Bayer estimates new GM soybean to reach 10% of Brazil's 2022/23 planting area

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Bayer AG's agriculture unit in Brazil expects that its new genetically modified (GM) soybean Intacta2 Xtend will account for about 10% of the country's total soy planting area in the 2022/23 harvest, the firm told Reuters.

The Intacta2 Xtend soybean, which tolerates the Dicamba herbicide and is resistant to insects, could be sowed in an area of around 4.3 million hectares (10.6 million acres) in 2022/23, compared with 243,000 hectares in the previous crop-year.

The expected expansion of the third generation soybean seed technology will follow after the seed was "tried and tested over the past two years in more than 500 areas across Brazil," ensuring high yields, with dozens of producers recording averages of 100 60kg-bags per hectare, according to Bayer.

Some producers have reached more than 120 bags per hectare, said Rafael Mendes, commercial director of Intacta in Brazil's Bayer agri division.

"Three digits in soybeans has always been a desire that very few farmers achieved in very small areas ... such a significant number of customers surpassing this mark is confirmation that we are on the right track," said Mendes.

The yield would be almost double that of Brazil's average, estimated at 59 bags per hectare, according to the country's food supply agency Conab.

(Reporting by Roberto Samora; Writing by Peter Frontini; Editing by Brendan O'Boyle, Leslie Adler and Tomasz Janowski)