USA
July 8, 2013
Letter-to-the-editor from Chuck Lee, Head, Corn at Syngenta, in response to a news release from Rice University and UC Davis posted on SeedQuest on June 3, 2013: “Climate change raises stakes on US ethanol policy - Rice University & UC Davis study predicts rising irrigation costs, reduced yields for US corn”
To the Editor,
The ability of corn growers and ethanol producers to meet the challenges posed by climate change over the next 40 years are considerably better than the Dominguez-Faus, et al. article, “Climate Change Would Increase the Water Intensity of Irrigated Corn Ethanol,” would lead readers to believe. Corn farming, as both a science and an art, successfully adapts to a myriad of environmental challenges every year and, together with technology innovators like Syngenta, will continue to do so long into the future.
For example, new irrigation and crop production technologies are enabling farmers in the western Corn Belt to maintain their yields while reducing water use by 25 percent, which is approximately five acre-inches or the equivalent of approximately 136,000 gallons per acre. If considering the 20 percent of total corn acreage needed to support ethanol plants in irrigated areas, as cited in the article, the water savings would be more than 65 billion gallons.
Further advances in plant breeding have enabled researchers to identify and select genes that work to help plants use water more efficiently and provide season-long defense against drought. For example, Agrisure Artesian corn is designed to produce higher yields in times of water stress (drought) such as farmers have been facing for the past year. Field trials in 2012— under severe to extreme drought stress conditions*—found Agrisure Artesian yields to be 16.8 percent higher than the plot average in over 1,100 locations. Other water savings come from seed care, crop protection, crop enhancement and growth regulation products that help farmers grow healthy and strong crops even during periods of water stress.
Advancements are also occurring at a rapid pace by ethanol producers. In a survey of more than 50 percent of dry grind ethanol plants conducted in 2013 by the University of Illinois at Chicago Energy Resources Center, the water required per gallon of ethanol was just 2.7 gallons. New varieties are also being developed such as Enogen® technology, which includes an enzyme in the corn that improves the efficiency of ethanol production. This means ethanol plants using this technology can be more environmentally responsible—using less water and energy—while improving their bottom lines. These efficiency improvements are saving a 100-million gallon plant annually an estimated 68 million gallons of water, 10 million KWh of electricity and 350 billion BTUs of natural gas. This is the equivalent amount of power needed to heat several thousand homes.
Given the uncertain impact of climate change, it is worthwhile recognizing that farming, ethanol production and enabling technologies will continue to evolve to meet the challenge as they so often have in the past.
Sincerely,
Chuck Lee
Head, Corn
Syngenta
© 2013 Syngenta. Agrisure®, Enogen® and the Syngenta logo are registered trademarks of a Syngenta Group Company.
* For this research, Syngenta defines a yield environment of 50–99 bu/acre as “Severe” and fewer than 50 bu/acre as “Extreme”.
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