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Latest Headlines

• Bayer CropScience has received registration from the US EPA for the fungicide Proline (prothioconazole) to be used  on soybeans

Headlines from April 2008

• Monsanto is investing $6 million in a new research centre in Gothenburg, Nebraska that will focus on technologies, corn breeding and agronomic practices to address water management in crop production

• Cheminova increased it revenue by  33% to $295 million while the EBIT margin improved to 9% during the first quarter of 2008

• BASF is putting pressure on the European Commission to give approval to its GM potato, Amflora. The company says it has become increasingly irritated with the Commission and has taken advertising space in several German daily newspapers

• Monsanto and Mendel Biotechnology are to conduct joint research on perennial grass seed as a second generation biofuel

• Bayer's new sugar beet fungicide, Escolta,  has been approved in the UK . The coformulation containing cyproconazole and trifloxystrobin gives good control of powdery mildew, rust, Ramularia and Cercospora

• Syngenta sales grow  20% at constant exchange rates compared with the first quarter of 2007

• Monsanto has reported record net sales of $3.8 billion for the second quarter of fiscal year 2008,  45% higher than in the same period in  2007

• Syngenta is to build a new biotech research & technology centre in Beijing, China. Its focus will be on early-stage evaluation of GM and native traits for key crops such as corn and soybean

• Bayer CropScience has filed a lawsuit against the Chinese company Jiangsu Tian Rong  to enforce rights under its Chinese mefenpyr (herbicide safener) patent

• The international seed technology company, Incotec is to acquire a 49% stake in the Swedish company SeedGard

• Chemtura has expanded its miticide portfolio with the introduction of Temprano, an abamectin based acaricide/insecticide

• Greece has recently renewed its ban on genetically modified maize. Experts fear pollen from biotech crops, carried by bees, could adversely affect swarms

• Syngenta has expanded its research campus in Stein, Switzerland. The company has invested some CHF 85 million ($81 million). Biological and chemical research activities will now  be consolidated at one site

• Syngenta's  insecticide, Centric (thiamethoxam) has been approved in the UK for the control of all the common aphid pests of apples and pears

• Bayer CropScience and Monsanto have entered into an exclusive agreement on a fungicide seed treatment for corn

Headlines from March 2008

• Bayer's new fungicide, fluopicolide receives registrations in Japan and the US

• China is to launch a huge research programme on genetically modified (GM) crops by the end of the year

• Mexico is about to clear the way for the legal cultivation of transgenic crops, in spite of resistance from environmentalists and several small farmer associations

• American Vanguard has acquired Bayer CropScience’s US production facility in Marsing, Idaho

• Chemtura Corporation has been named by Taminco as its exclusive distributor for Thiram Granuflo in the US

• DuPont, through its Pioneer Hi-Bred business, is making genomic sequences of Colletotrichum graminicola  a major fungal pathogen of corn plants publicly available through GenBank

• Friedrich Berschauer, chairman of the board of management of Bayer CropScience, has been appointed chairman of CropLife International, Mr. Hugh Grant, chairman and CEO of Monsanto, has been appointed vice-chairman

• A study by the European Pesticides Action Network (PAN) reveals that wines on sale in the EU may contain residues of t pesticides potentially harmful to human health. Manufacturers argue that the quantities are so tiny that drinking wine poses no health risk

• Pioneer Hi-Bred has opened a new state-of-the-art canola production facility in Lethbridge, US to meet an increased demand for its canola hybrid

• Valent BioSciences  has entered into a five-year collaborative agreement with the Chengdu Institute of Biology in China to study the role of abscisic acid (s-ABA) in crop stress management and plant disease resistance

• Nufarm Ltd has acquired AH Marks Holdings Ltd, UK a supplier of phenoxy herbicides and  Etigra in the US

• Cheminova gained market share in 2007. Calculated in Danish kroner, revenue increased by just over 8%

• Cornell University has been awarded a $26.8 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to launch a broad-based global partnership to combat wheat stem rust

• Monsanto and Divergence have completed the most comprehensive sequence of the soybean cyst nematode (SCN) genome to date

