Print This PageBreeding
Delivering a Better Seed to the Farm
Monsanto breeders are constantly working to develop better seed offerings for farmers. Our breeding research spans both large-acre crops, like corn, cotton and soybeans, as well as fruits and vegetables. Today, we have more than 250 breeders conducting research at hundreds of locations around the world. Our researchers use both conventional and marker-assisted breeding technologies to unlock the yield potential of seeds.
Crops
Corn
Our research in corn develops ways to increase and enhance yield, disease and
insect tolerance, stalk and root strength, and kernel qualities — such
as oil and protein.
Cotton
Our research in cotton strives to develop and deliver value through yield,
fiber quality and tolerance to environmental stress. Our work is aimed
at supplying varieties that are competitive with the best the marketplace
has to offer.
Soybeans
Our research in soybeans focuses on developing varieties that improve yield,
yield stability, disease tolerance, and improved oil and protein composition.
Fruits and Vegetables
Our Seminis breeders are working to improve products at both planting and harvest,
by combating environmental factors that limit the plant’s output, and
by enhancing the product’s end-market features — including
appearance and quality. Our research focuses on developing new benefits for
growers and consumers.
Marker-Assisted Breeding
Today, the use of breakthrough technology has reinvented plant breeding so
we can more than double the rate of “genetic gain” in seeds — the
improvement in important characteristics such as yield and tolerance to environmental
stress.
We are using tools like molecular markers to more efficiently and effectively mine our genetic library. Our molecular marker capabilities allow us to “tag” important genes and “remember” their location in the plant genome so that we can quickly find and combine the right genes to increase yield and fight crop stress.
By combining technologies like molecular markers with other breeding tools, we can increase the probability of finding the best germplasm from one-in-a-trillion to one-in-five.
By tapping into the breeding lessons we’ve learned from one crop, like field corn, and applying those lessons to other crops, we can vastly speed up breeding advancements across our crop portfolio.
This helps us develop new, elite seeds faster than ever before. These elite seeds will serve as the foundation to add cutting-edge biotechnology traits to protect and preserve those seeds’ yield potential against insects, weeds and environmental stress.
