Argentine GMO drought-tolerant soybeans to arrive in Brazil if approved by China

The first genetically modified soybeans in the world that is tolerant to drought should just be sold in Brazil during the 2021/2022 season. The technology, developed by the Litoral National University in Argentina in partnership with the Indear company (Bioceres group), would just be established after the approval by China, the largest purchaser of the grain in the international market.

The procedure tends to be slow. “The decision depends on regulatory agencies, and our perspective, for a while, is to have a release, though limited, by the beginning of 2018,” Gerónimo Watson, development manager at Indear, said.

According to data at the General Administration of Customs of China, nearly 81.69 million metric tons of soybeans entered the country last year. This represented an increase of 14% over the previous year. Significant volume comes from the United States, Argentina and Brazil.

In Brazil, the licensing of drought-tolerant soybeans was agreed by TMG. The research manager of the company, Alexandre Garcia, affirmed that TMG had been working with the new crossings since the beginning of the transferring procedure of the technology that started in 2014.

"Our goal is to develop varieties adapted to Brazilian conditions that combine with Argentine technology, which helps in the resistance to Asian Rust or the cyst nematode,” explained Garcia.

Besides the advances regarding genetic improvement, TMG would need to approve the transgenic at the National Technical Biosafety Commission. “Today, Argentina and the United States already have an approval. The next step is to have a release in China, Brazil and Europe,” he said.

Tests made in the previous year with genetically modified soybeans in Argentina and the United States revealed that the cultivar produced between 15% and 20% more in moderate drought conditions compared to the conventional soybeans. “It is important to say that under normal conditions, however, the soybeans did not show an increase in yields nor caused damage to the plant productivity.”

Considering the Argentine context, the Indear manager calculated that conventional soybeans in moderate drought produced around 2.5 ton/hectare, while GMO produced 3 ton/hectare. In the last season, Argentina planted 20.1 million hectares of soybeans. According to Watson, nearly 90% of these are GMOs.