Brazil’s Soy Producers Press for Anti-Competition Ruling Over Bayer’s “Breeding Incentives”

Aprosoja Brasil, a powerful association of Brazilian soybean farmers, has asked for the country’s competition agency (CADE) to issue an opinion finding that Bayer’s use of “breeding incentives” to reward plant breeders is anticompetitive. The dispute concerns incentive agreements with breeders to provide rewards for adapting their varieties to Bayer’s proprietary trait platforms. The farmers contend these incentives have resulted in fewer varieties, reduced diversity and choice, and higher seed prices. CADE’s recent economic studies found that Bayer’s breeding incentives had reduced the development of soybean varieties with alternative traits and technologies. Read more here.​

Texas A&M’s Ultra-Low Gossypol Cotton Trait

Transgenic cotton developed by Dr. Keerti Rathore of Texas A&M AgriLife Research is gaining acceptance as an alternative protein source for human consumption thanks to Rathor’s development of an engineered variety without gossypol in the seed. The engineered variety allows gossypol, a naturally occurring toxin, to be expressed in the leaves and stems, but not in the seed, making it safe for humans, as well as animals that could not otherwise tolerate gossypol. Uzbekistan recently became the first country to enter into an agreement with Texas A&M to use the trait in their cotton varieties. You can read more here.​