BASS sees strong demand for non-GMO corn
Published: June 6, 2022
Category: Non-GMO News
BASS Genetics, Inc., (Danube, MN) has been developing non-GMO corn hybrids since 2005; the varieties they’ve sold since 2017 are saving farmers money, creating strong yields, and feeding an increasingly popular market. BASS (Baumgartner Agricultural Science and Service) recently received $53,662 from Ag Products Utilization Commission (APUC) to help develop another highly competitive non-GMO corn hybrid.
BASS wanted to develop non-GMO natural insect-resistant and drought-tolerant hybrids without having to insert GMO traits; the company is now the fifth- or sixth-largest breeding program in the U.S.
Test plots in a number of North Dakota towns with different soils and weather conditions have allowed creation of varieties precisely selected for different locales. A research facility in Puerto Rico has developed hybrids with natural insect tolerance. They are brought to North Dakota and further developed for the correct balance of insect resistance and yield production.
Mike Parkinson, BASS national sales manager, said, “Ed Baumgartner and his team began collecting those products that seemed to have more of a natural resistance, and then started breeding them to each other.”
Parkinson sold conventional corn for 20 years, witnessing GMO corn raise the price by as much as $100 per bag. Today he sells many of the same customers BASS non-GMO top-quality seed, bred for insect and drought tolerance and saves them an average of $100 per bag. Farmers generally send about 10% into specialty markets (organic), with the rest going to ethanol, feedlots, or wherever corn is needed. They are experiencing “amazing yields,” he added, outperforming other growers during droughts. His team began collecting those products that seemed to have more of a natural resistance, and then started breeding them to each other”.
The APUC award allows BASS to purchase a near infrared machine (for checking protein and oil percentages) and a drone (to gauge nutrient deficiencies).
Source: Farm & Ranch Guide
To view source article, visit:
Organic & Non-GMO Insights June 2022
