Drought and Agriculture
Leading scientists around the world have studied climate change issues for years. Monsanto’s senior scientists and some leading academics recently took a deep look at the data, the trends and the implications for agriculture.
They spent almost a year researching and discussing existing studies. Our scientists concluded, based on those studies, that temperatures are rising and will probably continue to rise—and our climate will be impacted.
One impact is drought. In agriculture, drought stress occurs when the amount of moisture in the soil does not meet the needs of a particular crop. Many farmers’ crops worldwide are affected by drought stress to some degree every year, but in some cases agricultural losses due to severe drought can be huge. Yet even a moderate lack of available water can reduce yields and threaten the ability of growers to get back the investment in their crops. So farmers typically produce crops that are best adapted to the amount of available water.
However, in many parts of the world, irrigated agriculture is used to increase yields. Globally, according to the United Nations Environmental Program, agricultural water use accounts for about 70 percent of total consumption, mainly through crop irrigation. Irrigation costs depend heavily upon energy prices and the supply of water, and have been steadily increasing. The development and introduction of seed hybrids that require less irrigation could reduce the costs of production and competition for water resources.
Monsanto’s pipeline of biotech crops is focused on environmental-stress adaptation. Included in the pipeline are drought-tolerant crops and nitrogen-efficiency genes. Drought-tolerant crops are designed to provide greater yield stability in years when crops would otherwise suffer due to drought conditions. These products will take some of the risk out of farming in both developed and developing countries. Nitrogen-use efficiency can potentially contribute to a significant reduction of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions while maintaining high grain yield at lower nitrogen levels.
Monsanto has partnered with BASF to bring these types of products to market more quickly.
Recently, Monsanto has partnered with several organizations to provide drought-tolerant corn to Africa royalty free. Read more about the Water Efficient Maize for Africa project.
