Agricultural News
Drought Tolerant Corn Trait Okayed by USDA's APHIS- Given Non Regulatory Status
Wed, 21 Dec 2011 20:59:49 CST
Christmas arrived a couple of days early for Monsanto as they received word that the Animal Plant Health Inspection Service of the USDA is granting them "non regulatory status" for a biotech variety of corn with a drought tolerant trait- which holds huge promise in the western corn belt, as well as the southern Great Plains.
The official blessing from APHIS will be published in the Federal Register on Tuesday, December 27.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Monsanto said that the drought-tolerant trait "is projected to be introduced as part of an overall system that would offer farmers improved genetics, agronomic practices and the drought trait." On-farm trials next year will give farmers experience with the product, while generating data to help inform the company's commercial decisions, it said.
"Our drought system is designed to help farmers mitigate the risk of yield loss when experiencing drought stress, primarily in areas of annual drought stress," said Hobart Beeghly, U.S. product management lead. "This spring, farmers in the western Great Plains will have an opportunity to see how the system performs on their farm through on-farm trials" with varieties that include its Genuity stacked traits that resist insects and tolerate glyphosate herbicides. Click here for the complete news release from Monsanto as released on Wednesday.
The new trait is part of collaboration with Germany's BASF that aims to develop crops with higher yields and tolerance to adverse environmental conditions, such as drought. Jonathan Bryant, vice president of business management at BASF Plant Science, said he expected more biotech advances from BASF's yield and stress-tolerant pipeline with Monsanto. Approvals in major corn-importing markets with functioning regulatory systems are being sought.
APHIS published a plant pest risk assessment (PPRA) and draft environmental assessment (EA) on the MON 87460 corn in the Federal Register last May 11. It drew 258 public comments, many featuring the usual arguments of biotech critics. Based on Monsanto data, the risk assessment and the public comments, APHIS said it "has determined that the product is unlikely to present a plant pest risk and is therefore determining non-regulated status.
The agency also deregulated the MON 87705 soybean, genetically modified by Monsanto to express a modified fatty acid profile and for tolerance to glyphosate. APHIS published the PPRA and EA on the soybean June 28 and determined that it met standards for deregulation.
Click here for the background paper from APHIS which describes the lack of risk found by the government with this variety of corn.
Click here for the Question and Answer one pager developed by USDA on the Determination of
Nonregulated Status for MON 87460.
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