Advanta: Products/Projects
Main products: -fodder crops (fodder maize, grass, forage sorghum)
-oil crops (sunflower, oilseed rape) Advanta Seeds Canada produces Hyola hybrid oilseed rape; Hysyn Polish synthetic oilseed rape; HyLite apetalous oilseed rape; Option open pollinated oilseed rape; Garst corn hybrids; and Interstate sunflower hybrids. The company claims it is the first company in the world to develop and market higher yielding hybrid oilseed rape [13].
-sweetener crops (sugar beet)
-grain crops (corn, cereals, grain sorghum) Advanta produces, amongst others, corn hybrids that combine multiple herbicide tolerances with Bt derived insect resistance, and high pH tolerant corn hybrids
-amenity grass crops (grass for lawns, sport fields, verges and dikes)
-other crops (green manuring, soya-bean, onion) Turnover by crop:[14] Maize 42% Sugar beet 16% Oil seeds 10% Grasses 10% Other 22% GM Crops
Advanta and their subsidiaries are currently conducting field trials of GM crops in the EU. Their focus appears to be incorporating GM technology licensed from other GM companies into their own hybrid crop lines developed through conventional plant breeding techniques. A list of their UK GM crop trials appears below. Outside of the EU Advanta subsidiaries are marketing GM crop lines, for example, Advanta Canada sell HYOLA 454RR oilseed rape/canola. This crop line combines the traits of Advanta’s Hyola hybrid with Monsanto’s RoundUp Ready herbicide tolerance technology [15]. Garst seeds (an Advanta Subsidiary) are developing G-Stac technology which will enable the combination of multiple GM traits in one crop line, including multiple Bt insect resistance and multiple herbicide tolerance [16].
UK GM Crop Trails [17] Advanta have made 10 applications to conduct GM crop field trials in the UK: nine under the name Sharpes International Seeds (a wholly owed subsidiary of Advanta BV) and one as Advanta Seeds UK Ltd. DEFRA Reference Code Crop Primary Trait Secondary Trait Technology Licensed From 94/R13/1 Sugar Beet Herbicide Tolerance (Glyphosate/RoundUp) Resistance to beet virus Monsanto 94/R13/2 Sugar Beet Herbicide Tolerance (Glyphosate/RoundUp) Resistance to beet virus Monsanto 95/R13/3 Spring Oilseed Rape Herbicide Tolerance (Glyphosate/RoundUp) N/A Monsanto 95/R13/4 Spring Oilseed Rape Herbicide Tolerance (Glyphosate/RoundUp) N/A Monsanto 95/R13/5 Sugar Beet Fructan Production N/A N/A 96/R13/6 Maize Herbicide Tolerance (Glufosinate Ammonium/Liberty) N/A Aventis/ AgrEvo 97/R13/7 Spring Oilseed Rape Herbicide Tolerance (Glyphosate/RoundUp) N/A Monsanto 97/R13/8 Sugar Beet Herbicide Tolerance (Glufosinate Ammonium/Liberty) N/A Aventis/ AgrEvo 97/R13/9 Sugar Beet Herbicide Tolerance (Glufosinate Ammonium/Liberty) N/A Aventis/ AgrEvo 00/R13/10 Sugar Beet Herbicide Tolerance (Glufosinate Ammonium/Liberty) N/A Aventis/ AgrEvo
Facilities and R&D: -Advanta/Vanderhave has a network of 15 crop research and breeding centers across the world. Their UK plant breeding centre is near Boothby Graffoe Lincolnshire.
-Advanta has partners in applied research; universities and institutes all over the world
-In the Advanta group as a whole, one in three of the more than 2,500 employees worldwide works in R&D. About 15% of the company’s annual seed sales are invested back into R&D (Vanderhave Seed Facts)
References [12] Some sheets containing information about Advanta produced by the company itself (Advanta, Key figures and addresses 2000) [13] www.advantacan.com/Advmission.html [14] Some sheets containing information about Advanta produced by the company itself (Advanta, Key figures and addresses 2000) [15] www.advantacan.com/WPHyola454.html [16] garstseed.com/research/research_overview.htm [17] Public Register of Releases to the Environment www.defra.gov.uk/environment/acre/pdf/exper.pdf
