Monsanto does not invest money in wheat variety research but it wishes other companies or governments did, says Monsanto Canada president Lisa Safarian.
As part of the company’s view that food production in the world must double within 20 years through development of better varieties, Monsanto is offering $10 million to the researcher who can come up with the best yield-increasing varieties of wheat and rice.
She said Monsanto concentrates its research on corn, soybean and cotton, crops subject to genetic modification.
“We don’t do rice and we don’t do wheat,” she said during CropLife Canada’s annual meeting in Ottawa. “They are quickly becoming orphan crops.”
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The conference was co-sponsored by Grain Growers of Canada and some wheat producers said the heart of the problem is public and grain company resistance to developing and introducing genetically modified wheat varieties.
Kevin Bender, a director with the Western Canadian Wheat Growers’ Association, said the lack of public and private investment in wheat research means producers of wheat have not received the yield-increase benefits that producers of corn, canola and other GM crops have.
The wheat varieties available are more vulnerable to various devastating diseases including fusarium and rust.
“We are all on the same page that we need to move forward on introducing biotechnology to wheat,” he said Dec. 3.
Jeff Neilsen, president of the Western Barley Growers’ Association, said low yields relative to other crops leaves some producers questioning whether they should continue to grow wheat.
The refusal to develop and commercialize GM wheat is based on marketers’ fears of a public or customer backlash.
Several years ago when an attempt to win registration for a GM wheat variety was underway, the Canadian Wheat Board urged that it be kept out of the system because many CWB overseas customers had indicated they would not buy Canadian wheat that could not be guaranteed GM-free.
The board said it recognized the benefits genetic modification could bring to farmers.
However, it worried that without widespread market acceptance, achievable tolerance levels and a credible segregation system in the Canadian grain handling and transportation system, introduction of GM varieties could hurt farmers.
“The CWB opposes the unconfined release of genetically modified wheat and barley in Western Canada unless certain stringent conditions can be met,” the board says in its official position.
Bender, who farms near Red Deer, said he understands the cautious approach because of fear of market resistance.
But he said farmers are the losers and the Canadian wheat crop is becoming less competitive because of the lack of research and variety improvement.
“It’s frustrating because I think a lot of the resistance is based on ignorance,” he said. “People just aren’t knowledgeable and they form emotional views because of fear mongering.”
