Monsanto cooperates With Bayer CropScience

Bob Shumaker has planted thousands of Doug fir seedlings on his property over the past 30 years.

He’s planted and hand pruned the fir trees and harvested marketable timber, while keeping chemical fertilizers and pesticides to a minimum.

He told KATU, "It’s got to be something that you love – it’s got to be a love for the land."

His wife, Bonnie Shumaker agrees and told KATU that chemical free landscapes mean native wildflowers, like "Johnny Jump Ups," will do well too.

In fact, the Shumakers claim more than 90 different native plant, shrub and wildflower species grow on their sprawling 80-acre rural property in Washington County.

"The native plants have been here before the European settlers got here, so they are very well acclimated to this region – which is why they will grow well in the urban setting," she said.

Planting native trees and shrubs in the backyard landscape really makes sense and saves money too. The plants are drought tolerant - cutting down on water use. And they are bug resistant, so you don’t need to use as many pesticides in the yard.

But the trick has always been finding a wide selection of plants that are appropriate for backyard use. Until now!

Paul Stormo is the owner of Champoeg Nursery in Wilsonville, where his business specializes in native plants. He grows more than 140 different species, including many ornamental plants like flowering red currant.

"It’s probably got the most ornamental qualities - fragrant with really beautiful red flowers," said Stormo, pictured below. "But there’s also bleeding heart, various native forest lilies and even trilliums that can be grown in the backyard."

Stormo said consumer confusion about using native plants starts when new homes are built on landscapes that have been scraped clean of native vegetation.

People assume they’ve little choice but to buy what’s widely available at area nurseries and the big box stores without ever giving the natives a chance.

"If you start to ask your retail nurseries to look for these plants and show that there's a demand for them, there's going to be that natural pull and help people like me get our products to the consumer," Stormo said.

The Shumakers agree and add that their strategy of planting native flowers and shrubs has also paid off for the wildlife, including scores of bird species, such as songbirds, hummingbirds and honeybees.

"They’ve been native to this area too for a long time, and they count on these native plants," Bonnie Shumaker said.

All of it adds up to a win-win for the homeowner, the wildlife and the great outdoors.Monsanto Company said Tuesday it has entered an exclusive partnership with rival Bayer CropScience to develop a new treatment for corn seeds.

The deal is part of St. Louis-based Monsanto's broader effort to capture more of the global corn seed market. The firms did not release financial terms of their deal.

Monsanto, the world's largest seed company is a big player in U.S. commodity crops like soybeans and cotton, and Chief Executive Hugh Grant told investors last week that increasing corn seed sales is a key part of Monsanto's plan to double its annual operating profit by 2012.

"Corn looms large in our growth plans," Grant said.

The treated seeds would be resistant to a fungus and other diseases, using Bayer's patented technology.

Bayer CropScience is a division of the Germany-based chemical giant Bayer AG.

While Monsanto has traditionally competed with Bayer in the market for genetically engineered seeds, the companies formed a research partnership last summer to develop new strains of biotech crops.

The partnership is part of Monsanto's plan to offer strains of corn that have multiple engineered genes to make the crops resistant to pests and herbicides. Monsanto said Tuesday that some of those seeds will also be sold with the fungicide treatment the company is developing with Bayer.

The fungicide-treated seeds will be available for sale by the year 2010, according to the companies.

The new seed treatment will use an existing Bayer CropScience fungicide called Vortex.