Monsanto’s new drought tolerant corn, DroughtGard, reduces crop losses only modestly during moderate droughts, and will not reduce the crop’s water requirements, according to a report released today by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). The report found that traditional breeding and improved farming practices have done more to increase drought tolerance, and that further improvements in genetic engineering are unlikely to solve the drought problem in coming years.

‘Farmers are always looking to reduce losses from drought, but the biotechnology industry has made little real-world progress on this problem,’ said Doug Gurian-Sherman, a senior scientist with UCS’s Food & Environment Program and author of the report. ‘Despite many years of research and millions of dollars in development costs, DroughtGard doesn’t outperform the non-engineered alternatives.’

Agriculture accounts for about 70 percent of all water extracted from rivers and wells, making drought a serious and costly problem for farmers. An extreme drought is still plaguing Texas, triggering a record $5.2 billion in agricultural losses in 2011 alone. Monsanto’s new corn is not likely to provide any practical help under such conditions, even by the company’s guarded claims.

The report, High and Dry: Why Genetic Engineering is Not Solving Agriculture’s Drought Problem in a Thirsty […]