--- title: Can Genetically Modified Crops Stop the Drought? description: All farmers know they'll have to endure the occasional dry period, but what has happened to the American Midwest this summer has been practically biblical.... canonical: https://time.com/archive/7219628/can-gmo-crops-bust-the-drought/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2012-09-10T12:00:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-18T14:58:10.414Z article:section: Science og:title: Can GM Crops Bust the Drought? og:description: The drought is eating away at U.S. crops—and climate change could make it worse in the future. Are GM crops an answer? og:url: https://time.com/archive/7219628/can-gmo-crops-bust-the-drought/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6fe2cbd259167db9/6998b5f847fe512f85559d33/513407737.jpg?branch=production&width=600&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 600 og:image:height: 338 og:image:alt: US-WEATHER-DROUGHT-FILES og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Can GM Crops Bust the Drought? twitter:description: The drought is eating away at U.S. crops—and climate change could make it worse in the future. Are GM crops an answer? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6fe2cbd259167db9/6998b5f847fe512f85559d33/513407737.jpg?branch=production&width=600&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Science](/section/science/) # Can GM Crops Bust the Drought? > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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It reaches 40,000 subscribers with a 34.2% open rate and a 2.1% click rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Sep 10, 2012 12:00 PM UTC  (FILES)Severely damaged corn stalks due to a widespread drought are seen in this August 15, 2012 file photo at sunset on a farm near Oakland City, Indiana. The World Bank said August 30, 2012 that drought in the US and Eastern Europe crop centers sent global food prices soaring by 10 percent last month, raising a food security threat to the world's poorest people. The surge in prices, mainly due to the devastating heat wave across the central US, which produces the world's largest crops of corn (maize) and soybeans, places in danger millions around the world, especially in countries dependent on imported grains, according to the bank. From June to July, the prices of both corn and wheat jumped by 25 percent while soybeans were up 17 percent. Corn and soybean prices topped their previous record highs in the food price crisis of June 2008\. AFP PHOTO / Saul LOEB / FILESSAUL LOEB/AFP/GettyImages (FILES)Severely damaged corn stalks due to a widespread drought are seen in this August 15, 2012 file photo at sunset on a farm near Oakland City, Indiana. The World Bank said August 30, 2012 that drought in the US and Eastern Europe crop centers sent global food prices soaring by 10 percent last month, raising a food security threat to the world's poorest people. The surge in prices, mainly due to the devastating heat wave across the central US, which produces the world's largest crops of corn (maize) and soybeans, places in danger millions around the world, especially in countries dependent on imported grains, according to the bank. From June to July, the prices of both corn and wheat jumped by 25 percent while soybeans were up 17 percent. Corn and soybean prices topped their previous record highs in the food price crisis of June 2008\. AFP PHOTO / Saul LOEB / FILESSAUL LOEB/AFP/GettyImages AFP/Getty Images by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Sep 10, 2012 12:00 PM UTC All farmers know they’ll have to endure the occasional dry period, but what has happened to the American Midwest this summer has been practically biblical. By the end of July, [over 60% of the U.S.](http://thewatchers.adorraeli.com/2012/08/31/over-60-us-drought-facing-one-financially-devastating-natural-disasters/) was experiencing some form of drought–the most in more than half a century. Corn yields fell by at least 16%, and prices rose to record highs as farmers confronted fields of dust. Scariest of all, the drought of 2012, which could eventually cost as much as $18 billion, may be just a taste of what’s to come in a hotter, drier future. Climate models suggest broadly that [dry areas will become drier](http://www.treehugger.com/climate-change/climate-science-basics-why-will-dry-areas-get-drier-wet-areas-get-wetter-video.html) as the planet warms—and that could be seriously bad news for America’s breadbasket, [especially in the already arid areas](http://news.yahoo.com/farmers-deplete-fossil-water-worlds-breadbaskets-195800778.html) of the Western breadbasket. Farmers and crop companies are struggling to figure out ways to cope with severe drought. Changing the weather is still beyond us—though some countries [like China are trying](http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2011-03/24/content%5F12218277.htm)—but what if there were a way to breed crops that could use water more efficiently, thriving even in times of drought? more (**MORE:** [Dry Summer Means More Encounters with Hungry Bears](http://science.time.com/2012/08/09/dry-summer-means-more-encounters-with-hungry-bears/)) That’s what agribusiness is hoping to achieve with new genetically modified (GM) crop strains that are designed to endure arid conditions. Industry leader Monsanto is working on a hybrid line of corn [called DroughtGard](http://www.monsanto.com/products/Pages/droughtgard-hybrids.aspx), developed with the German firm BASF, that is designed to enhance crop yield in dry soils. It is the first U.S. Department of Agriculture–approved GM crop to focus on drought tolerance and features a bacterial gene that enables it to better retain water. Hundreds of farmers in the western end of the Corn Belt–[an area that runs to dry even in normal years](http://wherefoodcomesfrom.com/article/5967/Agricultural-Weather-California-Wildfires-Corn-Belt-Dry)–are field-testing DroughtGard, and Monsanto says early results indicate that the GM crop might improve yields by 4% to 8% over conventional crops in some arid conditions. “This year magnifies how important it is to have drought tolerance,” says Robert Fraley, Monsanto’s chief technology officer. Still, critics are skeptical that GM crops alone will enable farmers to overcome persistent drought. In a [June report](http://www.ucsusa.org/food%5Fand%5Fagriculture/science%5Fand%5Fimpacts/science/high-and-dry.html), the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) noted that GM crops take years to develop and that the seeds created so far offer only modest benefit. “Genetic engineering is not a silver bullet,” says Doug Gurian-Sherman, a senior scientist at UCS and the author of the report. GMO crops come with their own concerns. While most studies [have shown genetically modified crops to be safe](http://ec.europa.eu/research/biosociety/pdf/a%5Fdecade%5Fof%5Feu-funded%5Fgmo%5Fresearch.pdf) (PDF), many consumers still aren’t convinced. And GM seeds may not be affordable for the farmers in truly hard-hit areas—like sub-Saharan Africa. Still, if the drought of 2012 really does become the norm, though, farmers may need all the bullets they can get. **MORE:** [The Great Drying Comes Again](http://science.time.com/2012/07/31/the-great-drying-strikes-again/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7219628/can-gmo-crops-bust-the-drought/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7219628/can-gmo-crops-bust-the-drought/"},"headline":"Can GM Crops Bust the Drought?","datePublished":"2012-09-10T12:00:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-18T14:58:10.414Z","description":"All farmers know they'll have to endure the occasional dry period, but what has happened to the American Midwest this summer has been practically biblical....","url":"https://time.com/archive/7219628/can-gmo-crops-bust-the-drought/","keywords":["Agriculture","ecocentric","Drought","GMOs"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6fe2cbd259167db9/6998b5f847fe512f85559d33/513407737.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6fe2cbd259167db9/6998b5f847fe512f85559d33/513407737.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-WEATHER-DROUGHT-FILES","caption":"US-WEATHER-DROUGHT-FILES","creditText":"AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/archive/7219628/can-gmo-crops-bust-the-drought/","name":"Can GM Crops Bust the Drought?"}}]}] ```