By Bill Tomson Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- The St. Louis-based Monsanto Co. (MON) may be ready to commercialize a genetically modified corn seed that protects the plant from drought conditions in the U.S. as early as 2012, a company official said Wednesday.
Brett Begemann, executive vice president of global commercial for Monsanto, told Dow Jones Newswires that different technologies for different regions of the world are being developed to make corn, soybean and cotton plants that can thrive in dry weather, but the U.S. will be the first commercial market.
The technology allows corn leaves to stay open during the day in hot, dry weather instead of curling shut and putting growth on hold, Begemann said.
Monsanto will be marketing its "water-use efficiency" corn seeds first in the U.S., but drought resistance is something that's needed around the world, Begemann said.
"As I travel around and talk to different people in different parts of the world, it's clearly one of the biggest concerns - how do we produce more with less water," he said.
China is one of the places to where Begemann has traveled.
"You look at China and they know they have to produce a whole lot more, but...they're pumping the Yellow River...dry for irrigation today. They can't do it all with irrigation, but we can do it with the help of genetics."
But midwestern U.S. states like Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota will be the first places where the corn variety will be used by farmers, Begemann said.
-By Bill Tomson, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-646-0088; bill.tomson@dowjones.com
Click here to go to Dow Jones NewsPlus, a web front page of today's most important business and market news, analysis and commentary: http://www.djnewsplus.com/al?rnd=DhiqXiPFgwaKAmv0bXc80w%3D%3D. You can use this link on the day this article is published and the following day.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 03, 2008 17:57 ET (22:57 GMT)

Publié le 03 Décembre 2008 Copyright © 2008 Dowjones