Seed Industry

Corn and soybean products that are more efficient in using available water resources will soon be available to producers. Pioneer is set to launch its Drought 1 tolerant corn in the western Corn Belt sometime this year, and other companies have drought-tolerant traits in their development pipelines. “We have been studying drought tolerance since the 1950s,” says Jeff Schussler, senior research manager at Pioneer. “Our Drought 1 product uses native genes that we have identified that will help provide yield stability in areas with limited water supplies.” The next round of drought products, according to Schussler, will include a transgenic approach combined with native genes. In July, Syngenta unveiled water optimization technology called Agrisure Artesian. A limited quantity of hybrids with this technology will be available for 2011 planting through the company’s Garst, Golden Harvest and NK product brands. “The water optimization technolog...

Agriculture in India is the means of livelihood of almost two thirds of the workforce in the country. It employs nearly 62% of the country’s total population and occupies 42% of its total geographical area. From a nation dependent on food imports to feed its population, India today is not only self-sufficient in grain production, but also has a substantial reserve. The progress made by agriculture in the last four decades has been one of the biggest success stories of free India. Agriculture and allied activities constitute one of the main contributors to the Gross Domestic Product of the nation. The increase in agricultural production has been brought about by bringing additional area under cultivation, extension of irrigation facilities, the use of seed of improved high yielding varieties, better production technologies evolved through agricultural research, water management, and plant protection through judicious use of fertilizers, pesticides and cropping practices.