U.S. farmers across the Western Great Plains this spring will be the first to plant Monsanto’s newest drought-tolerant corn system as part of on-farm trials. The hybrids, made available to growers under the new DroughtGard™ Hybrids name, are designed to help farmers mitigate the risk of yield loss when experiencing drought stress.
DroughtGard Hybrids are the newest offering from the Genuity® corn family. These hybrids combine germplasm selected for its drought-tolerant characteristics and the biotechnology drought-tolerant trait with agronomic recommendations. For the 2012 trials, Monsanto plans to have Genuity® VT Triple PRO®, Genuity® VT Double PRO® and Roundup Ready® Corn 2 technologies serve as the agronomic trait platforms for DroughtGard Hybrids.
The 2012 large-scale, on-farm trials, will be taking place with approximately 250 growers on up to 10,000 acres across the Western Great Plains, the product’s target launch area.
The drought-tolerant trait is part of Monsanto’s Yield and Stress collaboration in plant biotechnology with Germany-based BASF. The collaboration is aimed at developing higher-yielding crops and crops more tolerant to adverse environmental conditions, such as drought.
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