ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The U.S. wheat industry is speaking with one voice on genetically modified wheat.
That voice urges caution.
Farmers, millers, bakers and exporters attending the annual U.S. wheat industry’s annual conference in late January made it clear they don’t want GM wheat unless their customers do.
Even then, they said they want nothing to do with it until a dependable testing and segregation system is developed.
“Our recommendation is to go slowly,” said Len Hefflich, director of technical services for George Weston Bakeries of New York. “The market is not ready for GM wheat.”
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While the opposition to GM wheat is often characterized as coming mainly from overseas, speakers made it clear that North American consumers are also wary about the technology.
Hefflich cited a survey conducted last summer by the American Bakers Association, in which 40 percent of shoppers expressed concern about buying food containing GM ingredients. Half of them were “strongly concerned” and a small percentage said they wouldn’t buy any products containing GM wheat.
“Is our industry willing to risk five to 40 percent of our sales of regular business to embrace GM wheat? The answer is no,” said Hefflich.
Biotech wheat was a major topic of discussion at this year’s wheat industry conference.
Speakers representing the corn, soybean and sugar beet industries presented the wheat growers with cautionary tales based on their not-always-happy experiences trying to introduce GM food into the market.
A commonly expressed theme was frustration at what many consider to be emotional and unscientific resistance to GM food among consumers.
“Science has proven time and time again that biotech is safe,” said Tim Hume, president of the National Corn Growers Association.
But he said a combination of factors has undermined the technology, including the spread of misinformation, poor communications with consumers about the potential benefits of biotech, political conflicts between the United States and the European Union and two high-profile regulatory infractions that saw varieties of genetically modified corn contaminate non-GM crops and food.
U.S. wheat farmers are of two minds on the subject, said Darrell Hanavan, chair of the National Association of Wheat Growers’ biotechnology committee.
They’re aware of the potential agronomic benefits, but they’re also aware that there’s no point growing something customers don’t want.
“Farmers want the technology, but they also want the market acceptance,” he said in an interview.
As long as some buyers reject GM wheat, systems must be in place to assure them they won’t accidentally get any.
“We have to be able to satisfy our customers and the only way we know how to achieve that is through a segregation system,” Hanavan said.
A wheat industry advisory committee has been set up to work through the myriad of issues surrounding biotech wheat, including such things as defining “market acceptance,” setting up a framework for an identity preservation system, establishing tolerance levels and working out liability rules.
The committee includes Monsanto, the company whose genetically modified Roundup Ready wheat has been at the centre of the biotech wheat debate.
Michael Doane, Monsanto’s director of global industry affairs, wasn’t surprised that biotech wheat was the focus of so much attention at the conference, but he also said momentum is building in favour of GM wheat, as farmers realize its possible benefits, such as improved milling and baking quality, increased nutritional value and reduced allergenicity.
As well, Monsanto has published a list of “milestones” it says must be achieved before RoundUp Ready wheat is made available to farmers: full regulatory approval in the U.S., Canada and Japan; regulatory approval and marketing agreements in major export markets; standardized handling and testing systems; and acceptance by buyers.
Hanavan also said it’s important that there be simultaneous commercial release of Roundup Ready wheat in Canada and the U.S., adding the U.S. wheat industry committee has met with the Canadian Wheat Board to co-ordinate their approach.
