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Do you want Biotech wheat? What does everyone else think?

Do you want biotech wheat?

Two weeks ago I wrote about my hopes for the next phase of biotech traits for agriculture. Since then, grower and processor organizations representing Canada, U.S. and Australia have come forward to indicate they are actively advocating for genetically modified wheat.

Earlier efforts to bring GM wheat with herbicide tolerance to the marketplace failed miserably. Importing nations, end users and consumers put a quick stop to this initiative a few years ago and the company behind herbicide tolerant wheat put the project on the shelf.

If I think about it, these early public relations efforts by the Canadian, Australian and U.S. wheat organizations show that primary agriculture is slowly learning that the marketplace needs to be made aware of the benefits of biotechnology before the new seed products arrive in our fields. I think GM wheat will still be a tough sell, but there are a couple of valid points that should help.

First, wheat productivity is falling behind other crops. If you were in charge of a major seed and genetics company, you would probably not invest a lot of resources in developing new wheat varieties because the returns just aren’t there. Where I farm in Ontario, we have benefited immensely from a competitive environment whereby 3 seed companies have pushed each other to continually deliver the goods in terms of new wheat genetics that deliver yield and disease protection – but they are all indicating that there is no money in this sector and are not likely to continue or increase wheat research. Even if you hit a home run as a breeder and develop a super variety, you’ll sell some seed in the first couple of years that will be kept over and multiplied on farm. I do some of this myself, a practice that does not exist for hybrid corn and GM soybeans.

Having said this, for GM wheat to make sense for me, there will need to be significant value in the trait. If I’m going to be paying higher prices for wheat seed every year, there must be more revenue potential from growing the crop. I’m not convinced that herbicide tolerance is where we need to go here. Weed control in wheat is not as big a deal as it is with corn, soybeans or canola. The challenges I think we need to address are yield, disease control, drought tolerance, and nutritional or processing properties that will add value for the end user.

A perceived food shortage last summer led to some big price spikes for crop prices. But for wheat, the supply issue was real. This crop is a major planet feeder and deserves more attention from researchers and genetics companies, whether the advancements are GM or conventional.




What do you think? Will the public accept GM wheat? What traits should the genetic companies deliver? Would you grow GM wheat?

Click here to join the discussion.

Peter Gredig
Farms.com
Peter.Gredig@Farms.com

This commentary is for informational purposes only. The opinions and comments expressed herein represent the opinions of the author--they do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Farms.com. This commentary is not intended to provide individual advice to anyone. Farms.com will not be liable for any errors or omissions in the information, or for any damages or losses in any way related to this commentary.

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Permalink Reply by Roadrunner on August 27, 2009 at 2:50pm
Hey Peter

I am interested in any new technology to increase my farm's profitability and assess GMO wheat like other opportunities.

The big companies seem to have alot of control over the seed industry but if it makes me money than I will look at it.

I would like to add some value to the wheat that I grow, higher yields, better disease resistance, maybe even some value to the miller or the consumer would lead to more returns to me.

We have grown non GMO soys to meet the market demand (good premiums paid) and also grown RR soys when the market did not need to pay extra....I like to have more options for markets.

If some of the consumers don't want GMO wheat, then they can pay a little more for the products they want.
Permalink Reply by John Beardsley on August 28, 2009 at 4:34am
bring it on . I twill solve problems like fusarium head blight(already sitting on the shelf at syngenta seeds in switzerland).

you can still use cheaper conventional herbicides like Buctril m and MCPA to break the glyphosate over useage.

but more importantly it will allow seed companies to generate enough profit to breed better wheats.

it will (as in soybeans) create another premium market for non gmo wheat.
Permalink Reply by Wayne Black on August 28, 2009 at 4:55am
GM wheat has an advantage over the introduction of GM corn, canola, & soybeans. If done correctly it can learn from the mistakes of the previous commodities. The biggest issue it will have to overcome is the increasing public perception of organics. This past weekend we had a family from Toronto visit and tour our farms. The biggest concern they had was the sprays we use. A couple comments from them were "You have no quams about feeding your children non-organic food?" Absolutely none. Another one "You do not want your children around when you spray but you feed them pesticide laden food?" Well, yes but not exactly...
The perceptions they have are, what I consider, bad media. They think pesticides exist for years in the soils and is in the food (not just on the skin). So in order to give them the correct news we need to get the "activist" groups onside with GM wheat and show the positives to the environment and food supply. Do not worry about how much easier/harder it will be for the farmer.

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