Delta and Pine Land Company

Delta and Pine Land Company, widely known as Deltapine, was a premier American commercial breeder, producer, and marketer of cotton and soybean seeds. Headquartered in Scott, Mississippi, the company was a pioneer in agricultural biotechnology, specifically in the development of transgenic cotton varieties that incorporated traits for herbicide tolerance and insect resistance. The company gained significant international attention for its co-development of Genetic Use Restriction Technology (GURT), colloquially known as "Terminator technology," which was designed to produce sterile seeds. In 2007, the company was acquired by Monsanto for approximately $1.5 billion, a move that consolidated a vast library of cotton germplasm and biotechnology traits under Monsanto's control.