Monsanto & Allies Ponder How to Force Frankenwheat on Consumers

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Edition for Saturday, November 27, 2004 Twin Falls, Idaho

Genetically modified wheat still faces challenges
By Cindy Snyder
Ag Weekly correspondent

TWIN FALLS, Idaho -- A half year after the release of the first genetically
modified wheat was indefinitely postponed in the United States, the grain
industry remains divided over the issue of biotech wheat.

Mark Gage, president of the National Wheat Growers Association, said building
market acceptance for biotech wheat is a high priority for the organization.
He told producers at the Idaho Grain Producers Association's annual meeting
in Boise Nov. 15-17 that biotechnology holds great promise for wheat
growers, but that building markets is the first step. Gage is a grain producer from
eastern North Dakota.

That echoes the stand IGPA has taken on genetically modified wheat. When
Monsanto indefinitely postponed the release of a GM hard red spring wheat the
company developed to resist the commonly used Round-Up herbicide in May, the
Idaho association was both happy and disappointed.

"We developed a policy of supporting release of Round-Up Ready wheat or
genetically modified wheat once we had regulatory approval and once we had a
delivery system in place so we can deliver GM-free wheat; and those things
aren't in place yet," Steve Johnson, executive director of the Idaho Grain
Producers Association said last May.

The association is a strong advocate for continued research in developing
genetically modified wheat varieties. One example, that holds great promise
for Midwest growers is a scab-resistant variety being developed by another
agri-chemical company.

While the technology holds promise for growers, making sure customers will
accept the end result is paramount. In 2004, Idaho growers produced more than
100 million bushels of wheat of which 56 million bushels -- or 55 percent --
was exported, primarily to Egypt, the Philippines, Japan and Korea. Those
countries are not eager to buy GM wheat.

"Before we could market it (GM wheat), we'd have to have in place a dual
delivery system," Johnson said. "The big issue for us is having the delivery
system in place."

A grain market economist says no new policies or trends have emerged since May
to make the commercial introduction of GM wheat feasible. Robert Wisner, an
economist at Iowa State University, said releasing a GM wheat risks the loss
of up to half of U.S. wheat export markets and up to a one-third drop in
price.

Wisner's conclusions are in a recent update released of his October 2003
report, "Market Risks of Genetically Modified Wheat," prepared for Western
Organization of Resource Councils, a regional network representing farmers
and ranchers in Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota, Colorado,
Idaho, and Oregon.

Wisner reported these new findings:

* The European Union has lifted its blanket moratorium on approval of GM
crops. It has also adopted a more restrictive GM food labeling program and
traceability requirements for GM food and crops, to allow identification of
the source of biotech ingredients.

* A survey of European supermarkets found very few foods with GM ingredients
for sale, implying that marketing products made from GM wheat would present
a major challenge to the European food industry at this time.

* With new GM food labeling in place, US soybean product exports to the EU
declined much more than exports to other countries in 2003-04. Drought cut
US supplies and worldwide exports.

* Ten central and eastern European nations joined the EU, increasing the
number of countries with food labeling programs.

* There is no evidence of change in the overwhelming preference of Asian
consumers for non-GM wheat.