ABIC: Biotech wheat stays on the shelf

Calgary — While biotechnology has made huge gains in corn and soybeans, it has yet to penetrate markets for the world’s two leading food grains, wheat and rice.

Until farmers and consumers decide to change their minds, that’s how it’s likely to stay, speakers said at the 2007 Agricultural Biotechnology International Conference (ABIC 2007) here Tuesday.

Monsanto has a backlog of wheat biotechnology that it shelved when U.S. and Canadian farmers rallied in fear of a consumer backlash against biotech bread.

That technology will stay on the shelf, Robb Fraley said, “until there is strong, unified support from the wheat industry.”

“I hope,” said Fraley, chief technology officer for Monsanto, “that I’ve been clear and blunt.”

Fraley said wheat growers are missing out on more and more science the longer they reject ag biotechnology. Roundup Ready genetics brings more to wheat than other crops, he said, because the herbicide helps control fungal diseases. As well, companies could be on their way to producing drought tolerant wheats that would provide higher, more consistent yields around the world.

Meanwhile, Monsanto has upped its research into rice biotechnology. Bayer is also investing in rice research, said James Iademarco, general manager for biomaterials for Bayer CropScience.

“There’s no GM rice in the marketplace today, but it’s in our pipeline,” Iademarco said. The scale of rice is daunting, however.

“There are 250 million rice farmers in China alone,” Iademarco said. Even so, rice is further ahead than wheat.

“Wheat is on Bayer’s radar screen,” Iademarco said. “However, it’s more problematic.”

New middle class

But Fraley also noted other developments that may affect these biotech crops’ fortunes in the longer term. For example, he said, one billion low-income people, mainly in China and India, are expected to climb into the middle class within the next 10 years.

Fraaley described it as “a step change” in its significance for global agriculture.

Overnight, these consumers will want to buy more and different foods, with a focus on the meats and on the fresh fruits and vegetables they couldn’t hope to afford in past, he said. Plus, they’ll also be looking for ethanol-blended fuels for millions of new motorcycles and cars.

It couldn’t happen at a better time, Fraley told the conference. Just as demand is exploding, he said, knowledge is exploding too.

Farm Business Communications is reporting from the Agricultural Biotechnology International Conference Sept. 23-26 in Calgary. Click here or on “ABIC Show News” in the column at left for full coverage of the week’s speakers and events, courtesy of Country Guide.