More than one-fifth of U.S. corn area is planted with drought-tolerant varieties, a remarkable rate of adoption considering the trait has only been available for a few years. Drought is a menace to farmers everywhere. In 2012, the U.S. corn yield plunged by 16 percent, or 24 bushels an acre, due to drought.
A scant 2 percent of U.S. corn land was planted to drought-tolerant varieties in 2012, when the varieties first became available, zooming to 22 percent in 2016, say four USDA economists in a report on the crop. “The pace of adoption is similar to the adoption of herbicide-tolerant corn in the early 2000s,” says the report. The bulk of drought-tolerant corn seed, 80 percent, is produced through conventional breeding. Genetically engineered varieties account for 20 percent of plantings. In a melding of conventional and GE techniques, the vast majority of drought-tolerant acres is planted with seeds that carry traits for herbicide tolerance or insect resistance.
Plantings of drought-tolerant corn is highest in drought-prone states; 42 percent in Nebraska and 39 percent in Kansas, for example. Growers who plant drought-tolerant corn are more likely to follow farming practices, such as no-till, that disturb the soil as little as possible than do farmers using other varieties.
Corn is the most widely grown crop in the United States. In three of the past five years, it occupied more than 90 million acres, or 141,000 square miles.
To read the USDA report, “Development, adoption and management of drought-tolerant corn in the United States,” click here.