• Monsanto is to invest up to $196 million over the next 18 months at its glyphosate manufacturing facility in Luling, Louisiana, US

• Nufarm has  an operating profit of $35.4 million for the first six months of its financial year This compares with $7.5 million, the previous year. Group sales were $990 million, up by 71% from $580 million

• Andy Lee is named CEO of Sipcam Agro USA and ADVAN

• The European Business Association in Ukraine and the ECPA have launched a major awareness-raising campaign in Ukraine aimed at fighting the growing number of fake and dangerous pesticides appearing on the market

• DuPont’s insectide Rynaxypyr has been launched in the Philippines as Prevathon

• DuPont and Arcadia Biosciences have entered a research and commercial agreement to improve nitrogen use efficiency in corn

• Monsanto says it has been forced to raise the price of its Roundup agricultural herbicides because of the current all-time high demand and a global supply of glyphosate that is unable to keep up

• Syngenta  will donate a portion of its Allelic Diversity collection to the Maize Functional Diversity Group, a consortium of leading researchers

• Bayer CropScience achieved sales in 2007 of €5,826 million compared to € 5,700 million in 2006 up by 5.6% after adjustments for currency and portfolio effects

• Monsanto is establishing a global seed treatment platform. The company has entered into agreements with Becker Underwood and Plant Health Care who will provide  novel components for proprietary seed treatments for corn, soybeans and cotton

• Cheminova has received US registration for the herbicides Accurate Extra (thifensulfuron + tribenuron + metsulfuron) and Harass (thifensulfuron)  for selective post emergence weed control in cereal crops

• BASF introduced its new development pipeline herbicide saflufenacil under the trade name Kixor at a Weed Science Society of America meeting

• Syngenta sales at constant exchange rates (CER) increased by 11% in 2007, with growth across all product lines and all regions

• Syngenta has received US EPA registration for the fungicide Revus (manipropamid) for use on vegetables and grapes

• Cheminova is to take on  full ownership of Pytech Chemicals GmbH

• BASF (Agricultural products and nutrition) sales increased by 1.9% in 2007. Sales in Europe were up by 4%

• Dow AgroSciences has detected traces of an unapproved biotech material in three lines of non-biotech corn seeds

• Pioneer Hi-Bred is to access Syngenta’s novel insect control corn event, MIR162

• United Phosphorus has acquired the Colombia-based, Evofarms Group. The business markets generic crop protection products and holds several product registrations

• Biotech crop area grew 12% or 12.3million hectares to reach 114.3 million hectares, the second highest area increase in the past five years, says the ISAAA

Headlines from January 2008

• Syngenta and AgroFresh are to enter an exclusive global strategic alliance to develop and commercialise Invinsa, a unique product for crop stress protection in field crops

• Syngenta to access novel genes from Athenix

• Hodogaya Chemical and United Phosphorus Ltd (UPL) have agreed to establish a  joint venture to market agrochemicals in Japan, with a focus on the non-crop sector

• BASF is to give limited access to its triticonazole fungicide to Bayer Environmental Science  in the US and Canada

• DuPont introduces two new herbicides Resolve Q (rimsulfuron + thifensulfuron methyl) and Require Q (rimsulfuron + dicamba) for glyphosate tolerant corn

• Certis Spain has added two specialist products to its portfolio the fungicide Cercobin and the insecticide Trebon

• Sinochem, China has acquired butachlor and alachlor from Monsanto for use in certain Asian countries and India

• President Nicolas Sarkozy defends the ban on  Monsanto's GM 810 maize in France

• Valent sells its Orthene insecticide product line to AMVAC

• Valent and its parent company, Sumitomo Chemical, have filed complaints against Syngenta and a number of its subsidiaries seeking relief for infringement of Sumitomo Chemical's patent on the insecticide clothianidin

• Dow Agrosciences reported record fourth quarter sales of $864 million, 6% higher than for the same period in 2006

• BASF and the National Institute of Biological Sciences (NIBS) in China have entered a cooperation and licensing agreement in biotechnology

