The use of biotechnology in agriculture continues to ignite debate among farmers, governmental officials and consumers in the European Union (EU). While many European growers recognize the potential of biotechnology, alarmist consumer groups and media have prevented widespread acceptance of biotech crops, according to National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) leaders who recently returned from a fact-finding mission to the EU and Russia.

Joined by members of the U.S. Grains Council, NCGA leaders spent nearly two weeks in Italy, Austria, Hungary, Poland and Russia gauging attitudes toward biotechnology. NCGA President Dee Vaughan said attitudes toward biotechnology have changed since the first USGC-NCGA joint mission four years ago.

“We’ve seen some incremental progress, especially with the governments, but there is still much work to be done,” Vaughan said. “These governments argued before that biotech acceptance was a food safety issue, but now most of them appear to understand that isn’t the case. Now they’re arguing that biotech crops can’t co-exist with organic crops, so now we’re addressing that concern.”

While countries like Russia and Poland seemed more open to biotechnology, other nations like Austria appeared as unreceptive as ever, according to Vaughan. “From what we gathered, Austria has no desire to use biotech at all,” he said. “Most farms in Austria are very small and they’re looking to simply maintain the status quo.”

The group was encouraged by its talks with Russian officials, Vaughan said. “Russia seemed much more receptive to biotechnology,” he said. “They’re a science-based society and they seemed very willing to look at this issue with open minds.”

NCGA Biotech Working Group Chair Helen Inman said many of the farmers the group met with seemed to appreciate the promise of biotechnology. But because of consumer attitudes and regulatory challenges, many EU growers view the use of biotech products as a hopeless endeavor.

“There are some farmers in the countries we visited that probably would be interested in using biotechnology,” Inman said. “But they’re worried that there won’t be a market for their crops because of the widespread misunderstanding and fear of biotech products in the EU.”

Inman said the international press, consumer groups and environmental activists have perpetuated misinformation and inaccuracies concerning biotechnology. “Fringe groups like Greenpeace have had quite an influence on public opinion in the EU,” she said. “Because of these groups and negative media reports, many of these countries don’t completely trust this technology and they don’t want to change.”

Vaughan said one of NCGA’s goals is to dispel popular myths by continuing an open dialogue with EU governments and farmers. “We heard all kinds of myths about biotech,” he said. “One of our objectives was to put out as much good information as we could and get the facts into the hands of the decision makers. We’re not pushing biotech for biotech’s sake. We’re advocating biotech as another tool in the farmer’s toolbox. If it doesn’t make sense for the farmer to use it, we certainly understand that. But we do believe the farmer should at least have the choice to decide.”

Inman agreed, stating, “Our purpose was not to travel around the EU and tell everyone ‘you have to use biotech.’ We just want farmers and consumers in the EU to have the option to use biotechnology in agriculture and to buy products that contain biotech.”