MANHATTAN, Ks - Virginia Tech and Monsanto have signed a collaboration agreement they say will help both parties improve their wheat breeding programs and varieties.

Under the agreement's terms, which were not disclosed, it is expected Monsanto will gain access to Virginia Tech's wheat germplasm pool, and Virginia Tech will gain access to the advanced breeding technologies Monsanto continues to develop. This is the second such agreement with a land-grant university wheat breeding program that Monsanto has signed this year; in June, the company and Kansas State University announced a collaboration based on the principles of agreement drafted by the National Association of Wheat Growers and U.S. Wheat Associates.

Carl Griffey, wheat breeder and professor of crop and soil environmental sciences at Virginia Tech, said working with companies like Monsanto will give Virginia Tech the potential to more efficiently develop better varieties for growers.

"Virginia Tech will have immediate access to the latest technologies for trait and line selection using marker-assisted breeding and, ultimately, timely access to unique value-added traits, both of which will make wheat production more competitive and profitable," he said.

A mutual press release said the collaboration is non-exclusive, meaning both parties are free to form additional collaborative arrangements with other public or private entities. In fact, Griffey said Virginia Tech will continue to work with other public wheat breeding programs, as it has in the past.

The release also said Virginia Tech will continue efforts to develop and release wheat varieties with improved performance in the way it does today, through public, nonexclusive and exclusive variety releases marketed by local, state and regional seed companies.