What’s included in the cost of a bag of seed? The exact ratio isn’t known to the public, but at least a portion is dedicated to ongoing research and development—seed companies invest time, money and resources to bringing only the best options to market each year.
In fact, just one out of 10,000 tested hybrids or varieties make it to market.
“While 99.99% of genetics tested didn’t make it, the [products that are commercialized] represent the strongest genetics in Pioneer ever,” says Judd O’ Connor, Corteva AgriScience president of U.S. Commercial Business.
Seed companies use everything from genetic markers, to physiological attributes to pull only the best corn and soybean products each year—thanks to technology, in addition, this process is getting faster.
“We’re bringing new products to market at a pace of four- to five-years,” says Bob Reiter, Bayer global head of research and development, crop science, in a presentation earlier this year. Adding new traits or creating new herbicide technologies takes longer—at least ten years depending on the regulatory process.
Data is driving this faster process. From genetic markers, to AI robots that help determine what’s performing well in field testing, technology and data will drive the future of ag technology, including seed.
“[Advancements in technology] started with mechanical and chemical, then moved to genetics with better breeding and today we’re moving into things like gene editing,” says Vonnie Estes, vice president of technology of the Produce Marketing Association. “And a lot [of these advancements] are based on data.”
It costs more than $250 million to bring a new herbicide to market, and $250 to $350 million for a new crop trait. New genetics are less costly, but still require resources.
Moneyball genetics
Seed companies are employing the “Moneyball” technique to genetics. In fact, Syngenta won an award in 2015 for this approach.
The “Moneyball” approach, also practiced by Corteva AgriScience’s Pioneer, uses math with sophisticated analytics to improve and shorten the process of selecting genetics for new crop hybrids and varieties.
In soybeans alone, Brent Wilson at Pioneer says they review more than 45 billion data points when creating new genetic varieties.
