A study suggesting U.S. wheat growers would lose hundred of millions of dollars from the introduction of Roundup Ready wheat hasn’t dampened the enthusiasm of the U.S. National Association of Wheat Growers for the new technology.
NAWG president Sherman Reese said he still believes genetically modified wheat is the answer to most of the wheat industry’s problems.
The industry can no longer sit back and do nothing in the face of declining acreage, competition from other GM crops, a crumbling infrastructure, flat yields, rising input costs and increased foreign competition, he said.
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“One of the answers is to develop a biotech wheat variety as soon as possible with enough traits that will both lower our cost of production and provide our customers, both domestic and foreign, with the type of end product they desire,” he said in a commentary posted on the NAWG website.
NAWG had been a lukewarm supporter of GM wheat, sharing concerns held by many exporters and individual producers that introducing GM wheat without the support of overseas buyers would be a mistake.
However, after Monsanto announced in May 2004 that it was shelving plans to commercialize Roundup Ready wheat and shifting its research and development priorities to other crops, the organization reviewed its position and in February 2005 adopted a plan to fast-track the registration, planting and marketing of GM wheat.
Following an August meeting with the Monsanto Growers Advisory Council, Reese said NAWG will take the lead in promoting with other agribusiness groups the benefits of biotech wheat.
Reese said those discussions will emphasize four points:
- Producers will be the main beneficiaries of GM wheat and need to help bring about its introduction.
- The domestic market will welcome biotech wheat more than foreign markets.
- If a biotech wheat isn’t brought to the market soon, wheat will become an “orphan crop” and replaced by drought tolerant biotech corn, soybeans and other crops.
- Mainstream commodity markets will eventually be indifferent to biotech, and segregation should be the responsibility of customers who demand non-GM wheat.
