Through The BioAg Alliance, Monsanto Company and Novozymes have a new project in the works.  As part of the commitment to innovative microbial solutions a new corn inoculant, Acceleron B-300 SAT, is being introduced.  The product is based on a fungus found in soil and has shown promising results with a two-year average yield advantage of more than 3 bushels per acre.  The new inoculant will be applied to all of Monsanto’s 2017 corn hybrids sold in the U.S.

“Harnessing the power of nature’s microbes, farmers will be able to produce more crops while using fertilizer more efficiently and producing less CO2. This will benefit agriculture, consumers and the environment,” said Colin Bletsky, Novozymes’ Vice President for BioAg. “This is the first product jointly developed by Monsanto and Novozymes, and it shows the kind of innovation we can achieve in The BioAg Alliance. We believe it could be applied to more than 90 million acres by 2025 and become one of the biggest biological products in the ag industry.”

Acceleron B-300 SAT increases plants’ ability to take up nutrients and is an improved formulation of the JumpStart® inoculant (Penicillium bilaiae), a product that existed in Novozymes’ pipeline before the formation of The BioAg Alliance.

The spores in previous versions of JumpStart last about 120 days on the seed after application.  With Acceleron B-300 SAT inoculant, scientists from Monsanto and Novozymes have developed a formulation that, when seed is stored in proper conditions, is viable for at least two years on the seed and is generally compatible with other seed coating chemistries. This allows Monsanto to coat the seeds with the microbial product before the seeds are shipped to retailers and farmers. Acceleron B-300 SAT inoculant is the first ‘upstream’ corn inoculant ever developed.

Monsanto has said it will offer Acceleron B-300 SAT to licensees and distributors.