By Tony Danby

Brazil's largest agricultural cooperative, Coamo, plans to starting
producing genetically modified corn this year, Coamo's president said this
week.
"We'll use genetically modified corn for the first time," Coamo President
Jose Aroldo Gallassini told Dow Jones Newswires.

Coamo plans to produce 7,000 60-kilogram bags of corn in 2008-09 by using
modified genetically modified seeds across the cooperative, Aroldo said.
Coamo produces mainly soy, corn and wheat across Parana state, the leading
corn- growing state in Brazil, as well as in Mato Grosso do Sul and Santa
Catarina states.

Brazil's National Biosafety Commission, or CTNBio, recently approved Bayer
CropScience Ltd.'s (506285.BY) LibertyLink, Monsanto Co.'s (MON) Guardian
brand of genetically modified corn, and Swiss multinational seed company
Syngenta's ( SYT) BT11 transgenic corn.

Transgenic soy, on the other hand, has become a favorite of farmers looking
to squeeze a bit of extra profit per hectare out of their land as overhead
costs soar.

Brazil is the world's No. 2 soy producer and has the potential to expand
further with strains of crops requiring less fertilizer, producing more
yields, and with drought resistance and other characteristics.

The cooperative already plants genetically modified soy, which accounts for
55% of its crop versus 45% for normal seeds.

According to CTNBio, over 50% of the soy already planted in Brazil is of the
GMO variety.

Corn is Brazil's No. 2 crop in acreage behind soybeans, which is Brazil's
leading farm commodity.
www.checkbiotech.org