The stacked trait product provides both protection from feeding damage caused by lepidopteran insect pests in Brazil and tolerance to Roundup agricultural herbicides.

This is the first biotech insect-protected product in soybeans and Monsanto's first biotech product targeted primarily at a market outside the United States.

The company expects to commercialise its Bt Roundup Ready 2 Yield soybeans in Brazil in the early to middle part of the next decade pending global regulatory approvals.

Submissions to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have also been completed.

Submissions to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and key import markets will occur over the next several months.

Bt Roundup Ready 2 Yield soybeans are in Phase 3 of development, which includes trait integration, field testing and regulatory data generation.

Insect-protected soybeans use the same Bt technology widely adopted in corn and cotton to control lepidopteran insect pests.

Currently, farmers in key soybean growing regions of the U.S. do not consistently face insect-pressure from lepidopteran pests.

This product is a high-impact technology in Monsanto's R&D pipeline with a projected value in 2020 to be $300 million-$500 million.

This product represents the first of several technologies the company plans to offer farmers in other world areas - all aimed at helping to address the needs of farmers in their geography.