GUELPH, Ont. – Thanks to biotechnology, consumers someday will be able to have their Barbie doll and eat it too.
Or eat foods with genes built in to heal what ails them.
Or use products that bio-degrade once they are no longer needed.
And because of all this and more, genetic manipulation and enhancement is a potential multi-billion dollar new market for farmers who can grow the crops that contain the genes that make all this possible.
That, at least, is the rosy future that University of Guelph professor Gordon Surgeoner sees for biotechnology.
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Last week, he used a speech at the pro-biotechnology AgCare farm group annual meeting to counsel farmers who are uneasy about growing consumer resistance to genetically modified foods.
Before long, he predicted, the next phases of the biotech upheaval will appear and farmers will be able to contract to grow plants that carry genes for medicines, industrial products and a variety of products that will be welcomed by the consumer.
From fuel to drugs to industrial products, the technology will offer farmers a chance to contract for millions of acres of valuable GM crops, said Surgeoner.
“I estimate five to eight million acres of land will be necessary for all the various antibody products alone.”
And farmers accustomed to growing commodities with low market value will find themselves able to cash in on valuable contracted crops, as long as they can guarantee identity preservation, high standards of segregation and dedicated land.
One of the potential markets Surgeoner noted is a move to biodegradable plastics made from starch.
He said toy making giant Mattel Inc. already is moving that way. Its most famous product is the Barbie doll.
“I suppose you can eat your Barbie doll when you are done playing with it,” he said to guffaws from the audience.
He said providing products for the industrial market is “very much a sleeping giant” in farm production potential.
When an audience member asked if the current reaction against GM food would slow the evolution of this opportunity, he said it would have a short-term impact on investment but public attitudes will change once consumer-helpful products are available.
“It may slow it down to some degree but it will not stop it.”
