Page 37 - Logan County Farm Outlook - Spring 2013

2013 LOGAN COUNTY FA
RM
OUTLOOK MAGAZINE. LINCOLN DAILY NEWS.com March 21, 2013
37
This product doubles protection from
rootworm by adding to the Agrisure RW
trait with its own expression of a unique
protein. “USDA data show a tenfold
reduction in Western
corn rootworm
beetle emergence,”
accordingtoSyngenta.
Monsanto just
received word that
one of its newest
b i o t e c h - b a s e d
drought products,
DroughtGard, has also
been deregulated.
According to Monsanto, this spring
U.S. farmers across the western Great
Plains will be the first to plant the newest
drought-tolerant corn system as part of
on-farm trials. DroughtGard hybrids are
from the Genuity corn family.
Research and development that
began in the 1980s was conducted in
drier geographic territories. Traditional
crossbreeding was slow and less exact,
requiring a “wait and see” from one
crop cycle to another. In
the past 10 years, the
use of biotechnology
gene selection has
significantly advanced
hybrid development
for all commercial crop
production.
While the Midwest
may not have been
the targeted user of
the drought-tolerant hybrids when
their development began, after two
consecutive years of extreme drought,
the super seeds are the Logan County
farmer’s good fortune now.
[Jan Youngquist]