Ethanol boom fuels shortage of some seeds

With ethanol demand driving corn prices to levels not seen in a decade, the nation’s farmers are gearing up to plant massive amounts of the crop this spring, creating shortages of some popular biotech hybrid seeds.

While growers should still be able to find plenty of corn seed to plant, it may not be the variety developed for their season or bred with the genetic modifications they want to combat insects and diseases in their region, experts said.

“It is a nationwide problem. One reason it is so severe in Kansas is that a lot of the seed available for us is being used to replace cotton acres in Texas and Mississippi. But the shortage is nationwide. They are facing the same problems that we are,” said Terry Vinduska, the sales representative for Pioneer Hybrid International in Marion.

Kansas farmers do not typically plant the varieties of corn favored by Corn Belt growers farther north, Vinduska said. Farmers here need corn hybrids bred to resist local pests and to tolerate blistering hot summers that can wilt even irrigated crops.

Hutchnews.com