Are the Markets
Ready for GM Wheat?
Preparing the Market for GM Wheat
John Bloomer
Global Cereals Crop Manager,
Syngenta Seeds
When Syngenta's John Bloomer contemplates whether the markets
and consumers are ready for GM wheat, his answer is pretty
simple. "No, not all markets are ready for GM wheat just yet,"
Bloomer says. "There is still a job to do to prepare markets for
these products."
However, by the time Syngenta introduces a GM wheat resistant to
Fusarium head blight, Bloomer says that he believes that the
markets will be ready to embrace the product. "Syngenta is
working to improve wheat quality for the benefit of growers,
consumers and the wheat
value chain. In sharing these benefits with consumers, we hope
to ultimately garner consumer acceptance," said Bloomer.
"Market preparation is a fundamental aspect of developing this
product," Bloomer says. Currently, we are in late stage research
and early stage development of this GM wheat product. We don't
expect our product to be on the market until the latter part of
this decade. We're going to use this time to familiarize the
whole wheat chain with the benefits of this product and begin
building acceptance."
Fusarium head blight (FHB), also known as head scab or
tombstone, is a fungus that can destroy wheat and barley crops.
The incidence of FHB has been increasing in the U.S. and
worldwide. When a crop becomes infected with FHB, wheat yields
plummet and any grain that does make it to harvest is of poor
quality and may not meet the strict standards required by food
processors. Bloomer says the
economic impact of FHB is devastating for farmers. And, the loss
of wheat yield and quality ultimately
means the consumers pay more for wheat products such as bread
and cereals. If successful, Bloomer notes the Syngenta GM
product would be another tool in the hands of wheat growers to
help assure the continued supply of wholesome, safe and high
quality grain for the wheat chain, and ultimately to consumers.
"Traditional breeding methods have only had limited success in
breeding wheat resistant to [FHB]," says Bloomer. "And,
effective chemical control of head blight is very difficult. We
had farmers coming to us saying they wanted us to work on this
problem. This is exactly what we want when developing a product
from new technology." Syngenta plans to engage with all key
stakeholders in the wheat chain before marketing any GM wheat
product. Bloomer notes the first stakeholders are the farmers,
but he also points out that millers and bakers and ultimately
the end consumer also need to be comfortable with this product.
The grain quality benefits will help with this. Also, because
wheat is such an important export commodity for the U.S. and
Canada, Bloomer says the strategy of engaging with stakeholders
in the wheat chain must be undertaken in a number of different
countries including Japan, the Middle East and Europe.
"It's critical that we don't disrupt the grain trade — we are
very, very aware of that," says Bloomer. "We have to have
sufficient acceptance across the key export markets. It's not
about fancy advertising. It's about listening and taking on
board people's concerns. We've got to be operating responsibly
and openly. At the end of the day, we've got to make sure we get
regulatory approval in all key export markets before we
proceed."
Markets Are Wary of GM Wheat
Kendell Keith
President
National Grain and Feed
Association
With balky export markets and wheat producers dependent on those
markets, the National Grain and Feed Association's Kendell
Keith believes there is a lot of work that needs to be done
before GM wheat is accepted.
"The policy that our organization has adopted for all
biotechnology products is that we want there to be
international acceptance in place for important products and
markets," Keith says. "Currently, there's not even regulatory
approval for any biotech wheat — yet alone consumer acceptance.
The markets aren't ready, at least not now."
The situation for seed producers and developers of biotechnology
is complicated by the fact that the
technology doesn't need to meet just food safety and
environmental regulatory standards, but be
acceptable to consumers too, Keith notes.
For biotech wheat, Keith notes that because the grain
self-pollinates, it doesn't raise concerns of
cross-pollination like GM corn does. However, he also notes that
current methods of handling wheat don't provide for pure
segregation of GM and conventional varieties of wheat. They were
designed instead for speed and efficiency, Keith notes.
"Wheat is the closest grain to the consumer," Keith says. And,
concerns about U.S. wheat could
devastate U.S. farmers' ability to export their crops. In a
world where U.S. farmers face competition from Australia,
Argentina, Canada, Europe and now even the former Soviet Union,
a whiff of a question about U.S. wheat could severely affect
exports, Keith notes. The U.S. exports only about 25 percent of
the global wheat trade, a much lower percentage than a crop like
corn. This makes the U.S. wheat supply into global markets more
susceptible to competition, with the U.S. supply more readily
replaceable by other countries. But, Keith sees the concern over
GM wheat as an even bigger
problem for the biotechnology industry.
"The very large benefits of the technology certainly make it
worthwhile to consider the long-run ramifications of any new
introduction of the technology," Keith says. "That's what we
would advise —
companies have to view biotechnology as a long-term development
project. Otherwise, you really risk other important ongoing
research if you market a product without wide acceptance, and it
is ultimately rejected by markets."
"We would sure like to see some pretty broad acceptance, and the
ability for the market to segregate
grain flows confirmed for these products, before they are
marketed," Keith says. "The problem is the U.S. is really
pushing the envelope with this technology and may be out in
front of the export markets."
That's a problem Keith sees as greater for wheat because wheat
exports are so important to the overall U.S. wheat industry. "We
export half the wheat produced in the U.S., but it's pretty easy
to invite competition in wheat and we don't want to give other
countries more reason to plant," Keith says. "This is a case
where the technology may be great but the timing may be wrong."
