Wichita ? With ethanol demand driving corn prices to levels not seen in a decade, the nation’s farmers are gearing up to plant massive amounts of the crop this spring, creating shortages of some popular biotech hybrid seeds.

While growers still should be able to find plenty of corn seed to plant, it may not be the variety developed for their season or bred with the genetic modifications they want to combat insects and diseases in their region, experts said.

“It is a nationwide problem. One reason it is so severe in Kansas is that a lot of the seed available for us is being used to replace cotton acres in Texas and Mississippi. But the shortage is nationwide. They are facing the same problems that we are,” said Terry Vinduska, the sales representative for Pioneer Hybrid International in Marion.

Kansas farmers typically do not plant the varieties of corn favored by Corn Belt growers farther north, Vinduska said. Farmers here need corn hybrids bred to resist local pests and to tolerate blistering hot summers that can wilt even irrigated crops.

Those popular varieties were sold out before Thanksgiving, Vinduska said.

Those are the same kinds of hybrids southern growers in the nation’s Cotton Belt want. Many acres of cotton are going to be planted to corn this year instead, Vinduska said, noting the price of corn is close to double what it was at this time last year.

That means some Kansas corn growers may not be able to find the biotech hybrids that are resistant to certain herbicides or to corn borer and root worm, he said.

“We will undoubtedly have lower yields, and in some cases we will have to spray with pesticides to control corn borer, so that will add to our costs,” Vinduska said.

Corn planting typically starts first in the southeast corner of Kansas by the third or fourth week of March.

A massive increase in corn acres is expected nationwide given the demand for corn seed.