Farmer looks for sucess in new cotton variety

By Jennifer M. Latzke

There's no getting around the simple fact that growing cotton takes labor, crop inputs and cooperation from Mother Nature.

Today, growers look to biotechnology to simplify some of those input requirements. And, with this year's approval of Bayer CropScience's GlyTol cotton technology, farmers like David Foltz, of Idalou, Texas, have one more way to do just that.

Input savings

Just this past month Bayer received U.S. Department of Agriculture approval of GlyTol varieties for production in the United States in 2011. The first varieties to be released are suited for the growing Texas cotton patch around Lubbock, FM 9101GT and FM 9103GT. Earlier this year Bayer pushed back the release of these new GlyTol varieties because it was waiting on regulatory approval from Japan, which is a major trading partner for cottonseed by-products. That approval finally came this October.

Similar to Roundup Ready Flex cotton from Monsanto, GlyTol cotton is resistant to applications of glyphosate, but it uses a different gene and promoter, according to the company. GlyTol cotton gives growers the option to select any brand or formulation of glyphosate herbicide labeled for use on cotton--farmers are not restricted to just the Roundup brand. Additionally, the application window is greater, which boosts management flexibility for the producer.

For farmers like Foltz, this means they can make their herbicide selections based on price or efficacy, and the potential to save on cotton inputs is real.

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