While one biotech company is terminating its GM wheat trials, another is gearing up to seed more test plots in 2004.
Monsanto’s decision to temporarily shelve its Roundup Ready wheat project will have no effect on Syngenta’s plans to develop its fusarium resistant wheat, said a company spokesperson.
“The fusarium project is one that is continuing to move forward,” said Chris Novak, Syngenta’s science communications manager.
The company has developed a line of genetically modified wheat resistant to fusarium head blight, a fungal disease that has cost Canadian farmers between $50 million and $300 million annually since the early 1990s, according to the Western Grains Research Foundation.
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Last year was the first year of large field trials for the crop, grown at nine test sites in the United States and Canada. That testing program will expand to as many as 12 research plots in 2004, most in Manitoba’s Red River Valley area, said Novak.
Results from the 2003 trials were inconclusive because of a lack of disease pressure, but there were enough promising signs to keep the company working toward commercialization of the product.
According to Syngenta’s website, the anticipated launch date for its first GM wheat product is 2007, but Novak thinks the lengthy Canadian regulatory approval and variety registration process will push that date back to the end of the decade.
Peter Phillips, director of the University of Saskatchewan’s college of biotechnology, thinks the market acceptance issue will delay it further, perhaps permanently.
“They’ve got exactly the same problem that Roundup (Ready wheat) has. How do you convince the consumer that something they get no value out of is something they should want?”
In fact, Syngenta may face a tougher sell. Monsanto could at least tell consumers its GM wheat would lead to a reduction in chemical use, while fusarium resistance offers no tangible benefit to consumers, said Phillips.
He said although product managers remain gung-ho about fusarium resistant wheat, corporate executives will be looking at Monsanto’s estimated $50 million investment in GM wheat that never provided payback.
“There might be fusarium resistant wheat, but it’s not likely to come from a private company,” said Phillips.
Rene Van Acker, associate professor of crop management at the University of Manitoba, doesn’t think Monsanto’s decision will have that kind of impact.
“Three years ago I said, ‘we can reject Roundup Ready wheat without rejecting biotechnology in wheat.’ “
He said this is a positive development that will act as a wake-up call for the industry so that when crops with more compelling traits than herbicide resistance come along, there are regulations in place to properly segregate GM wheat from conventional varieties.
Van Acker said fusarium resistant wheat will likely have broader appeal among growers than Roundup Ready wheat offered, but will still face a lack of consumer acceptance.
Novak, however, said Syngenta’s wheat should appeal to end-users because it will create a better quality supply of wheat.
“We think that is something that will have some resonance.”
