Drought Tolerant Corn by Next Year?

Monsanto Company announced that it has submitted what could be the world’s first drought-tolerant corn to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a regulatory clearance. The genetically modified corn has moved into the final phase of development and could be available to farmers as early as 2010, the company said in a press release. Monsanto has been working with Germany-based BASF Plant Science on the GM crop since March 2007.

Trials of the corn conducted last year in the Western Great Plains in the United States have met or exceeded the 6 to 10 percent target yield enhancement over the average yield of 70 to130 bushels per acre (equivalent to approximately 4.4 to 8.1 metric tons per hectare) in some of the key drought-prone areas in the US, Monsanto said. Scientists from public research institutions and agricultural companies are racing to develop new crop varieties that can thrive when water is in short supply amid fears of global climate change.

BASF and Monsanto are also collaborating to develop higher-yielding soybean. Their Intrinsic Yield soybean has moved into Phase 3 and will now undergo expanded field trials, regulatory studies and trait integration into elite soybean germplasm.

Read the press release at http://monsanto.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=676 or http://www.basf.com/group/corporate/en/content/news-and-media-relations/news-releases/2009/P-09-101