The American Soybean Association (ASA) today expressed support for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) deregulation of the second generation Roundup Ready® soybean called Roundup RReady2Yield™, also known as event MON 89788, which Monsanto anticipates bringing to the U.S. market in 2009. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has already approved Roundup RReady2Yield soybeans for human and animal consumption. The completion of U.S. regulatory processes is a necessary step toward obtaining approvals in some export markets around the globe. The government of Canada has also granted full approval for the planting of this new soybean trait in Canada.

“Soybean producers welcome the development of new biotech-enhanced soybean varieties,” said ASA President John Hoffman, a soybean producer from Waterloo, Iowa. “It is my understanding that Roundup RReady2Yield soybeans will offer a 7 to 11 percent yield advantage over first-generation Roundup Ready beans, while providing the same tolerance to the Roundup herbicides we are now using to manage weeds. Higher soybean yields increase the ability of U.S. soybean growers to supply food, feed, and fuel markets domestically and around the globe.”

Soybeans account for nearly 70 percent of the world’s protein meal consumption, and 75 percent of the edible fats and oils consumed in the United States. About 91 percent of the soybeans planted in the United States this year were grown from Roundup Ready varieties.

“The American Soybean Association has been consulting closely with Monsanto over the past two years to ensure that regulatory approvals also are being sought in all major soy export markets that have biotech regulatory approval processes,” Hoffman said. “Until the required approvals are obtained, Monsanto is implementing robust stewardship practices to ensure that all seed and grain produced during seed increase activities is contained and controlled until the targeted commercial launch of the product in 2009.”

Compared with other commodities, containment of soybean outcrossing during seed development is easier because soybean plants are self-pollinating. The soybean has both the male and female reproductive structures within the same flower. Pollination and fertilization takes place within each flower before the flower opens.

“ASA will continue to monitor the progress being made on global regulatory reviews and approvals,” Hoffman said. “Monsanto is making every effort to make regulatory submissions and obtain timely regulatory approvals for Roundup RReady2Yield soybeans in key soybean importing countries, so there is every reason to believe that the necessary regulatory approvals will be obtained prior to the targeted commercial introduction.

“Timely overseas regulatory approvals are critical because growers around the world have rapidly adopted new biotech-enhanced seed varieties as they became available,” Hoffman said. “U.S. growers look forward to this and several other new biotech-enhanced soybean varieties now under development that will offer important benefits to consumers, growers, and the environment, ranging from healthy oil profiles to increased yields to better weed control.”