Biotech Sugarcane Approved for Field Testing in Brazil

Ceres Incorporated, an agricultural biotechnology company, has received approval to initiate field testing of its biotech sugarcane in Brazil, the world's largest producer of sugarcane.

The company plans to test its biomass and sugar yield and stress tolerance traits in several commercial sugarcane cultivars adapted to Brazil's major production areas. The field evaluations are expected to begin in the next six weeks. These field evaluations provide greater insight into how traits may perform in future products in an agricultural setting.

A sugarcane variety with Ceres traits could significantly change production economics by increasing sugar and biomass yields while also providing additional harvests during the typical lifecycle of sugarcane. In field evaluations outside of Brazil, Ceres' yield traits increased biomass yields in elite tropical sugarcane varieties.