Syngenta to sell 2 new corn seed products

The Associated Press

Swiss seed company Syngenta AG said Tuesday that it has registered two new corn seed products with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in time for the 2013 planting season.

U.S. growers who plant insect-resistant corn are required to plant separate "refuge" areas of corn that doesn't carry the insect-resistant trait. This is aimed at preventing or slowing down insects from becoming immune to the technology. However, it means extra work for farmers. So to make it easier to comply with the rule, some companies have developed so-called "refuge-in-a-bag" products which contain both resistant and non-resistant seed that farmers can plant together.

Syngenta said it will offer Agrisure 3122 E-Z Refuge and Agrisure Viptera 3220 E-Z Refuge for sale from its Garst, Golden Harvest and NK seed brands. Five percent of the seeds in both bags are non-resistant to insects.

The company's shares rose $1.68 to close the shortened session at $68.82.