• Bayer and partners to evaluate Jatropha based biofuel

• The US EPA has approved Syngenta’s insecticide Endigo (lambda-cyhalothrin and thiamethoxam) for use in potatoes

• France is to ban the sale of more than 1,500 pesticides starting on 1 February. The country aims to gradually phase out the use of 53 active substances and licences for 30 will be removed this year

• DuPont has received US EPA approval from  for Agility SG herbicide for wheat. Agility contains four active ingredients and two modes of action in a single formulation

• American Vanguard Corporation has acquired the pentachloronitrobenzene fungicide product line from  Chemtura including the Turfcide and Terraclor brands

• Cheminova and the Stähler Group are to form a partnership with Cheminova acquiring 50% of the Stähler business

•  Bayer CropScience presents details of  a new herbicidal mixture for preemergence weed control in corn based on thiencarbazone-methyl, a new sulfonyl-amino-carbonyl-triazolinone (SACT), and isoxaflutole combined a  new safener cyprosulfamiden.

• The Chinese-led consortium comprising China National Chemical Corporation, Blackstone Group and Fox Paine Management  advised Nufarm that it was unable to formalise its bid prior the expiry of the period of exclusivity  and  discussions between Nufarm and the consortium have ceased

• Volcano AgroScience, an affiliate of Arysta LifeScience Corporation, is to form a partnership with Nexus, one of the leading fruit, vine and cereal crop protection distributors in the Cape region of South Africa

• The US EPA has approved Bayer CropScience’s postemergence herbicide Laudis (tembotrione) for use in all corn crops

• Bayer CropScience is to partner with Soygenetics and the Stine Seed Company to bring LibertyLink soybean varieties to market by 2009

• Rotam  has received US registration for its post emergence broad leaf weed herbicide Volta (thifensulfuron methyl)

• DuPont  has received  US EPA approval for two pre-emergence herbicides for soybeans - Enlite and Envive based on  flumioxazin and the sulfonylurea herbicides chlorimuron ethyl and thifensulfuron methyl

• Bayer CropScience and Euralis Semences will cooperate in the development of new winter oilseed rape hybrids for European farmers

• The Spanish Environmental Police (Seprona) detain  eleven suspects and  seize 2,200kg of illegal pesticides in Almería

• Tessenderlo Kerley has  acquired the terbacil crop protection assets from DuPont Crop Protection. Terbacil is marketed globally as the herbicide Sinbar

• Agrium, North America's third largest fertiliser producer, has agreed to buy UAP Holding for $2.16 billion to double its US retail outlets.  The purchase also includes Loveland crop protection products and UAP's Dyna-Gro seeds

Headlines from November 2007

• Bayer CropScience is investing EUR 60 million in a  new plant , near Cologne, Germany to be built for the production of MPE (methane phosphonous acid n-butyl ester). MPE is an intermediate in the production of the herbicide glufosinate-ammonium

• Makhteshim Agan' sales for the third quarter of 2007, $496.2 million, were 21.7% higher than in 2006. First nine months sales were 18.1% higher

• Bayer CropScience sales rose by 10.3%  to  EUR 1,157 million in the third quarter of 2007

• The US branch of the Belgium-based Tessenderlo Group has purchased the Surround crop protection business from BASF

• A consortium comprising the China National Chemical Corporation, ChemChina, the Blackstone Group and Fox Paine Management makes an offer to acquire 100% of Nufarm shares

• Bayer CropScience, Mertec and MS Technologies have entered into a long term collaboration agreement to jointly develop and commercialise several innovative trait technology products in soybeans

• The UK Government's chief scientific adviser wants to see Britain "back at the forefront" of the positive use of GM technology

• EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas has confirmed his refusal to authorise the cultivation of two varieties of genetically modified corn in the EU, because of risks to the environment

• Bayer CropScience has received its first regulatory approval for the new insecticidal active ingredient spirotetramat in Tunisia

• BASF's Agricultural Products division opens new laboratory for consumer and environmental safety in Brazil

• Dow AgroSciences receives its first global registration for the cereal herbicide Admitt (pyroxsulam) in Chile

Headlines from October 2007

• Agrochemicals firm Punjab Chemicals and Crop Protection has acquired a 30% stake in US-based Source Dynamic

