Monsanto Company and Dow AgroSciences have reached an agreement that allows Monsanto to use Dow AgroSciences’ EXZACT Precision Technology Platform for research and development of new crop solutions.

EXZACT technology was developed by Dow under an exclusive license with Sangamo BioSciences to facility the creation of new crop varieties and improve 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.

Currently the companies have not released any further information about the agreement.