An Informa Economics report indicates that corn and soybeans would be worth more if China gave quicker approvals to biotechnology. The report said that U.S. corn production would have increased between 890,000 metric tons and 1 million metric tons over the past five years if the timing of Chinese approvals would have been consistent with a functional regulatory system. South Dakota Corn Growers Association President Troy Knecht says that shows how important timely biotech approvals are.

The Informa report also says if the biotech approval process for corn was consistent with other markets, the value of U.S. corn production would be $360 million to $1 billion higher than present levels from 2017-18 to 2021-22. Knecht says that would be a game changer for not only growers but for entire rural communities.

Knecht says if more sectors of ag would come together to push for these approvals, they’d probably have more of a chance at achieving those.

The informa report also says that other countries would also benefit from increased Chinese biotech approvals.