Drought tolerant corn would not have saved the U.S. crop this year, says the National Corn Growers Association.
“The drought was so intense in certain areas that even the hardiest of hardy crops would not have been able to make a significant dent,” said Nathan Fields, the association’s director of biotechnology.
A number of seed companies either commercialized or field-tested drought tolerant corn hybrids this year, both genetically modified varieties and those made through conventional breeding.
Growers are reporting that the varieties performed better than traditional corn varieties in areas where there was at least a little rain.
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However, Fields said the drought tolerant traits are designed to help corn crops survive an extra week or two between rain, but not seven or eight weeks without moisture.
“It is not a silver bullet. Every plant needs at least some water to grow and we just didn’t get that in wide areas here in the corn belt,” he said.
Drought ravaged the U.S. corn crop this year. The U.S. Department of Agriculture dropped its yield estimate by 26 percent to 123 bushels per acre in August from 166 bu. in May.
Canadian grain farmers are benefitting from that production shortfall, which has driven corn and many other grain and oilseed prices to record levels.
Seed companies say their drought tolerant technology can boost yields by up to 15 percent over traditional varieties under dry conditions, which would have a significant impact on corn prices.
If farmers added 15 percent to anticipated yields, it would be enough corn to fill 497,777 rail cars, according to the Council for Biotechnology Information.
However, Fields doesn’t expect the field trial results will show a 15 percent improvement over traditional varieties in 2012.
“I have tempered my expectations just because of the intensity of the weather event this year,” he said.
Monsanto piloted its new DroughtGard hybrids with 250 growers this spring on 10,000 acres throughout the western Great Plains from South Dakota to Texas.
Mark Lawson, corn team yield and stress platform lead for Monsanto, said the company lost some of the trials in areas where there was extreme drought.
“But this is a very unusual year. You won’t see these kinds of conditions in most years,” he said.
“When you get into these kinds of conditions, it’s difficult for any product or technology to keep up with the kind of drought that we had here.”
Growers who did receive a little rain said the DroughtGard hybrids showed good plant health, ear development and pollination resulting in more kernels per ear.
Lawson said the technology should help stabilize U.S. corn production when the crop is under stress in a year with more typical drought conditions.
Fields agreed that drought tolerant crops could be immensely helpful for 20 to 30 million acres of dryland corn typically planted in the U.S. corn belt.
“Our growers are looking forward to this product being fully commercially launched and being available,” he said.
Fields hopes drought tolerant corn will deliver the same kind of benefits that new hybrids did a couple of years ago when much of Iowa’s corn crop was flooded in the spring. The crops were able to lay down strong roots quickly, which prevented the corn from uprooting or lodging when the water came.
“The corn responded quite well because of the base genetics, and we were able to save a very good crop in that area,” he said.
Monsanto isn’t the only seed company offering drought tolerant corn.
DuPont Pioneer’s Optimum Aquamax corn is the furthest advanced. The company estimates it was planted on three million acres of the western corn belt this spring.
Syngenta field tested its Agrisure Artesian corn in 800 locations and will have ample supplies next year.
Many growers in Manitoba would have benefited from drought and heat tolerant canola this year.
Monsanto Canada spokesperson Trish Jordan said drought tolerant canola is not in the company’s research and development pipeline. The company is focused on the anticipated 2014 commercial launch of TruFlex, its second generation of Roundup Ready canola.
