The following was an April 11, 2008 press release.  Does SmartStax have duel paternity? 

Just an observation that the traits will be a war of the ER's - ResearchER's, MarketER's, and LawyER's for the hearts and minds of the consumER's. 

Dow AgroSciences has selected two industry veterans to head marketing and research efforts leading to the anticipated launch of SmartStax™ in 2010.

Brent Stauffacher was recently named SmartStax product manager and Doug Barker is the SmartStax research and development project lead.

Jointly developed by Dow AgroSciences and Monsanto, SmartStax will be the first-ever, eight-gene stacked combination in corn. The revolutionary trait platform will integrate multiple insect protection and herbicide tolerance traits to help growers maximize corn yield potential.

As product manager, Stauffacher will lead SmartStax marketing and hybrid planning at Dow AgroSciences and coordinate the company's SmartStax launch activities in the marketplace. Stauffacher joined Dow AgroSciences in 1997 as a sales representative in northern Illinois and moved to the company headquarters in Indianapolis, Ind., as communications manager for the specialties business in 2001. Since then, Stauffacher has served in a number of sales and operations planning roles for Dow AgroSciences and Mycogen Seeds. He is a native of Verona, Wis., and a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

"This is an exciting time for agriculture, Dow AgroSciences and our customers as we make progress toward the launch of SmartStax. We're excited about the opportunity to offer corn growers a new standard for stacked-trait offerings," says Stauffacher.

As SmartStax project lead, Doug Barker will align R&D testing, trait conversion and production research activities to deliver elite hybrid opportunities to Mycogen Seeds. Based in York, Neb., Barker joined Dow AgroSciences in 2000 as a licensing specialist to help develop the traits and germplasm licensing business in the western Corn Belt. He previously served many years as a corn breeder and in other R&D roles. Barker holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in agronomy from the University of Missouri and is a native of Columbia, Mo.

"Customer interest is very high, and we don't think they'll be disappointed. SmartStax will immediately establish itself as the benchmark in corn trait technology. It will help farmers maximize yields by getting the absolute best out of some of the seed industry's most elite germplasm," says Barker.