favor. They released soybeans with the Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield trait several years ago.ย This modification actually works better than the original.
But the unlocking of Monsantoโs patent might help the academic world.ย Now, universities canย continue research on the original Roundup Ready without paying licensing fees. Since they donโt need to make money off of the seeds like a competing ag company would, academic labs can continue to experiment with slight tweaks on those seedsโ developing new versions that meet needs of a smaller subset of farmers.
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Monsanto will continue to dominate the soybean seed market. But now that the technology is out in the open, more players can enter the field. These GM generics may not be a match for Monsanto now, but theyโre edging closer to the ring.
The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis. Read full, original post:ย Generic GMOs Arenโt Going to Bring Down Monsantoโs Empire
