Southern China Agricultural University, which is co-sponsored by the Guangdong Province and China’s Ministry of Agriculture, will jointly research potential new soy varieties at a hub in Brazil´s São Paulo state.
The move is part of an agreement with the Brazilian unit of China’s seed company LongPing High-Tech to improve the quality of soy seeds, according to the company.
As a result of the partnership, LongPing High-Tech has already received soybean varieties from China and is in the process of finalizing and sending Brazilian soy genetic materials to Chinese researchers.
The company said the move is part of its business expansion strategy in Brazil.
“China is one of the countries of origin for soybeans, with a rich germplasm to share,” said Edimilson Linares, LongPing’s vice president of research and development. “Brazil, with decades of success in improvement, is a very important global market in the grain chain.”
LongPing High-Tech said it is the first time it ventures into soy seed research in the Brazilian market, as until now it focused on corn.
Brazil, the world’s biggest producer and exporter of soybeans, sells the bulk of its output to China, which processes the grain to make cooking oil and livestock feed.
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