Customers who buy 87 per cent of the wheat produced by western Canadian farmers now require that the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) provide guarantees the wheat is not genetically modified (GM), Ken Ritter, chairman of the CWB's farmer-controlled board of directors told farmers and industry reps gathered for a meeting in Calgary today. This is up from 82 per cent just two years ago.

"We're seeing increasing concern and opposition from our customers over the introduction of GM wheat," Ritter said. "As a farmer, what concerns me the most is that the markets resistant to GM wheat include all of the markets where the CWB usually achieves a premium."

The loss of these markets would have a disproportionate impact on farmers' incomes, Ritter said. "We've all witnessed the devastation a single case of BSE has caused in Canada's beef industry. The introduction of GM wheat could cause similar devastation in our wheat industry," he said.

Ritter noted that customers in the CWB's 10 highest volume markets for Canada Western Red Spring wheat in 2002-03 all required a non-GM guarantee, including the domestic market, Japan, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Italy, Indonesia and Malaysia. A list of the countries who bought CWRS in 2002-03, including those countries in which customers required non-GM certification, is attached.

There are no genetically modified varieties of wheat or barley approved or registered for commercial production in Canada. Monsanto submitted applications for the approval of its Roundup Ready GM wheat variety in 2002. Under Canada's current regulatory system, a GM variety can be approved for unconfined release and registered for commercial production if it meets criteria for food, feed and environmental safety as well as agronomic quality.

The CWB has called on the federal government to include a cost-benefit analysis prior to the unconfined release of a new genetically modified wheat variety, a call which Ritter renewed. "Farmers need to know their interests are included in any regulatory approval process," he said. "We need to see this fourth safeguard added to the decision-making process. Our livelihoods depend on it."

Controlled by western Canadian farmers, the CWB is the largest wheat and barley marketer in the world. As one of Canada's biggest exporters, the Winnipeg-based organization sells grain to more than 70 countries and returns all sales revenue, less marketing costs, to Prairie farmers.

Backgrounder

X – Countries, ranked by 2002-03 sales volume, in which customers for CWRS currently require non-GM wheat certification: