Golden Valley, Minnesota
December 10, 2007
Every corn farmer in the Midwest
knows about the “million dollar rain.” While it is rare that too
much or too little moisture destroys a crop, the difference
between profit and loss in many seasons comes down to one
significant rainfall at just the right time. The “million dollar
rain.”
Thanks to improved plant breeding and innovative trait
selection, corn farmers will soon be able to select hybrids that
use water more efficiently to produce eye-popping yields when
weather conditions are ideal and still-strong yields when Mother
Nature doesn’t quite cooperate.
Syngenta is using a
combination of selective breeding of native and biotech traits
to produce hybrids designed to yield well across a wider variety
of weather conditions.
“Water optimization technology could revolutionize corn
production in the western and central Corn Belt where moisture
is usually the limiting factor to yields and irrigation is a
major expense,” says Wayne Fithian, corn product business lead
for Syngenta in Golden Valley, Minn. “Syngenta is committed to
being a leader in developing agriculture-based solutions to
address pressing global issues, including variable climatic
conditions. This rapidly emerging water-optimization science
will help our customers meet our growing demand for food, feed
and fuel.
“Multiple factors interact to influence how well a corn plant is
able to produce yield when available soil moisture is below
optimum,” Fithian explains, “including pollination success,
ability to maintain photosynthesis and root system strength. The
impact that drought has on a corn crop is very complex, but the
real yield killer is poor kernel set on the ears. Our goal is a
crop that sets full ears under normal conditions, but also does
an excellent job of setting kernels under drought conditions.
These hybrids could also allow farmers to reduce the amount of
water applied through irrigation.”
Syngenta is achieving consistent positive yield results with its
water optimization traits in corn lines it is testing across a
wide range of moisture conditions, including dryland and
irrigated trials, in North America and South America. All
Syngenta seed brands, including Garst®, Golden Harvest® and NK®
will introduce Syngenta water optimization technology hybrids.
“Water optimization stacked with our Agrisure® traits for insect
resistance and glyphosate and glufosinate tolerance will give
corn growers new opportunity to manage risk, reduce crop stress
and produce a consistent yield year after year with less concern
about moisture availability,” Fithian states.
Syngenta is a world-leading agribusiness committed to
sustainable agriculture through innovative research and
technology. The company is a leader in crop protection, and
ranks third in the high-value commercial seeds market. Sales in
2006 were approximately $8.1 billion. Syngenta employs around
21,000 people in over 90 countries. Syngenta is listed on the
Swiss stock exchange (SYNN) and in New York (SYT). Further
information is available at
www.syngenta.com.
Agrisure® and NK® are registered trademarks of a Syngenta Group
Company. NK is a business unit of Syngenta Seeds, Inc. Golden
Harvest® is a registered trademark of Golden Harvest Seeds, Inc.
Garst® is a registered trademark of Garst Seed Company. |
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