OREANDA-NEWS. October 04, 2016. Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON) and Dow AgroSciences LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: DOW), announced today that the companies have reached a non-exclusive global option and licensing agreement on Dow AgroSciences’ EXZACT™ Precision Technology® Platform for research and commercial development of new crop solutions across Monsanto Company’s research portfolio.

EXZACT technology, which Dow AgroSciences has developed under an exclusive license and collaboration agreement in plants with Sangamo BioSciences, Inc., facilitates the creation of crop varieties and lines having improved traits.

“Monsanto is pleased to pursue applications of this genome-editing technology for the development of new plant discoveries and solutions for farmers,” said Tom Adams, Ph.D., biotechnology lead for Monsanto. “Zinc finger nucleases are a well-established technology for gene editing and this license, together with our existing and other licensed technology, will allow us to pursue product development while further enabling our growing body of research in this emerging field.”

“EXZACT technology is helping to deliver next generation crop improvements into the hands of farmers,” said Daniel R. Kittle, Ph.D., vice president, research and development, Dow AgroSciences. “Broad adoption of EXZACT by industry partners, such as Monsanto, expands access to solutions that will improve grower productivity and profitability.”

Both companies noted that genome-editing technology and the broad array of emerging genome-editing techniques, including the zinc finger nuclease (ZFN) technology in EXZACT, represent key scientific applications that can deliver breakthroughs in agriculture. Monsanto believes that genome-editing technologies will enable plant breeders to deliver better hybrids and varieties more efficiently, as well as offer plant scientists additional resources to provide new improvements in plant biotechnology.

Additional terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

About Monsanto Company

Monsanto is committed to bringing a broad range of solutions to help nourish our growing world. We produce seeds for fruits, vegetables and key crops – such as corn, soybeans, and cotton – that help farmers have better harvests while using water and other important resources more efficiently. We work to find sustainable solutions for soil health, help farmers use data to improve farming practices and conserve natural resources, and provide crop protection products to minimize damage from pests and disease. Through programs and partnerships, we collaborate with farmers, researchers, nonprofit organizations, universities and others to help tackle some of the world’s biggest challenges. To learn more about Monsanto, our commitments and our more than 20,000 dedicated employees, please visit: discover.monsanto.com and monsanto.com. Follow our business on Twitter® at twitter.com/MonsantoCo, on the company blog, Beyond the Rows® at monsantoblog.com or subscribe to our News Release RSS Feed.

About Dow AgroSciences

Dow AgroSciences discovers, develops, and brings to market crop protection and plant biotechnology solutions for the growing world. Based in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, Dow AgroSciences is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company and had annual global sales of \\$6.4 billion in 2015. Learn more at www.dowagro.com. Follow Dow AgroSciences on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+, or subscribe to our News Release RSS Feed.

®™Trademark of The Dow Chemical Company (“Dow”) or an affiliated company of Dow.

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