U.S. regulators on Tuesday said they are leaning toward approval of a new line of herbicide-tolerant crops developed by Monsanto Co even though they could increase problematic weed resistance for farmers. Under the draft "environmental impact statement" (EIS) by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), the agency said its analysis shows the new genetically modified cotton and soybean plants should be approved.St. Louis-based Monsanto, said the APHIS move was "a noteworthy sign of progress.""It is an important step in the regulatory process and we are encouraging farmers to urge APHIS to complete this action as soon as possible," Michelle Vigna, Monsanto's product manager, said in a statement.Monsanto developed the new soybeans and cotton to resist a new herbicide that combines dicamba and glyphosate and which Monsanto is branding as Roundup Xtend. The "Roundup Ready Xtend crop system" is aimed at combating the millions of acres of weeds that have grown resistant to Monsanto's glyphosate-based Roundup, which has been used extensively on the company's biotech corn, soybeans and cotton.
Monsanto Company (Monsanto) along with its subsidiaries, is a provider of agricultural products for farmers. Shares of MON traded higher by 0.9% or $1.04/share to $116.04. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $94.00 and as high as $128.79. On average, 3262170 shares of MON exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 2650722.
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