Biotech wheat to drive US wheat yield challenge
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- Mike Abram, November 12, 2009
Genetically modified wheat will be at the heart of a drive in the USA to increase yields by 20% by 2018, says Daren Coppock, chief executive officer of the National Association of Wheat Growers.
Wheat areas in the country had come under pressure from soya beans and maize because of the relative poor returns from the crop, he explained at the British Crop Production Council congress.
Typically soya beans and maize gave a net profit of $250-$300/acre compared with $100/acre for wheat. Yield gains in those two crops, partly through the utilisation of genetic modification, had been much higher than in wheat, he said.
Genetically modified wheat will be at the heart of a drive in the USA to increase yields by 20% by 2018, says Daren Coppock, chief executive officer of the National Association of Wheat Growers.
Wheat areas in the country had come under pressure from soya beans and maize because of the relative poor returns from the crop, he explained at the British Crop Production Council congress.
Typically soya beans and maize gave a net profit of $250-$300/acre compared with $100/acre for wheat. Yield gains in those two crops, partly through the utilisation of genetic modification, had been much higher than in wheat, he said.
