By Jack Kaskey - 2012-08-21T12:14:41Z

Noah Berger/Bloomberg

A tomato breeder displays varieties grown at the Monsanto Co. facility in Woodland, California.

Doug Heath, a tomato breeder for Monsanto Co. (MON), offers visitors juicy slices of Cherokee Purple, a delicate variety with a sweetness and acidity hes trying to replicate in hardier commercial fruit.

We want to see these in the stores more than one month a year, Heath told visitors this month at his research plot in Woodland, California. He gave out the tomato slices at Field Days, an annual gathering for farmers and distributors to see new crops from Monsantos Seminis vegetable seed unit.

Monsanto is accelerating its push to identify thousands of genetic markers in fruits and vegetables as it brings the tools of biotechnology to conventional breeding, giving Heath the ability to select for everything from taste to disease- resistance. Its also allowing the worlds biggest vegetable- seed producer to develop new varieties in two to four years, down from as many as 10 years. Using the markers is like having X-ray glasses that let breeders peer inside a leaf clipping or seed to find what will grow, Heath said.

His efforts are gathering momentum at the St. Louis-based company, which bought Seminis for $1.4 billion in 2005 and is looking to expand its market share. Monsanto has identified about 5,000 genetic markers in peppers, more than 4,000 in tomatoes and thousands more in melons, cauliflower, broccoli, cucumbers and beans, according to an Aug. 14 investor presentation. The company plans to identify more vegetable markers this year than in the past 20 years combined.

Syngenta AG (SYNN), the second-biggest vegetable seed producer, and other companies are also identifying the markers. Syngenta has more than 250,000 genetic markers to help with vegetable breeding, including about 50,000 in melon, 25,000 in tomato and 10,000 in peppers, according to an e-mail from Paul Minehart, a spokesman for the Basel, Switzerland-based company.

Monsanto is unrivaled in integrating genetic data into breeding decisions, Chief Technology Officer Robb Fraley said in an interview. The company declined to disclose its total vegetable markers.

Using genetic markers to guide breeding decisions will improve the appeal and nutrition of tomatoes and 20 other fruits and vegetables, helping people eat healthier and propelling vegetables to Monsantos third-most-profitable business, surpassing cotton in the next three years, Fraley said.

Read the original:
Monsanto Genetic ’X-Ray Glasses’ Speed Tastier Tomatoes

Comments are closed.