Monsanto is planning to spend $100 million on early maturing corn hybrids to achieve a goal of eight to 10 million acres of corn in Western Canada by 2025.
Through an initiative called the Canada Corn Expansion Project, the company will invest tens of millions over the next decade to develop corn hybrids that could potentially be grown on 26 million acres on the Prairies, it announced June 24.
“One of the obvious benefits of this project is that it provides western Canadian farmers with an additional crop choice that can enhance the overall profitability of their farming operation,” said Mike Nailor, Monsanto corn and soybean lead for Canada.
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“Our goal will be to help farmers incorporate corn into their current production system to maximize opportunity across a variety of crops, whether they are farming in Manitoba, Saskatchewan or Alberta.”
The Canadian project is part of a larger Monsanto effort to develop corn varieties suitable for northerly agronomic regions, such as Ukraine and Russia.
Monsanto has already initiated its corn expansion project for Western Canada. It has established a corn breeding and testing station at Carman, Man., hired a corn breeder for that site and created several technology development jobs.
The biotech giant will focus on developing corn with earlier relative maturity. Breeding corn with 70 to 85 RM and extensive field testing will be essential to achieve a goal of eight to 10 million acres on the Prairies, Monsanto said in a news release.
Western Canadian farmers now grow 300,000 to 500,000 acres of corn, primarily in southern Manitoba.
