New Crops Engineered to Use Less Water, Resist Climate Change
by Karen Leigh Dec 03, 2008
HED: If crops need less water, farmers can grow more
For farmers, rows of wilting, dry crops are a cause for alarm. But one group of researchers is working on a ground-breaking new breed of drought-tolerant crops that will grow strong in the most arid conditions.
Scientists at the United States Department of Agriculture are hoping that soybean and corn plants can be modified through biotechnology and special breeding methods to prosper with less water, so farmers can produce more.
"If you look at what affects farmers' pocket books from year to year, it's drought," said Thomas Carter, a geneticist at the USDA's Soybean and Nitrogen Fixation Research Laboratory in Raleigh, N.C., who led the group of seven researchers, dubbed "Team Drought."
If crops are able to grow in arid climates, there could also be an expansion in total farming acres across the country.
"Major factors for the production of field crops include water, nutrients, cultivars, weeds, insects and diseases," said Dave Wilson, a research agronomist at the Rodale Institute in Kutztown, Pa. "Most of these factors are subject to a measure of control. Most crop management practices are directed at balancing the levels of control to obtain maximum economic return."
Started in 1992, the project is funded by the USDA's Agriculture Research Service and a grant from the United Soybean Board, a Chesterfield, Mo.-based industry group entirely supported by soybean farmers. It is under the auspices of the ARS's 2008 Plant Genetic Resources, Genomics, and Genetic Improvement program, which looks to widen the national inventory of plant breeds.
Salaries and other costs for the Team Drought scientists are provided by the United Soybean Board and the researchers' academic institutions. Carter said that the project's estimated $1 million annual cost is borne by the universities that employ the scientists, by the USDA, and by commodity research groups, which themselves contribute an estimated $550,000 per year.
"In the United States, farmers have been growing soybeans for only about 100 years. During that time, the genetic base among U.S. varieties has remained relatively narrow," Carter said in a November press release. "We have not added enough new genetic diversity to the U.S. crop."
Big companies are following suit, notably St. Louis-based fertilizer and seed manufacturer Monsanto Co., which is developing a line of drought-resistant corn seeds for wide-market release in the next four years.
In addition to financial gains, this is a crucial step in reducing the overall amount of water used for agriculture. More than 60 percent of freshwater pulled from lakes, rivers, and other sources goes towards agricultural production – specifically, the irrigation of farmland.
The U.S. soybean yield was slightly constricted by poor weather this year, with a later-than-usual planting and harvest and 7 percent of the crop still in fields as of Nov. 11, which worried farmers and agriculture groups, for they had never seen such a late and uncertain harvest. The new high-tech crops promise to make irrigation, planting and harvesting easier and less costly for farmers battling unfavorable conditions.
Plants' ability to grow in drier, ever-changing conditions is increasingly important as global warming affects weather and the growing season. This year, thanks to weather that both delayed the harvest and damaged corn still in the field, the corn yield in North Carolina was down 40 percent compared with 2007.
Throughout Illinois and the Midwest corn belt, farmers struggled to recover from a harvest delayed by storms and unseasonal cold freezes caused by climate change.
In addition to further stabilizing the crop schedule, the new breed of weather-resistant crops could improve yields and have a big impact on agribusiness.
Like Monsanto, DuPont Co. and Syngenta AG, are currently developing plant breeds with reduced water needs.
To test their theories about the benefits of drought-proof crops, the scientists planted regular soybeans in Corn Belt states including Nebraska and Illinois Then they watched for plants that wilted less than others when their water supply was cut, and harvested their beans as part of their research.
The new crops will be able to grow in dry conditions, allowing farmers to plant in times of drought and on arid land which is unsuitable for growing regular crops.
This could help farmers avoid a scramble caused by a late planting or harvest season, both of which were delayed this year across the Midwest.
Carter said the drought-resistant crops are not more expensive to grow than regular crops. About 90 to 95 percent of soybeans currently on the market are transgenic, already biologically modified, and carry what he called a "substantial" tech fee due to a per-bushel patent mandatory to transgenic seeds.