• Following the European Community Court of First Instance (CFI) decision  to annul the EU registration of the herbicide paraquat, Syngenta  has announced that it will re-apply for a new EU registration

• Syngenta's third quarter sales increased by 21% to $1.7 billion and  at constant exchange rates (CER) sales were 17% higher. For the first nine months sales rose 9% (CER) to $7.4 billion

• The US Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Investigative and Enforcement Services fails to find "the exact mechanism for introduction" of Bayer CropSciences' LL traits into the commercial rice supply

• Monsanto achieved record sales of $8.6 billion in the company's fiscal year 2007. The year-to-date sales were 17% higher than in year 2006

• BASF Plant Science and Crop Functional Genomics Center (CFGC), the leading Korean consortium for crop research have signed a cooperation and licensing agreement

• President Nicolas Sarkozy has suspended the commercial cultivation of GM crops in France

• Arysta LifeScience has received US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) commercial approval for the soil fumigant Midas (iodomethane)

• European Parliament votes against an EU-wide use reduction target for pesticides

• Arysta Life Sciences changes hands for $2.2 billion as Olympus Capital Holdings Asia and co-investors sell to Industrial Equity Investments Limited (IEIL), an international investment company located in Ireland

• The Brazilian agrochemical market is expected to rise  to R$5,000 million for 2007. Sales for the first eight months of this year increased  by 45% against  2006 to R$4,711.5
   

• The Agricultural Products division of BASF has announced that it will step up its worldwide fight against illegal pesticides

• Devgen is to set up a subsidiary in the US to develop its crop protection products

• Syngenta has expanded its AgriEdge Corn Programme for 2008 to include applications of the fungicide Quilt and the insecticide Warrior

Headlines from September 2007

• Dmrkynetec, a leading global supplier of agricultural market research has opened a  new office in Poznań, Poland

• DuPont has signed a supply agreement with Prochem Agritech in the Philippines. Under the agreement, Prochem will distribute the insecticide indoxacarb

• Volcano Agroscience a joint venture between Arysta LifeScience  and Strand Agroscience Investment Holdings have opened a new liquid formulation plant in South Africa

• Arysta LifeScience has acquired Grupo Bioquimico Mexicano the leading Mexican manufacturer and marketer of inputs for the fruit and vegetable market

• The Stähler group has purchased the global development and marketing rights for the herbicide active ingredient beflubutamide from the Japanese company, Ube Industries

• Monsanto has acquired Agroeste Sementes, a leading Brazilian corn seed company, for more than $100 million

• BASF register Regent (fipronil) for wireworm control in potatoes in the US

• Bayer to expand sales in its BioScience business from the 2006 level of €342 million to around €1 billion over the next ten years

• Six contenders are in the race to acquire Japanese company Arysta LifeScience. The acquisition is expected to cost nearly $2 billion

•  Bayer CropScience sales in the first six months of 2007 were on the same level as last year at €3.35 billion. Adjusted for currency and portfolio effects, this corresponds to an increase of 4% 

Headlines from August 2007

• Dow AgroSciences has achieved its first global registration of spinetoram, a new spinosyn insecticide compound.  The product will be sold globally under the brand name Delegate WG in the pome fruit market segment in New Zealand

• Punjab Chemicals & Crop Protection is acquiring a Netherland-based agrochemical company Pegevo Beheer for €40 million

• Bayer CropScience has opened an agricultural technology centre, Campo de Innovación Tecnológica (CIT) in Argentina

• Monsanto  has received approval in Argentina  for the company's stacked corn trait product containing the insect protection trait YieldGard Corn Borer with Roundup Ready Corn 2 technology

• Bayer CropScience has received the first regulatory approval for its new cereal herbicidal active ingredient pyrasulfotole from the US EPA

• Sales by Isagro, the Italian agrochemical company, rose 26.8% in the first half of 2007 to €100.95 million

• Bayer CropScience has been granted regulatory approval for its new insecticide active ingredient flubendiamide in India. The company plans to launch the new insecticide under the brand name Fame in 2007

