65
I
n Brazil, 15.7 million hectares were de-
voted to transgenic corn seed in the
2016/17 growing season. This area rep-
resented 88.4 percent of the total area
devoted to the crop in the Country, ac-
cording to the third and last crop survey
by Celeres Consultancy Company, pub-
lished in April 2017. Cultivars RI/TH rep-
resented 63.9 percent of the transgenic
corn and the cultivars resistant to insects
reached a total of 20.7 percent. The share
of the herbicide tolerant technology ac-
counted for 3.8 percent. “The current ad-
hesion rate should not suffer significant
changes for the next years, as the corn and
soybean crops have already reached their
limit”, comments Jorge Attie, Celeres Agri-
business Analyst.
Genetically modified winter corn
amounted to 91.8 percent of the total
seeded area, or 10.4 million hectares, up
15.4 percent from the 2015/16 crop year.
Cultivars RI/TH predominated in this crop,
reaching 7.1 million hectares and an ad-
hesion rate of 62.4 percent. The other
technologies (RI and TH) achieved 24.8
percent and 4.6 percent of the area devot-
ed to winter corn, respectively. For sum-
mer corn, the total area under biotechnol-
ogy amounted to 5.3 million hectares, up
16.2 percent from the 2015/16 growing
season, or 82.4 percent of the total seeded
area, followed by RI corn (13.5 percent of
the total) and by cultivars tolerant to her-
bicides (2.5 percent of the total).
No less than 22 technologieswith com-
bined genes (RI/TH) were approved for
corn. “Farmers clearly prefer this technol-
ogy”, observes Celeres analyst. The culti-
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Launched in the market
“Seed corn was the technology that experienced the biggest development in
the past years”, says researcher Israel Alexandre Pereira Filho, from Embrapa Corn
and Sorghum, in Sete Lagoas (MG). In his view, the breakthroughs in biotechnology
caused great impact upon the production of corn inBrazil and aremarked by cultiva-
tion flexibility throughout different regions with diverse climate and soil conditions.
“Thanks to genetic breakthroughs, we nowhavemore responsive cultivars, which in-
corporate such characteristics as resistance to diseases and insects, as well as to her-
bicidemolecules, in the case of glyphosate, for efficient weed control”, he explains.
A total of 315 corn cultivars were available to the producers in the 2016/17 grow-
ing season, according to the annual survey conducted by Embrapa Corn and Sor-
ghum, jointlywith the seed companies. Of this amount, 214materials (67.93percent)
relied on some kind of transgenic technology. The other 101 presented no transgen-
ic technology. The conventional materials represented 32.06 percent of the total
number. “The transgenic cultivars incorporate several technologies responsible for
a great part of the control over worms that attack the crop, both in their aerial por-
tion and in the ground, as well as plants resistant to glyphosate and gluphosinate “,
the researcher clarifies.
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Early cultivars
Regarding the cycle, of the recently launched cultivars, 214 are early maturing, 82 extra-early, 10 semi-early, 5 hyper-early, and
only four, normal cycle. “The predominance of early cycle seed corn and single hybrids, either conventional hybrids or hybrids that
incorporate some transgenic trait, is attributed to the technical position of these cultivars for second crop cultivation, after soy-
bean”, explains Israel Alexandre Pereira Filho, fromEmbrapa Corn and Sorghum.
With regard to their use, 155 cultivars are specific for the production of grains and 156 can also serve the purpose of silage, and
four cultivars are for the production of green corn. The number of cultivars shrank from 477 in the 2015/16 cycle to 315 in the next
cycle. It happened because some companies did not send their list of cultivars and the ones that went through a merging or incor-
poration event thus reducing the portfolio of corn seed.
vars with single genes could complement
the performance of the stacks or used as
technology rotation and for the control of
specific problems, within the integrated
management system.
AlyssonPaolinelli, president of the Bra-
zilian Association of Corn Growers (Abra-
milho), understands that the evolution in
the use of transgenic seed in the Coun-
try is rather positive. “It will not be possi-
ble for the world to live without transgen-
ic crops because there is need to feed the
growing population “, he comments. He
observes that South Korea and European
countries, where transgenic crops are not
allowed, import grains from Brazil, Argen-
tina and the United States, countries that
grow GM crops.
n
Technologywith combined genes (RI/TH) predominated in the plantations
no limite
at the limit
Evolução do
milho transgênico
no Brasil
Fonte:
Celeres, abril de 2017.
2016/17
15,7
2015/16
13,5
2014/15
12,7
2013/14
12,9
2012/13
13,1
2011/12
10,7
2010/11
7,5
2009/10
4,4
Safra
Área
(milhões de hectares)
