Monsanto plans to invest $28 million over five years in the development of a new genetically modified (GM) soy variety in Brazil, combining resistance to insects with herbicide tolerance.
Monsanto
Brasil’s president, Alfonso Alba, told reporters the new soy variety would bring
economic benefits worth $1 billion a year in Latin America’s farming giant,
given current productivity losses of seven percent due to the pest.
As
for herbicides, the beans would have a second-generation ‘Roundup Ready’
tolerance to glyphosate-based toxins. Beans with first-generation tolerance are
already widely used in Brazil. The second generation use of the glyphosate
tolerant gene allows for greater soybean yields, reported
Reuters.
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website:
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