There’s more grist for the mill in the renewed debate about genetically modified wheat.
Two surveys on the subject were released last week – one from the Canadian Wheat Board and one from researchers at the University of Manitoba – and neither provided good news for proponents of GM wheat.
GM wheat has been back in the news since a coalition of farm and wheat industry groups from Canada, the United States and Australia issued a statement in mid-May supporting its introduction.
That prompted some farm and environmental groups opposed to GM technology to issue their own statement, saying consumers have made it clear they don’t want GM wheat and introducing it would be a disaster.
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In its annual opinion survey of producers, the CWB included two questions about GM wheat and barley.
First, farmers were asked to describe their views on GM wheat:
- 19 percent said GM wheat or barley should not be grown in Canada until technology exists to identify it as such.
- 19 percent said it should not be grown under any circumstances.
- 31 percent said it should not be grown unless there is market demand.
- 19 percent said it should be grown if there are agronomic benefits for farmers.
- Nine percent said it should be grown as soon as available.
Second, farmers were asked how interested they are in growing GM wheat. Twenty-four percent were very interested, 22 percent somewhat interested and 51 percent not interested at all.
CWB spokesperson Maureen Fitzhenry said those results are in line with the position the board has taken on the issue.
“They’re not saying ‘I don’t want it at all’,” she said.
“Most are saying it’s OK to grow but you have to meet certain conditions.”
The U of M study, conducted in 2004, focused on farmers’ attitudes toward Roundup Ready wheat, a product that was being hotly debated at the time but has since been abandoned by Monsanto.
The study, in which 83 percent of 1,566 farmers surveyed said Roundup Ready wheat should not be released, has just been published in an international scientific journal after being submitted a year ago.
Researcher Ian Mauro, now at the University of Victoria, said the urgency to have the results published diminished after Monsanto abandoned its project.
“Now it has become a very topical issue again, with some in the wheat industry pushing for various GM traits in wheat,” he said.
“It’s become incredibly timely again.”
He said researchers also gathered information about farmers’ attitudes toward GM technology if it provided benefits like drought tolerance, fusarium resistance or nitrogen fixation. That information will be released in the future.
