JOHNSTON, Iowa. — 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 organization 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 percent 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.
And in Argentina, which grows about 22 million tons of corn a
year, drought has delayed planting of the current crop.
Last December, Jacques Diouf, the head of the UN Food and
Agriculture Organization, 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, the world leader in genetically engineered crops,
is doing field trials in dry parts of Kansas, Nebraska and South Dakota.
Switzerland’s Syngenta AG has a variety of research sites across the United
States.
Corn is the first focus for all the companies because not
only is it a key raw material for a multitude of processed foods, but also it is
a major animal feed and it is in growing demand to make ethanol for use in
alternative fuels.
The world grows nearly 800 million tons of corn a year, with
about 40 percent of the world’s suppy grown in the United States and 19 percent
in China.
St. Louis-based Monsanto, which spends about 10 percent of
its annual sales on research and development, or about $2 million a day, sees
drought-tolerance as a key area, spokeswoman Sara Duncan said.
"Water is one of the biggest limiting factors in
agriculture," Duncan said. "In the future, climate change does mean there are
going to be more droughts."
The biotech companies acknowledge that opposition to
genetically modified crops remains strong in some countries, especially in
Europe, where opponents have long dubbed such crops "Frankenfoods."
But the success of genetic modification that has turned out
corn that resists pests and is immune to weedkiller, along with similar
modifications in soybeans and other crops, has helped wear down opposition in
recent years.
Last year more than 73 percent of US corn acres were planted
with biotech varieties, according to US Department of Agriculture. In 2006,
biotech crop acreage globally reached 252 million acres in 22 countries,
according to the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech
Applications (ISAAA).
And given global climate concerns and the needs of a hungry
populace, biotech companies believe a drought-tolerant corn could further help
win over opponents.
"This is a more consumer-friendly trait than some of the
others that have come out," said DuPont spokesman Pat Arthur.
Still, opponents of biotech crops predict a range of
environmental hazards, potential human health problems and further concentration
of the food system in the hands of large corporations that repeatedly hike the
price of patent-protected seeds and gobble up competition from smaller seed
companies.
Joe Mendelson, legal director of the Center for Food Safety
in Washington, said non-biotech varieties that naturally adapt to their
localities will be the ones that best tolerate changes in regional climate.
Tinkering with nature is "folly," he said.
"GMO products will only be ‘consumer-friendly’ based upon
public relations spin and not in reality," said Mendelson.
Some farmers, who have seen both the costs and the benefits
of biotech crops since they first hit the market in the mid-1990s, have mixed
feelings about a drought-tolerant corn.
Nebraska corn and soybean farmer Mike Alberts said he would
welcome a more drought-hardy corn, but he fears the seeds will come at a high
cost and loaded with extra genetic traits that
he doesn’t want to pay for, as biotech companies increasingly
stack a mix of genetic traits in their seeds.
"Water usage is getting so expensive. That is a major issue,"
said Alberts. "But a bag of seed is so expensive now I wonder what they will
charge us for that technology."
Currently, US farmers expect to pay about $245 for a bag of
Monsanto’s "triple-stacked" biotech corn seed, which protects against pests and
is immune to weedkiller. A bag of conventional corn seed goes for around $100.
The research is costly. This month, DuPont is introducing a
$1.5 million robotic system that will automatically water, weigh, measure and
document plant progress under varying greenhouse conditions in Johnston, Iowa.
The money is part of the $600 million the company spends annually on agriculture
and nutrition, which includes drought work as a top priority.
The company hopes to have its first transgenic
drought-tolerant corn seed on the market as early as 2012.
Monsanto, which is also testing in the semi-arid area around
Davis, California, plans to have its first drought-tolerant corn hit the market
sometime after 2010.
