Monsanto Invests US $47 Million In Corn Project

Matt Hopkins Posted by Matt Hopkins|17 June 2008

Monsanto Co. has entered into a collaboration on a US $47 million research project to develop drought-resistant corn. Funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, the project aims to create a genetically modified (GM) corn variety that can withstand drought periods of up to three to four weeks.

Currently, drought-resistant conventional varieties can go without moisture for up to a week. But using germplasm from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, a sister agency of the Philippines- based International Rice Research Institute. The drought-resistant variety will be bred for areas like arid parts of Africa as well as other drought-prone areas.

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