Commodities Shuttle: Embrapa develops transgenic corn and wheat and targets Egypt

In view of the potential for wheat production in the Cerrado, Embrapa Trigo is selecting plants that are suitable for adapting to the region’s production conditions. In partnership with Bioceres, it is looking for a transgenic variety with greater tolerance to water stress. Embrapa already has varieties, without transgenics, which are quite adapted and productive in the region.

The objective now is to evaluate the behavior of the plants and carry out the selection in the cerrado environment, says Jorge Lemainski, general manager of Embrapa Trigo.

With the approval of CTNBio (National Technical Commission on Biosafety), the company started, in an experimental field, this selection with Embrapa Cerrado and Embrapa Agroenergia.

Brazilian wheat production is concentrated in the south, where climatic conditions are quite different from those in central Brazil. This year, the country should produce 8.1 million tons of wheat, according to Conab (National Supply Company). Of this volume, 91% will come from the South.

Lemaisnki believes, however, that the volume to be produced could be even greater, at 8.5 million and 9 million tons. In addition to the need for domestic supply, Brazil is placing a good part of its national wheat in 12 other countries.

This year, exports already exceed 3 million tons. National consumption is 12.8 million tons.

Embrapa is betting on the self-sufficiency of wheat due to the regularity of rains in the Brazilian cerrado and the area available for the advancement of the crop. There are at least 2.7 million hectares available. For this, specific varieties are needed.

With the authorization of CTNBio, in March, Embrapa began the phase of experiments with transgenic wheat in the field. “Whether it will work, that’s what we’ll see”, says the head-general of Embrapa Trigo.

If so, there will still be the entire process of seed production, before the product reaches the market commercially. We are currently in the research phase, he says.

The acceptance of transgenic wheat by consumers has always been one of the concerns of companies in the sector. A survey by Indexsa, commissioned by Abimapi (an association of industries of wheat-derived products), however, showed that 72% of consumers would not have restrictions on the use of transgenic flour in the production of bread and other derivatives.

The development of wheat in the cerrado caught the attention of the Egyptians, the main world importers of the cereal. They consume 21 million tons of the product per year and import half of that volume, according to the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture).

Wheat production in Egypt takes place during the spring, but they want to develop another crop in the summer, based on Brazilian experiments in drier areas.

If Brazilian varieties were adapted, Egyptian producers would import seeds from Brazil and increase the irrigated production area by up to seven times, says Lemainski.

In addition to increasing production, the Egyptians would reduce their dependence on foreign countries, until then concentrated in Ukraine and Russia, two countries currently experiencing difficulties in supplying the cereal.

CTNBio also approved on Thursday (2) the commercial use of genetically modified corn for insect resistance by Embrapa Corn and Sorghum, in partnership with Helix, a company linked to the Agroceres group.

The new technology fights one of the main pests of corn, the fall armyworm and the sugarcane borer.

The new technology is the result of a 100% national public-private partnership. For Frederico Ozanan Machado Durães, general manager of Embrapa Corn and Sorghum, this partnership is a strategic process and will generate great potential for national agriculture and for the producer.

Celso Moretti, president of Embrapa, says that these events show that the company has not put aside the pursuit of development through science.

These public-private partnerships are a perfect match, he says.

“Embrapa comes in with the brains and infrastructure, while the private sector comes with the agility to bring solutions to the productive sector.”

In 2019, only 6% of surveys were with private partnerships. This year, the percentage is 25%, and should reach 40% next year, says the president of the entity.