"Narrow Path for New Biotech Food Crops" is the headline to this story today in the NY Times. Some quotes:
Agricultural biotechnology continues to spread in the United States and worldwide, and proponents see signs that the crops are becoming more accepted. On Wednesday, as expected, the European Commission decided to allow imports of a genetically engineered sweet corn developed by the Swiss company Syngenta, ending a six-year European moratorium on the approval of biotech food.The Washington Post published an AP story May 11th that it headlined "Monsanto Shelves Plans for Biotech Wheat." Some quotes:But to the extent biotechnology is growing, it is in a narrow range. Some 99 percent of the crops are grown in six countries - the United States, Argentina, Canada, Brazil, China and South Africa. And virtually all the worldwide acreage is devoted to only four crops: soybeans, corn, cotton and canola.
With these four, genetic engineering caught on before consumer resistance gathered force a few years ago. These crops are also largely used for animal feed, clothing or to make oil and other ingredients for processed foods rather than eaten directly - something that has helped them gain acceptance.
But recent attempts to move genetic engineering to other crops has met resistance, or at least fear by food companies and farmers that consumers will balk. And these days, many experts say, the time and money involved in clearing regulatory hurdles make it uneconomical to apply biotechnology to any but the most widely grown crops.
Just last week, Monsanto shelved plans to introduce the world's first genetically modified wheat because some American and Canadian farmers worried that European and Japanese buyers would shun not only the modified wheat but all their wheat. * * *
The narrow range of crops means that biotechnology may not realize its full potential. On Monday, for instance, the Food and Agriculture Organization, a United Nations specialized agency, issued a report saying that the technology, despite its promise, was not yet doing much to help feed the world's poor because it was not being applied to the sorts of crops grown in developing countries - like potatoes, cassava, rice, wheat, millet and sorghum. * * *
One reason for the difficulty that new gene-altered crops have is that food companies and farmers are reluctant to risk losing even a little bit of market share or attracting protests. Virus-resistant biotech potatoes were taken off the market by Monsanto after big potato processors and fast-food companies told growers that they did not want them. Lettuce growers in California balked at the introduction of Roundup Ready lettuce, said Kent J. Bradford, a professor of vegetable crops and director of the seed biotechnology center at Davis.
In its decision Monday, the St. Louis-based firm cited economic factors, including a 25 percent decrease in U.S. and Canadian spring wheat acreage since 1997 and a lack of "widespread industry alignment" behind biotech wheat.Posted by Marcia Oddi at May 20, 2004 04:20 PMMonsanto had hailed the development of its wheat variety made resistant to the company's own Roundup herbicide. The genetic changes, the company said, would allow a farmer to spray the herbicide without harming the wheat plants.
But genetically altered wheat has been a tough sell, with some foreign importers indicating they will not buy it. While biotech corn and soybeans primarily go into livestock feed and additives, wheat is generally used for bread and other human foods.