24 May 2011Washington, D.C. - No farmer would ever plant a crop hoping it doesn't rain at the most critical time for the plants to have water, right? Wrong.
That's the position that biotech giant Monsanto Co. is in this year as it tries to get ready to launch a new line of corn seed that's genetically engineered to tolerate drought, a new landmark in agricultural biotechnology.
Monsanto hopes to bring the seed to market in 2013, but a series of rainy summers in the western Plains starting in 2008 has plagued field trials. The company needs the trials to prove to farmers that the seeds will make enough difference to merit buying. The results made public so far have been mixed.
"We had about three good years where we could do field trials in Kansas. It was nice and dry," said Bill Reeves, regulatory affairs manager for Monsanto. "And then it started raining."
http://greenbio.checkbiotech.org/news/monsanto_test_seed_might_beat_drought
