By Kent Faulk
Genetically altered crops may need less water
When the rain stops falling, Alabama farmers have few options to keep
their crops alive until the weather changes - find a way to irrigate or
pray.

Scientists aim to give farmers a little more breathing room in the
future by breeding or genetically altering plants so that they need less
water while producing the same amount of crops or more.

"It really doesn't matter whether you're a cotton farmer in Alabama or
a dry land corn farmer in South Dakota," said Robb Fraley, chief technology
officer at Monsanto. "Everybody is interested in drought tolerance because
just about every geography every three or four years faces some type of
drought or water stress."


For example, Monsanto spends more than $2 million a day on breeding
and genetic research to develop drought-tolerant plants, improve the quality
of plants, or make crops less susceptible to weeds and insects.

Several hundred people at the St. Louis-based company work on
drought-tolerance alone, company officials said.

Monsanto has done early testing on genetically engineered corn and
cotton, two of Alabama's biggest crops.

Some varieties of corn tested have shown 10 percent to 15 percent
higher yields compared to standard corn exposed to the same levels of water,
Fraley said. "That's a huge economic advantage," he said.

Mark Lawson, corn yield and stress lead for the company, said he hopes
the company will have a product to offer farmers soon after 2010.

A drought-tolerant cottonseed may be available between 2016 and 2018
or so, said Fred Perlak, director of cotton technology for Monsanto. He said
company researchers are aiming to develop cotton plants that will produce as
much cotton as traditional plants but with 20 percent less water.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agriculture Research Service in
Tifton, Ga., also is working to develop drought-tolerant peanuts through
traditional breeding.


Corley Holbrook, research geneticist at that center, said the goal is
to develop a plant that can yield 20 percent more peanuts than conventional
varieties during a drought. "We're a few years away from something a farmer
could actually grow," he said.

Attention has focused on the plight of Alabama farmers during this
year's drought.

Parts of the northern half of the state remain in either an extreme or
exceptional drought, the two highest drought categories. Agriculture
officials report that 82 percent of the corn crop and 55 percent of the
cotton crop are in poor or very poor condition.


Though northern Alabama has had normal to above average rainfall in
the past few weeks, it hasn't made up for deficits from earlier this year.

As of last week, Birmingham was still below normal rainfall by 17.4
inches and Tuscaloosa by 21.8 inches, according to the National Weather
Service.

No-till farming

There are things farmers can do during the year to minimize problems
if their crops are hit by a drought.

No-till farming is one technique farmers who plant row crops have been
using in the past decade or so to keep moisture and nutrients in the soil.
Rather than plowing their fields, farmers cut old plant stalks and let them
rest on the ground, trapping moisture during the off-season. Crops are
planted and grow up through that barrier.

No-till provides enough moisture to keep plants thriving during brief
dry spells, but it can't be depended on for long, said Wayne Widner, a
Cullman County farmer who is growing corn and soybeans this year. "It'll
give you two weeks extra," he said.

Crops he planted this year on part of his land that he plowed "burnt
up," Widner said, while the crops on the portion that wasn't tilled fared
better.

Farmers also can plant certain grasses in their fields during the off
season, which helps to keep moisture and nutrients in the ground,
agriculture officials and farmers said. They also can dig wells, or save
water in ponds to irrigate their crops during dry spells.

Irrigation, while essential in western states, has not caught on in
the usually rain-rich Alabama. Investment in developing an irrigation system
can take years to recoup, farmers said.

But some Alabama farmers have had enough of the continued dry seasons
and have begun to irrigate.

"You've got some cost, but at least you know you're going to make
something," said Alan Murphy, a Madison County farmer who put in an
irrigation system two years ago to water 140 acres.



[www.al.com]