• DuPont and Makhteshim Agan have reached an agreement whereby Mahkteshim will acquire Cotoran (fluometron) a herbicide used in cotton in the US

• Syngenta has obtained full regulatory approval in Japan for Agrisure RW, its corn rootworm insect control corn seed

• Meghmani Organics Ltd obtains registrations for its agrochemical products in both Brazil and Pakistan

• Makhteshim Agan reports record revenue and profit for the second quarter of 2007

• Syngenta has introduced sugar beet in India for cultivation in tropical climatic conditions

• The first all-African GM corn with resistance to the  maize streak virus (MSV), has been developed by scientists from the University of Cape Town and Pannar Pty Ltd, a South African seed company

Headlines from July 2007

• Dow AgroSciences is to expand its Brazilian corn seeds business with the acquisition of Agromen Tecnologia Ltda

• Arysta LifeScience and Valent  have reached a supply and marketing agreement in the US for the insecticide active ingredient clothianidin. Valent will now have rights to enter the crop, ornamental and professional turf markets

• Nunhems, the Bayer CropScience vegetable seed business, has acquired  the assets of the South Korean vegetable seed company SeedEx

• Syngenta has acquired an Israeli vegetable seed company Zeraim Gedera for $95 million

• The European Court of the First Instance has annulled the inclusion of the non-selective herbicide, paraquat, in Annex I of the EU agrochemical registration Directive (91/414)

• Syngenta reports market improvements in 2007. Sales for the fast half of the year at constant exchange rates were up 6% with growth of 7% in crop protection and 4% in seeds. EBITDA was 10% higher than for the same period in 2006

• United Phosphorus acquires the Argentina- based crop protection company Icona for $10 million

• BASF and Cibus, a US plant breeding technology company are to collaborate to develop and commercialise non-GM herbicide tolerance in oilseed rape

• Sumitomo Chemical has acquired an 80% shareholding in the UK agrochemical distributor Interfarm

• The US EPA has approved the registration of Dow’s insecticide Cobalt for the broad-spectrum control of insects in row and selected speciality crops

• Two new studies published by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) demonstrate the benefits of Bt cotton farming in India

• Interfarm is to launch Sumitomo's herbicide flumioxazin in the UK

• Bayer CropScience has successfully enforced the patent on imidacloprid against Ki-Hara Chemicals

• DuPont has sold its fenbutatin-oxide miticide and triphenyltin hydroxide contact fungicide assets to United Phosphorus Limited

• Syngenta has entered a five-year research collaboration with the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology (IGDB) in Beijing, China

• CHS and Land O’Lakes, both located in Minnesota, US, are repositioning Agriliance the North American agronomy joint venture that they set up in 2000

• FMC Corporation will phase out its agricultural chemicals operations at its Baltimore facility in the US by March 2008. All the products currently produced there will be sourced from FMC's manufacturing alliance partners

• Athenix Corporation  and Monsanto  today announced they have entered into a three-year research collaboration for insect control

• DuPont has opened a new seed research centre in Porto Nacional, Brazil that  will help the company to accelerate its global research efforts to bring improved genetics and traits to the market faster

• The value of the French agrochemical market decreased in 2006 to €1,721 million, down 8% compared to 2005 but 20% down in comparison with 1999

• Syngenta’s herbicide, Prefix (S-metolachlor and fomesafen) is now registered by the US EPA as a premix formulation.

• Monsanto has reported a 71% increase in net income for the third quarter compared to the previous year. Net sales for the quarter grew 23%

• DuPont Crop Protection is to give Marrone Organic Innovations (MOI) exclusive access to its natural product discoveries for development as biopesticide products

• Bayer CropScience has completed the acquisition of Stoneville Pedigreed Seed Company from Monsanto Company after US authorities approved the transaction

• Evogene Ltd and Bayer CropScience are to collaborate to increase the productivity and yield of  Bayer 's core crops with regard to stress conditions such as drought

• Bayer CropScience and Monsanto  have entered into a series of long-term business and licensing agreements related to key enabling agricultural technologies

