Monsanto buys Western Australian grain breeder – 26.08.2010

One of the world's largest agricultural biotech companies, Monsanto, has bought part of the Western Australian Government's grain breeding company, Intergrain.

A 'collaborative agreement' has been signed to hand over 19.9 per cent of Intergrain's ownership to Monsanto.

Intergrain says it intends to remain an independent provider of new grain varieties for all Australian farmers.

But Monsanto's Peter O'Keefe says it can guarantee buying out more of the company in the future.

"As a commercial organisation, that's certainly part of our business model," he says.

"When you enter a space, we want to have a good solid market share.

"Having said that, there's very strong competition for Intergrain on the varietal front in Australia, and that will continue.

"And there's also strong competition on the biotech front."


ABC