Biotech companies race for drought-tolerant crops

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Johnston, Jan 15: Outside the headquarters of Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc, the pavement is iced over and workers arriving for the day are bundled up against the cold.

But inside a laboratory, a warm, man-made drought is in force, curling the leaves of rows of fledgling corn plants as million-dollar machines and scientists in white coats monitor their distress.

This work is part of a global race pitting Pioneer, Monsanto Co and other biotech companies against each other in a race to develop new strains of corn and other crops that can thrive when water is in short supply.

“Equipping plants to be able to maintain productivity in the driest years is of critical importance,” said Bill Niebur, global vice president for research and development at Pioneer, a division of DuPont. “Drought is a global problem and we recognize the threat that comes with climate change. We’ve got our top talent in our organisation working on this.” This line of research has been underway for years, but it has taken on added urgency as scientists predict a trend of worsening drought and hotter temperatures around the globe. Water shortages are already costing billions of dollars a year in crop shortfalls around the world, and are likely to grow more costly, according to academic and government forecasters.

Two years ago, drought ate into corn production in France and Spain so severely that analysts pegged it as the worst in fifty years. US corn production was down 5% because of drought in 2006.

In Australia, where drought has persistent since 2002, some wheat farmers last year reported failing to harvest a crop for the first time in 40 years.

Jacques Diouf, the head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, warned that people were already starting to go hungry in poor countries because hotter weather was shrinking the food supply and pushing up prices. Biotechnology companies are using both conventional breeding and genetic engineering to mold climate change into a market opportunity. Monsanto is doing field trials in dry parts of Kansas, Nebraska and South Dakota.