Headlines from May 2007

• The UK's Pesticide Safety Directorate (PSD) has decided that additional resistance management advice should be added to the labels of all foliar applied DMI fungicides with recommendations for the control of Septoria tritici

• The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has granted experimental use permits (EUP) for DuPont’s Rynaxypyr based insecticides Altacor and Coragen for use on 10 fruit and vegetable crops in 16 US states

• Dow AgroSciences has received EPA registration for SureStart (acetochlor + flumetsulam + clopyralid), a new soil-applied herbicide specifically designed for use in Roundup Ready corn

• Pioneer Hi-Bred International and DuPont Crop Protection have introduced a new, broad-spectrum weed control option for sunflower growers, Pioneer brand sunflower hybrids with the DuPont ExpressSun trait

• Syngenta has agreed to take a 49% minority stake in Sanbei Seed Co Ltd, a leading Chinese corn seed company headquartered in Longhua, Hebei Province

• Representatives of Europe's leading crop protection companies and the Russian government have launched a campaign to counter the growing challenge of counterfeit pesticides and illegal trade in pesticides

• After two difficult quarters, Makhteshim Agan Industries has reported record sales during the first quarter of 2007, $559.3 million compared to $493.9 million in 2006, an increase of 13.3% 

• Monsanto moved quickly to complete the $1.5 billion acquisition of Delta and Pine Land (DPL) following the US Justice Department’s recent decision to give the deal the green light

• Bayer CropScience’s will acquire the Stoneville Pedigree Seed Company from Monsanto for $310 million. The acquisition is still subject to the approval of the US competition authorities

• Monsanto will sell its NexGen cotton seed brand and related business assets to Americot for $6.8 million

• Dow AgroSciences says it is committed to supporting and investing in the future of 1,3-D in the UK, EU and globally despite the product failing to achieve EU Annex I inclusion 

• Researchers at the University of Nebraska have successfully modified crops to resist the broadleaf herbicide dicamba

• Cheminova and Eden Research, a UK agrochemical development company, have entered into an exclusive licensing agreement for Europe, CIS and the Americas for Eden’s terpene-based botrytis products  

• Cheminova has acquired a majority shareholding in the Hungarian company  Kerolagro, an independent distributor of plant protection and plant nutrition products for both crop and non-crop uses.

• Syngenta Crop Protection has launched Halex GT, a new corn herbicide based on mesotrione, specifically designed to improve glyphosate-tolerant (GT) corn production in the US

• DuPont plan to add more than 400 positions, mainly in research and development, in its seed subsidiary Pioneer Hi-Bred International. Pioneer will also be expanding R&D efforts at 67 of its 92 research centres worldwide

• Bayer CropScience has launched two products in the US based on the active ingredient prothioconazole.  Provost (prothioconazole + tebuconazole)  controls a range of foliar and soilborne diseases that attack peanut plants. Proline (prothioconazole) is mainly for the cereal grains market

• Isagro has received permanent registration (Section 3) from the US EPA for tetraconazole and orthosulfamuron

• Gowan Company has acquired the marketing rights in Canada to the active ingredient pyridaben and is marketing it under the NeXter brand name

• After a very significant decrease in the market in 2005 (down 14.8%) sales of agrochemicals in Spain  in 2006   reached €555.70 million, up 2.8% on the previous year

• The US EPA has approved a request for a specific Section 18 exemption for six fungicides containing the active ingredient tebuconazole to control scab (Fusarium head blight) in wheat and barley.

• The EPA has granted Bayer CropScience a Section 3 approval for Stratego, a premix of trifloxystrobin and propiconazole for use on soybeans

Headlines from March 2007

• FMC Corporation  has secured from Sankyo Agro exclusive access to simeconazole, a proprietary, triazole fungicide

• Bayer CropScience's sales ended the year at €5,700 million, down 3.3% compared to the previous year.  Crop Protection  sales decreased by 4.7% to € 4,644 million
   

• Bayer CropScience plans to grow its business in China from the current level of €65 million (2006) to over €100 million in the medium term. It will also expand its production site for crop protection products in Hangzhou by investing a further €25 million in 2007 and 2008

