Western Producer reporter Adrian Ewins recently covered the U.S. wheat industry conference in Altanta, Georgia, and filed these reports.
ATLANTA, Ga. – The best way to overcome customer resistance to genetically modified crops is to develop GM traits that provide direct benefits to the users of those crops, says a spokesperson for the biotech industry.
“I don’t think there’s any question that for both the consumer and the food industry, getting some quality traits into the marketplace will put an end to the hesitation we’ve witnessed,” said Linda Thrane, executive director of the Council for Biotechnology Information.
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The council is funded by the six big biotech companies: Monsanto, Syngenta, Bayer CropScience, BASF, Dow AgroSciences and DuPont.
She told a receptive audience of farmers attending the annual U.S. wheat industry conference that people will respond positively to “heart healthy” soybeans or canola oils or a hypoallergenic wheat variety.
The GM wheat that is most advanced in development is Monsanto’s Roundup Ready, so named for its resistance to the company’s herbicide Roundup.
It has run into resistance from customers and consumers, in part because they see it as a product designed to increase the profits of Monsanto without providing them direct benefits.
Thrane said giving up on Roundup Ready wheat could have serious consequences down the road.
“We have to keep the marketplace open and keep the discussion going until we can get those quality traits out there,” she said.
Thrane told the wheat growers there is an inexorable march toward adoption of GM crops around the world.
The total area planted to biotech crops has increased for seven consecutive ears, including a 15 percent rise in 2003.