There will be a tech fee on the drought-resistant crops, but it will not surpass the fees on products currently on the market, Carter stated.
Team Drought is already supplying select commercial breeders with the new technology and will officially publish its findings and release the new seeds into the mainstream in 2009.
Though the crops sound ideal, Rodale's Wilson warned that solvent U.S. farmers could be the only growers who benefit. "Few have answered the question of how people in developing nations can afford the technology," he said. "Poverty is still the major issue in many of the developing nations and the fact that technology is available doesn't make it affordable."
Still, Carter thinks the technology could have a long-term financial impact on U.S. soybean farmers.
"When the normal variety's yielding 20 to 40 bushels per acre, this combination of genes should give a yield advantage of three to eight bushels per acre, which is a pretty big advantage," he said. "Farmers usually run into problems in a low-yielding year, and cash flow is always an issue. This puts more money in their pocket."
U.S. experiences second warmest summer on record Texas has warmest summer on record of any state September 8, 2011 [...] •An analysis of Texas statewide tree-ring records dating back to 1550 indicates that the summer 2011 drought in Texas is matched by only one summer (1789), indicating that the summer 2011 drought appears to be unusual even in the context of the multi-century tree-ring record. [...] •Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Louisiana had their warmest (June-August) summers on record. Average summer temperatures in Texas and Oklahoma, at 86.8 degrees F and 86.5 degrees F, respectively, exceeded the previous seasonal statewide average temperature record for any state during any season. The previous warmest summer statewide average temperature was in Oklahoma, during 1934 at 85.2 degrees F. [...] •Texas had its driest summer on record, with a statewide average of 2.44 inches of rain. This is 5.29 inches below the long-term average, and 1.04 inches less than the previous driest summer in 1956. ... [...] http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2011/20110908_auguststats.html
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North Texas Drought Information Drought conditions are expected to persist with the return of La Niña. http://www.srh.noaa.gov/fwd/?n=drought [images will update and/or change when newer Drought Information Statements appear at this link]
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NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center: La Niña is back
Dry lake bed. NOAA
September 8, 2011
La Niña, which contributed to extreme weather around the globe during the first half of 2011, has re-emerged in the tropical Pacific Ocean and is forecast to gradually strengthen and continue into winter. Today, forecasters with NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center upgraded last month’s La Niña Watch to a La Niña Advisory.
NOAA will issue its official winter outlook in mid-October, but La Niña winters often see drier than normal conditions across the southern tier of the United States and wetter than normal conditions in the Pacific Northwest and Ohio Valley.
“This means drought is likely to continue in the drought-stricken states of Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico,” said Mike Halpert, deputy director of the Climate Prediction Center. “La Niña also often brings colder winters to the Pacific Northwest and the northern Plains, and warmer temperatures to the southern states.”
Climate forecasts from NOAA’s National Weather Service give American communities advance notice of what to expect in the coming months so they can prepare for potential impacts. This service is helping the country to become a Weather Ready Nation at a time when extreme weather is on the rise.
Seasonal hurricane forecasters factored the potential return of La Niña into NOAA’s updated 2011 Atlantic hurricane season outlook, issued in August, which called for an active hurricane season. With the development of tropical storm Nate this week, the number of tropical cyclones entered the predicted range of 14-19 named storms.
The strong 2010-11 La Niña contributed to record winter snowfall, spring flooding and drought across the United States, as well as other extreme weather events throughout the world, such as heavy rain in Australia and an extremely dry equatorial eastern Africa.
Average sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies (degree C) for the week centered on Aug. 31, 2011, indicate the re-emergence of La Niña in the tropical Pacific Ocean. NOAA
La Niña is a naturally occurring climate phenomenon located over the tropical Pacific Ocean and results from interactions between the ocean surface and the atmosphere. During La Niña, cooler-than-average Pacific Ocean temperatures influence global weather patterns. La Niña typically occurs every three-to-five years, and back-to-back episodes occur about 50 percent of the time. Current conditions reflect a re-development of the June 2010-May 2011 La Niña episode.
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