• BASF’s insecticide fipronil has been authorised for Annex I listing by the EU Commission

• Syngenta has acquired the Fischer group for around $67 million cash. Fischer is a private company specialising in the breeding and marketing of flower crops

• Bayer CropScience has recently received EPA registration for its fungicide Provost (prothioconazole + tebuconazole) for use on peanuts for the control of the major foliar and soilborne diseases

• BASF and Monsanto are to work together in the plant biotechnology sector. Both companies have agreed to a long-term joint R&D and commercialisation programme that focuses on high yielding crops and crops that are more tolerant to adverse environmental conditions

• The peak sales potential of BASF's development pipeline has increased to €800 million. BASF is currently working on developing seven new active ingredients and on one new herbicide tolerance project

• Makhteshim Agan Industries posted a      net loss of $38.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2006. The company ended 2006 with sales of around $1.8 billion, up just 2% on 2005

• FMC has received approval for its insecticide Beleaf (flonicamide) for use on potatoes to control a variety of insect pests including aphids, tarnished plant bugs, Western plant bugs and leafhoppers.

• Amvac have reported net sales of $193.8, up 2% from $189.8 in 2005

• The South African government has rejected Syngenta’s application to grow genetically modified (GM) maize in South Africa for the biofuel industry

Headlines from February 2007

• Monsanto is to provide academic researchers and public institutions with free access to its new cyst nematode marker technology

• Sales of agricultural products by BASF drop 6.6% in 2006 to €3,079 million. R&D expenses increased by 10% to €334 million.

• Syngenta increased its net profit by 12% last year to a record $872 million while sales dipped by 1%  to $8.05 billion

• At a public hearing in the European Parliament  the European Crop Protection Association (ECPA) has called on stakeholders to support a new plant protection marketing regulation that stimulates innovation in new products
  
   

• ENDURE (European Network for the Durable Exploitation of Crop Protection Strategies) launched by INRA, France receives €11.2 million European funding to develop environmentally friendly crop protection strategies across Europe

• Environment ministers from the EU's 27 national governments have blocked a proposal by the European Commission to force Hungary to lift its ban on Monsanto's MON810 corn

• Nunhems BV, Bayer CropScience’s vegetable seed business, has signed an agreement with Unilever to co-develop new tomato varieties

• Belgian biotech group Devgen has entered into a new five-year research and technology exchange agreement with Monsanto

Headlines from January 2007

• Isagro has set up a  distribution and marketing agreement with RiceCo in the US for its new rice herbicide Strada (orthosulfamuron)

• Bayer CropScience has started launching its potato blight fungicide Infinito (fluopicolide) into  additional European markets. The product has now gained regulatory approval in Poland and Germany, and can also be used in Austria

• Dupont has finalised supply agreements with Mitsui Chemicals for the fungicide penthiopyrad

• Syngenta has received US EPA approval for its insect trait stack (corn rootworm plus European corn borer). This approval enables Syngenta to launch a triple stacked corn that includes glyphosate tolerance.

• Syngenta and Diversa Corporation have agreed  a new 10-year research and development partnership focused on the discovery and development of a range of novel enzymes for use in the production of biofuel

• Chemtura has signed a global agreement to develop and commercialise Kureha's ipconazole for seed treatment uses

• Syngenta is cutting the prices of its agrochemical products by 20 % for Swiss farmers following criticism from the authorities regarding excessive high pricing

• Bayer CropScience  and Plant Health Care Inc are to develop new seed treatment solutions based on Plant Health Care´s Myconate technology used in combination with Bayer's seed treatment products

• AMVAC has entered into an agreement with DuPont  Crop Protection so that AMVAC’s newly launched corn herbicide Impact (topamezone) can be used as part of Pioneer's TruChoice Opportunity Programme

• Sci-Protek will distribute Exosect's new Exosex Mating Disruption Products to US growers

• Bayer CropScience has received its first  approval for the new corn herbicide Laudis (tembotrione) in Austria

• The European CRO, Agrisearch, acquired by Eurofins in 2006, has formed a North American subsidiary Eurofins/ Agrisearch Americas Inc to service the crop protection industry in the US

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