March 5, 2007

 

US wheat group to seek GMO support from Canada, Australia
 

 

In an effort to stem a long-term decline in US wheat plantings, leaders of an American wheat producers' group are reaching out to their counterparts in Canada and Australia to build consensus on commercialising genetically modified wheat.

 

National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG) chief executive Darren Coppock said bringing biotechnological traits to wheat can help work its market advantage and probably commercialise it on a similar time frame.

 

US wheat acreage has fallen by 30 percent in the last 25 years as farmers turn to other crops that are more profitable or easier to grow, including genetically modified soybeans and corn.

 

Coppock said wheat may go the way to become a minor crop such as barley and oats if contingency plans to increase its production are not implemented.

 

The United States, Canada and Australia are the world's top three wheat exporters, and compete against each other for export business. Coppock said their cooperation could help build global acceptance of biotech wheat.

 

NAWG officials have contacted grower groups in Canada and Australia in the last month but no meetings have been held.

 

US farmers over the last decade have embraced genetically modified corn and soybeans, which are primarily used in livestock feed or refined into food products.

 

Because wheat is a food grain, gene-altered versions have always been more controversial. Due to consumer opposition, especially in Europe and Asia, genetically modified wheat has never been commercialised.

 

Jim Frahm, a vice president with U.S. Wheat Associates, a wheat marketing group, said buyers in the European Union and Japan have been adamant about refusing biotech wheat under any circumstances, but he acknowledged the U.S. acreage concerns.

 

Frahm said the dwindling of US wheat acreage could seek support from biotechnology to continue their supplies or completely "close the door" on the help GMO can provide.

 

The timing might be right for biotech wheat to broaden farmer support as researchers in Australia are starting to work on wheat engineered to resist drought, which cut the size of Australia's last wheat crop by 60 percent.

 

Scientists are also seeking a genetic solution to fusarium head blight, a wheat disease that has plagued growers in the northern U.S. Plains since the 1990s.

 

Down the road, wheat research may yield consumer-friendly traits like wheat products for those with dietary gluten intolerance.

 

Gary Blumenthal, president of World Perspectives Inc., an agricultural consulting firm, said further research on genetically-modified wheat will likely penetrate on hard-to-crack markets on EU and elsewhere.