from As Reported in the News
Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology

Spring wheat producers in the United States could lose 30 to 50 percent of their export market if genetically modified wheat is introduced commercially, a study released Thursday concludes, according to the Billings Gazette.

The price of spring wheat would drop by one-third, says Robert Wisner, a professor of economics at Iowa State University who completed the analysis for the Western Organization of Resource Councils.

“The issue is not one of safety,” Wisner said during a teleconference outline of his study. “It is about consumer attitudes and labeling programs in other countries that give consumers a choice.”

The introduction of genetically modified spring wheat is anticipated by wheat farmers and Monsanto Co., creator of genetically modified food plants that resist its own widely used herbicide, Roundup.

According to the Billings Gazette, Monsanto has pledged not to introduce GM spring wheat until all six points of a company pledge have been met, the first being that the food, feed, and environmental safety is demonstrated in regulatory approvals in the United states, Canada and Japan.

The debate over genetically modified grain has been taken up by legislatures in Montana and North Dakota in 2001 and 2003. Montana’s House and Senate approved a resolution this year affirming opposition to the introduction of GM wheat until Monsanto has fulfilled its six-point pledge.

Wisner said the loss of export markets for spring wheat would have an effect throughout the Northern Plans’ economy. He estimated that between 67 million bushels and 110 million bushels of spring wheat would drop out of the export market if the genetically modified varieties were introduced.

Because Montana sells most of its wheat to the Asian Pacific Rim, some farmers are opposed to any introduction of Roundup Ready wheat lest it “contaminate” the state’s commercial varieties and kill the state’s valuable export market. In any given year, Montana’s wheat crop is valued at $400 million to $900 million, with 60-70 percent of the crop going to the Pacific Rim. Buyers there have made it clear that they do not want GM wheat.

The Canadian Wheat Board, which controls all exports of Canadian grain, also opposes the introduction. However, an American ag economist last week told a farm symposium in Winnipeg that Canada should keep an open mind to GM wheat if it wants to keep its foothold in the world grain markets, reports the Billings Gazette.

If competitors of Canadian wheat are quick to adopt the technology and reduce their weed-control costs, Canada could fall behind, Colin Carter of the University of California-Davis, told Canadian producers, the Doane Agricultural Services reported.

Wisner said his study also looked at the cost of a dual marketing system which would segregate GM wheat from traditional varieties.

That might incur a $70 cent a bushel premium for GM wheat, which in turn would drive foreign buyers to other countries such at the Ukraine, he said.

Wisner summed the study to three points. If GM spring wheat is introduced, there is a high risk of loss of the export market, a sharp drop in spring wheat, and other classes of wheat would also drop in price.

Circle grain producer Helen Waller said that it makes no sense to plant crops that one cannot sell. Waller is a member of the Northern Plains Resource Council which is an affiliate of WORC.

North Dakota state Sen. April Fairfield said the study showed the need for the states to protect themselves from the “premature” release of GM wheat.

She has sponsored legislation to set criteria for the commercial release of GM spring wheat. Her bills failed.

During the teleconference, a reporter asked why Wisner, from Iowa State, was doing a study on wheat, rather than corn, which is produced in abundance in Iowa.

Wisner said the loss of wheat markets would force wheat into the domestic feed markets where it would compete with corn as livestock fodder.

Waller said that Monsanto has contracts with Montana State University to test Roundup Ready wheat and that might provide a conflict of interest for MSU economists, says the Billings Gazette.