TULARE, Calif. – The first American crop to contain an end user trait was approved for sale in that country last Friday.
Other new herbicide tolerant crops have been recently approved as well.
A synthetic gene taken from a microorganism that lives near hot water vents on the ocean’s floor provides a trait that improves distilling efficiency in corn.
Syngenta developed the hybrid corn and claims an eight percent improvement in energy efficiency and ethanol production. The trait causes corn to make its own alpha amylase, a product now added to the fermentation process.
The National Corn Growers’ Association welcomed the new corn.
The news was not celebrated in all areas of agriculture.
“USDA has failed to provide the public with sufficient scientific data on the economic impacts of contamination on food production,” said Mary Waters, president of the North American Millers’ Association.
Waters said Syngenta’s 3272 amylase corn trait might cause significant problems with food corn quality and performance in snack foods, breakfast cereals and battered products if it commingled with milling type corn.
She said the U.S. Department of Agriculture failed to properly show how farmers and distillers would contain the crop and prevent mixing with other seed and prevent gene dispersal.
The millers association represents 95 percent of grain milling in North America and 43 of the largest companies, including Cargill, Archer Daniels Midland and ConAgra.
Syngenta said in a news release the crop would be contained by ensuring growers produced corn for local distillers. They would also be paid incentives to produce only the 3272 corn.
Farmers growing it under contract would be expected to take other measures to ensure that pollen flow was minimized and grain was.
