One of the world’s leading plant genetics companies says agriculture can keep pace with the rapidly expanding global population.
“We’re quite optimistic about the application of science and technology and old-fashioned breeding to help increase yields to help feed a hungry world,” said Jerry Harrington, North American sales and marketing public relations manager for Pioneer Hi-Bred.
The company is on track to increase corn and soybean yields by 40 percent by 2018, more than doubling the current annual rate of growth.
Harrington said the company will use a combination of traditional and molecular breeding to bring higher yielding hybrids to market.
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It plans to introduce new traits in corn lines that will increase anthracnose resistance, boost drought tolerance, make better use of nitrogen and deter insect infestations.
The company will assist growers in selecting fields to grow specific hybrids and will provide them with seed treatments to protect seedlings against diseases and pests early in the season.
In soybeans, the company is focusing on accelerated yield technology, aphid and other insect resistance, rust resistance and a new herbicide resistance called Optimum Gat.
The Union of Concerned Scientists recently released a report saying that despite 20 years of research and 13 years of commercialization, GM crops have failed to significantly increase crop yields. The group claims any increase in corn and soybean yields over the last 13 years was largely due to traditional breeding and improved agronomy.
Harrington said that is false. Corn yields have increased 36 percent since the introduction of GM corn and soybean yields have risen 12 percent.
Eighty percent of U.S. corn acres and 92 percent of the country’s soybean plantings are seeded to genetically modified varieties, which is all the proof needed to properly assess the yield-boosting benefits of the crops.
“Farmers have spoken with their wallets in terms of the value they see with biotech in both corn and soybeans and I think that’s significant,” said Harrington.
The United Nations has stated that world food production must rise by 50 percent by 2030 to meet demand. Seed technology companies are using that statement as a way to help change public opinion about GM crops. They are promoting them as the only solution to the mounting food security issue.
“The question of whether science can supply the world’s growing appetite for grain can be answered with a resounding ‘yes’ if we tap all of the talent and tools that are available,” said William Niebur, vice-president of research and development with DuPont, the parent company of Pioneer Hi-Bred, in a recent news release.
Niebur said one of the keys will be to apply technology on a global scale rather than employing the traditional approach of inventing and adopting new technologies in North America and Europe and eventually rolling them out to other countries.
That has created an imbalance where U.S. corn yields reached 154 bushels per acre in 2008, while they are 50 percent and 38 percent of that level in China and Brazil respectively.
He said Pioneer is well positioned to deliver global solutions because its research network extends around the world.
“There is always someone somewhere in the world thinking about and working on ways to increase agricultural productivity,” said Niebur.