Monsanto buys Guatamala seed company

ST. LOUIS — Two weeks after Monsanto announced plans to purchase a Guatemala-based seed company, the deal is now complete.

St. Louis-based Monsanto announced Wednesday it has completed the purchase of Marmot SA, which operates Semillas Cristiani Burkard, a privately-held seed company with headquarters in Guatemala City.

Terms were not disclosed.

Monsanto says the deal will allow it to offer farmers in Latin and Central America broader access to corn seed products.

Semillas Cristiani Burkard operates in 12 countries. The company focuses on hybrid corn seed production, particularly corn, sorghum, forage sorghum, soybeans, and pastures or grass-type seeds. The company is also a distributor of Seminis vegetable seeds, a product of Monsanto’s vegetable seed division.