Drought-tolerant Corn Being Tested in US (MON, DD)

Whether the new seeds will prove successful remains to be seen. DuPont, which tested eight versions of its AquaMax corn seeds last year, said the plants boosted yields by 7%, according to a report in the Washington Post. A study by the Union of Concerned Scientists argues that yields increase about 1% a year with the GMO seeds, about the same amount as a combination of new farming methods and conventionally bred seeds.

Climate change is likely to be cause more frequent and more severe droughts over the next few decades. To feed the more than 7 billion inhabitants of the planet in conditions that seem sure to be considerably different from what they have been in the past may rank next to a shortage of fresh water as the biggest challenge the world faces in this century.

Paul Ausick