EXTRACT: You could hardly have found a partner with a worse reputation. Monsanto has a name for giving farmers a hard time and being very aggressive with people opposed to biotechnology.
BASF Chairman: Monsanto did not always handle its communications so well in the past. But things have changed.
NOTE: The German weekly newspaper Wirtschaftswoche [Business Week] recently published an interview with BASF's Chairman Jürgen Hambrecht. In the interview, Hambrecht speaks about a number of topics including the global economy, agricultural business and GM crops. Below we have some interesting extracts but the full interview is available here:
http://www.prdomain.com/companies/B/BASF/newsreleases/200982575913.htm
If you look at the full interview, you'll see the complete absence of any reference to the success (or otherwise) of BASF's previously much hyped GM "blight resistant" potato. This silence, when BASF's boss is asked about what GM crops are coming soon, may speak volumes about how effective the (now apparently halted) research actually was.
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Extracts from interview with Dr Jurgen Hambrecht [Chairman of BASF]
PR Domain Business Register, 24 August 2009
Questioner: You have a partnership with the U.S. company Monsanto. BASF pays 50 percent of the costs, but only gets 40 percent of the profit. How come BASF is being squeezed like this?
JH: Monsanto and BASF both conduct their research independently. The two partners put their best research findings into joint, i.e., 50-50, development. Monsanto is contributing its valuable seed bank and carrying out the field testing. However the marketing, with all the costs that involves, is being done solely by Monsanto. That's why the profits are being allocated accordingly.
Questioner: Monsanto is treating BASF as a junior partner.
JH: That's nonsense. This is one of the best partnerships we have ever had.
Questioner: You could hardly have found a partner with a worse reputation. Monsanto has a name for giving farmers a hard time and being very aggressive with people opposed to biotechnology.
JH: Monsanto did not always handle its communications so well in the past. But things have changed.
Questioner: You have also been fighting for years for Amflora genetically modified potatoes, which BASF thinks will give the industry a boost.
JH: The way the E.U. has handled this is outrageous. We have been submitting filings for Amflora for 13 years. Thirteen years! Just recently we had yet another confirmation of safety, but Amflora has still not been approved.
Questioner: What consequences will you draw from that?
JH: If Amflora is not approved, we will consider withdrawing from plant biotechnology in Germany and Europe. Such a decision would be negative, politically driven and devoid of any scientific sense.
Questioner: Do you think that you will see Amflora approved while you are still chairman? After all, your contract ends in early 2011.
JH: I very much hope so, and despite everything I remain optimistic.
Questioner: Maybe you might have to extend your contract if you want to see Amflora thriving while you are still in this job.
JH: For me, 2011 marks the end of the road.