Yield increase

Corn4FUTURE – How an increase in yield can support sustainability

Progress in plant breeding is the most relevant contributor to safeguard food production for a growing world population in the face of climate change and limited resources. KWS has set a target to achieve a 1.5% annual yield gain with its new products. With this increase, we enable more yield on less land – resources which can then be used for other purposes.

Increase in demand is higher than increase in cultivated land

As a result of these yield increases, less land is necessary to produce the same amount of corn, making production more sustainable. Global corn grain yields have nearly tripled since 1961, reaching 5.8 tons per hectare on average in 2019 (Source: Erenstein et al., 2022). With global food demand projected to increase by 50% by 2030, while the area of cultivated land is expected to grow by only 10% (Source: Spiertz, 2013), it is crucial to focus on maximizing yield and developing stress-tolerant hybrids.

Plant breeding accounts for 50% of the yield increases, the rest being attributed to advancements in agricultural practices.

Fotis Gekas, Product Manager Corn International

Closer look: What's in for sustain

Versatile performance

Corn adapts to diverse and challenging environments, enabling its cultivation in various conditions across the globe.

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Important crop

Corn's performance as a crop is impressive, supporting its use in a broad variety of applications.

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Sustainable use

Water and nitrogen availability are the main limiting factors for corn yield. Breeding for yield contributes to improving the efficiency and sustainability of water and nitrogen use.

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A shared fight against drought – Farmer story.

Drought tolerance & ClimaCONTROL3

Under the ClimaCONTROL3 label, KWS offers innovative, drought-tolerant grain corn varieties that derive from a dedicated research and breeding program. The number three in the name stands for the fact that drought stress can have three different impacts on plants depending on the respective growth phase: Before, during or after flowering.

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Reduction of CO2 emissions & DryDown+

KWS' DryDown+ grain corn varieties are characterized by a superior dry-down capacity (drying capacity). Internal trials show that the reduction of the crop moisture from 30 to 20 percent at harvest can reduce the necessary drying costs by up to 50 percent. The long-term breeding goal is a grain moisture level of a maximum of 15% at harvest to eliminate the need of drying at all – and also enabling a significant reduction of energy use and CO2 emissions during the drying cycles.

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Sustainability starts with the seed

The future only works together

Bringing nutrition, nature and efficiency together: As one of the world’s leading seed specialists, we are convinced we can and must make a significant contribution toward finding solutions for sustainable farming that are also economically viable.

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