Canada, Australia and the United States should all work together to release genetically modified wheat at the same time, says an American industry official.
Daren Coppock, chief executive officer of the National Association of Wheat Growers, said steadily declining wheat acreage proves the case for GM wheat.
He told a national biotechnology week reception in Regina that industry is coming around to the idea that something has to change to ensure adequate wheat supplies.
“I think seven or eight of the last 10 years we’ve consumed more wheat globally than we’ve produced, and you just can’t keep doing that without having a market response,” he said.
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Thirty-year acreage trends show wheat losing more acres to corn. Projections from North Dakota State University show American wheat acres won’t total more than 50 million under the most optimistic scenario. That acreage used to be 80 million.
The corn and soybean belt is moving farther west and north each year, Coppock said.
Development of drought tolerant corn will push that crop even farther west into drier areas that have historically produced wheat.
He said development of drought tolerant wheat would be a good platform for the three countries to work on together because it is a challenge for all of their wheat producers and they have common export customers.
“If we start there and bring that trait forward and all of our crops come out at the same time, then we’re not out in the marketplace trying to beat up each other,” he said.
Cherilyn Jolly-Nagel, president of the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association, said the organization supports biotechnology and collaboration. Producers in countries that don’t move ahead with technology could be left behind.
“As a Canadian producer, I feel overly vulnerable,” she said.
Jolly-Nagel said she believes market acceptance of GM products is changing.
Numbers presented by Phil Schwab, vice-president of industry relations at BioteCanada, the national association for biotechnology companies, suggest a greater acceptance among Canadians.
He said a survey of 1,500 people found 79 percent of respondents believed agriculture would benefit from biotechnology.
Schwab said this is the fourth survey and the numbers are consistent from year to year.
Jolly-Nagel said educating consumers is the key.
Coppock also said education efforts within the industry are working. Millers and bakers now know there is a problem with reliable long-term supply.
NAWG’s board has set a goal of a 20 percent yield increase in 10 years, assuming that biotech commercialization is part of the process.
“We won’t get there without it,” he said.
Private companies haven’t yet devoted enough time and money to wheat like they have to other crops. Coppock said corn yields expand four times faster every year compared to wheat.
The trait in Roundup Ready 2 Yield soybeans will add revenue of between $55 and $70 per acre, he said.
“If the wheat market wants to buy that acre back from those soybeans and get that grower to plant wheat instead of beans in South Dakota, the market is going to have to pay $1.49 per bushel more for wheat than they are today,” Coppock said. “Our customers, when they hear that message, their eyes open up.”
The American agriculture department says it will cost $8.10 to grow a bushel of wheat in 2009.
“The prices don’t exceed that number,” Coppock said.
“There’s going to be a big push for more efficient technology.”
