Biotech Updates

BASF and CTC Collaborate on Sugarcane R&D

August 7, 2009

Brazil's Centro de Tecnologia Canavieira and Germany-based agrochemical company BASF announced that they will be working together to develop higher-yielding and drought-tolerant sugarcane varieties. They aim to bring sugarcane varieties with yield increases of 25 percent to the market within the next decade. In a press release, BASF said that it will provide plant biotech knowhow as well as its most promising genes, and CTC, in turn, will bring its broad expertise in sugarcane and will add selected genes to its most promising sugarcane varieties.

Brazil is the world's number one sugarcane producer, producing more than 500 million tons annually, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

The press release is available at http://www.basf.com/group/pressrelease/P-09-147