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The company received clearance of the genetic engineering approval committee (GEAC) a few days back for commercial sale of five hybrids of Bt cotton, taking its total genetically modified (GM) seeds to nine. Out of this, 8.68 lakh ha has been sown under Bt cotton, sources in the agriculture ministry said. However, it does not plan to reduce the prices of its Bt cotton seeds, he added. GEAC is likely to clear, by next year, two more hybrids developed by the company, which are currently in...

Early 2007 finds cotton spinners uncharacteristically concise with their commentary, which may reflect some uncertainty about where the business is headed. All markets are at risk from imports, said an industry observer. In the West, for the second consecutive year, California growers intend to plant less area to upland cotton, with the shift this year to ELS cotton and wheat. The company has been fighting a marathon battle in recent years to reinvent itself and regain profitability in a...

Under the traditional federal farm program, farmers pocket a subsidy when prices dip below a government-guaranteed price but only up to $75,000 a year. But the money that each individual farmer gets is even bigger than has previously been disclosed. New data released last week by the Environmental Working Group, a Washington advocacy organization, spotlighted a loophole that lets big operators legally avoid limits on these farm subsidies. The farmers themselves say they re looking for...

A surge in corn prices this spring and favorable early season weather allowed Nebraska corn producers to plant 9.1 million acres of corn this year, 100,000 acres more than the initial USDA estimate in March and the largest corn planting in the state since 1936. A surge in corn prices this spring and favorable early season weather allowed Nebraska corn producers to plant 9.1 million acres of corn this year, 100,000 acres more than the initial USDA estimate in March and the largest corn...

However, the switch has raised concerns that yields would fall as farmers used less fertile land and avoided the rotation of crops to lock in high prices. It said that glyophosphate-tolerant corn - which can be grown in drier conditions - was now suitable for planting in up to 80 million acres in the US compared with its earlier forecast of 60 million acres. MONSANTO has signalled a profound shift in the production profile of US farmers, suggesting that far more land would be suitable for...

grain, cotton and soybean farmers so that crop subsidies flow when they are needed, the Senate Agriculture Committee chairman said on Tuesday. Pat Westoff, an analyst at a University of Missouri think tank, said most crops have larger acreage bases than actual plantings. Along with reducing the so-called direct payments, Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat, said land no longer producing crops should be ineligible for subsidies and that crop acreage "bases" should be updated, a step that could...

Engineering key crops to be insect or virus resistant has led to a decreased use of agrochemicals, increased yields and higher returns -- for commercial farmers and smallholders alike. African Union leaders took an important step in acknowledging the potential of biotechnology to help agricultural development earlier this year when they endorsed the Freedom to Innovate plan. The plan emphasises the need for Africa to find a unified approach to agricultural biotechnology research and...

A bushel of corn, the major feedstock for ethanol, yields 2.8 gallons of the renewable fuel. The corn stockpile could be roughly 500 million bushels larger than expected a month ago because of the upturn in corn plantings and a quarterly USDA report showing more corn was in warehouses than expected. In Illinois and Iowa, the two leading corn and soybean states, growers cut soybean plantings by a total of 2.1 million acres from 2006. Based on an average abandonment over the last five years...