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We've doubled corn yields twice in the history of farming.
And we did the first doubling with very little technology. It was really about the
mechanization of agriculture.
When we went from 75 to 150
that was about the new age in science. It was about
chemical weed control, better seed, better fertility.
Now when we look at where we're at and doubling yields
nationally we have a lot more technology
to actually do it than we did in either of the two previous doubles.
We know the American farmer today is in that 150 to
160 bushels average nationwide. If we're going to feed
each and every person in this world
say, 9.7 billion people. We need to be at that three hundred bushel an acre.
There really are three main drivers of yield
as we look at it in Monsanto.
Breeding produces the basic yield potential.
Most of the biotech traits protect that yield potential
and then there's a third piece that's really needed to actually fully deliver
the potential of
both those other pieces and that's the agronomic piece
or the equipment piece. Because you can do the best job possible in breeding
in bio-tech
and if it's not planted and managed correctly from an equipment perspective,
you really don't get the full yield value. The way I think about it is,
it really is based on our knowledge
and increasing knowledge of the genetics. As we've been able to
understand all the genes in the corn plant and map
and tag and use the robotics in the breeding tools and the seed chippers,
it gives us more and more knowledge of how to optimize
that seed in a given geography,
in a given field, in a given soil type. For the first two doublings, we
really did things
on an average basis. So, on average this hybrid is better than that hybrid.
But when you look at an individual field,
it's really not about averages. It is about the interaction
of the soil, the input, the hybrid, the planting density,
and so when we average things out, we averaged out a lot of value.
So on this particular field, this particular hybrid,
planted a specific way, produces more yield and more value
than that hybrid planted a different way. So, it's about exploiting the interaction,
not the average.
And that's a completely different way of thinking about farming.
One of the other paradigm shifts in Monsanto
is around data, and when you think about
mapping all the layers of data on
$400 million acres worldwide, you
rapidly realized that this is truly
gigantic data. It starts with
specific fields and the field boundaries for that field.
If we have that, we can create a yield management zone map.
Once we have the yield management zone map, we can select the right hybrid
for that field. And once we've selected the right hybrid for that field,
we can create what's called the Fieldscript, which is a variable rate seeding
prescription
for that hybrid, in that field and then we can transmit that to the controller
in the cab wirelessly.
And that's how the farmer gets a Fieldscript. It's about feeding the world
and raising three hundred bushels and when we take science
and the world's best genetics and marry it up with the world's best planter
technology,
that's going to be the key to success