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Monsanto is notorious for its aggressive moves to force open markets for its GM crops. But when it comes to rice, the multinational corporation is strangely low-profile. This is not to say that Monsanto's leaving rice to its competitors. The potential market is just too big to pass up. It's just chosen to take another track with rice, gradually building its position through collaboration with smaller companies.

Last month, Monsanto raised its involvement in rice up a notch by signing a "technology exchange agreement" with the Belgian/Singapore-based biotechnology company Devgen that gives the start-up a bundle of cash and access to Monsanto's rice breeding and GM technologies. Devgen says it "expects that on an annual basis it will receive approximately 50% more in research payments from Monsanto compared with payments received from Monsanto under the previous R&D agreement."

Devgen currently operates two rice breeding stations in Kenya, established in 2006, but its sights are on India where, this year. it plans to set-up a major hybrid rice breeding programme. The company says that its "goal is to develop proprietary hybrids, adapted to Indian market requirements ... that will be the vehicle for Devgen's biotech traits."

To get its plan moving, Devgen's hired two high-profile breeders from the rice industry: John Mann, long-time rice breeder with RiceTec, becomes the head of rice breeding at Devgen; and Gurdev Khush, for years the face of the Green Revolution at the International Rice Research Institute, becomes Devgen's senior advisor. Khush is also well-place to help the company with upcoming lobby work to bring its GM rice to market. He's a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of India's Department of Biotechnology and the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences' Science Council.

Monsanto moves in on rice through the back-door