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More incentive for US wheat growers
Posted: Tuesday, June 30, 2009 3:06 pm
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Wheat growers in the US are experiencing ever-increasing incentives to switch to maize production. The availability of new maize varieties, especially those with biotech traits, are making maize profitable in areas formerly only hospitable to wheat production. With GM drought-tolerant maize set to increase maize yields by as much as 50 percent in in Kansas, it may be hard for US farmers to justify growing wheat anywhere.

Rick Plumlee of The Wichita Eagle (Kansas) notes that over the past 10 years, maize production in Kansas has averaged 130.6 bushels per acre, ranging from 115 to 150 bushels, while last year's crop yielded 134 bushels.

From Kraig Roozeboom, Kansas State University crop ecologist, he learned what the future could hold with a first-generation, drought-tolerant corn seed that Monsanto recently helped develop. Roozeboom says the drought-tolerant seed should increase yield 25 to 30 percent, but it could go as high as 50 percent during very dry years.

About 60 percent of the 3.63 million acres of maize harvested in Kansas last year was produced on non-irrigated land. But Roozeboom said the drought-tolerant seed would also affect Kansas' irrigated land, because rainfall amounts vary so much. "We've been wet for two years," he said, "but 2007 was pretty dry."

Tom Ruff, director of yield and emerging technologies for Monsanto, indicated that this is only the beginning, and that the company is currently doing research on a second drought-tolerant gene that will enhance the process.
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