MONSANTO’S ROUNDUP Ready patent expired this year, allowing growers to plant “generic GMOs” for the first time, reports the MIT Technology Review.

The patent expiration now allows growers to save Roundup Ready seed and competitors to breed their own knock-off hybrids. But, growers still need to check that there aren’t other restrictions to planting off-patent GMO seeds.

According to the magazine, big seed companies are switching to Roundup Ready 2, as they claim the older trait had problems that led to lower yields.

Monsanto says it’s not worried about the patent expiration, as its Roundup Ready 2 generation is still under patent, and a third generation is pending approval. More than 90% of soybeans grown in the U.S. are genetically engineered with Monsanto’s Roundup resistance genes, the magazine says.

No-tillers can read the full article at bit.ly/MonsantoPatentExpires.

IN OTHER NO-TILL NEWS…

• Nufarm announced the availability of its new Panther SC herbicide, a broad-spectrum broadleaf herbicide that controls marestail, Palmer amaranth, kochia and waterhemp in corn, soybeans, cotton and peanuts. The company says it’s the first liquid formulation of flumioxazin available in the U.S.
• Beneficial Reuse Management is opening a plant in Winona, Minn., this fall to manufacture Gypsoil Blendable, its new pelletized gypsum product. The company says Gypsoil Blendable is a durable, low-dust pellet that delivers 16% sulfur and 20% calcium.
• Beck’s Hybrids announced territory expansion into parts of Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and Ohio. The expansion adds roughly 12 million acres of corn and soybeans to Beck’s marketing…