WILLISTON, N.D. - The wheat industry is moving ahead with biotech wheat research, although not all wheat producers agree that it will benefit farmers.
Rebecca Bratten, who has worked 12 years as director of policy for the U.S. Wheat Associates, told producers gathered for the 57th annual National Hard Spring Wheat Show in Williston, N.D., that the commercialization of biotech wheat was not an “if it will happen” event, but a “when it will happen” event.
“Our board has directed us to go ahead and commit to the research and commercialization of biotech wheat,” Bratten said. “The question is when it will happen and we don't know that yet.”
She added that while there was no biotech wheat ready to be released for production, there was a lot of research and pre-planning going into it.
Wheat will be slightly different than many of the other biotech crops that are grown more for feed or fuel than food, she said.
“It is really different than sugarbeets, too, because the processors can take out the pulp from sugarbeets so the genetic trait is not always in the final product,” Bratten said.
Finding which kind of trait will be the first one released is something major wheat breeding companies are working on, she said. The most likely looks like either a drought-tolerant and soil nutrient utilization (one that uses less nitrogen) trait or a herbicide-tolerant wheat. A fusarium-resistant type is another possibility.
Not all farmers want biotech wheat
Biotech wheat is a big concern for a number of farmers. Louis Kuster, a wheat and durum producer from Stanley, N.D., said another herbicide-tolerant crop is unnecessary and it would only cause resistance to increase.
“We need to use certain chemicals to control weeds and diseases,” Kuster said, adding there is already herbicide-tolerant corn, soybeans, sugarbeets and canola in this region, and that is enough to deal with.
Herbicide-tolerant wheat, while cleaning up the fields, would be a concern because only certain chemicals could be used on it, he said.
Other farmers named a number of concerns that could arise from biotech wheat, including that herbicide-tolerant volunteer wheat left in the field would be difficult to get rid of.
The matter of cross-pollination and how genetically-modified wheat could be kept away from conventional varieties, even with borders around fields, was another concern.
Producers asked how a drought-tolerant wheat would work in a good growing year and wondered if that wheat would end up with less yield.
Other questions posed included: Would biotech wheat bring any extra money to the producer or, instead, would it end up costing the producer because of the increased technology cost added to the seed? Would higher yields from a biotech wheat be enough to offset costs in the long run?
Some said they would rather have less wheat and more money and that, as farmers, they have to be able to sell their commodities.
“We don't need it (biotech wheat) and we don't want it,” one farmer said, adding another major complication would be exports. North Dakota and Montana depend on wheat exports, and many countries won't accept genetically-modified wheat.
Growing need for more wheat
But Bratten said the world population is growing and countries are changing their attitudes toward biotech wheat.
While there are 6.8 billion people in the world in 2009, the population is expected to be 9 billion by 2050, she said.
Bratten said 2009 was an unusual crop year because there was a huge carryover of wheat stocks in the world with good growing conditions in most regions. However, that is not the case most years.
“Yes, we are concerned about market disruption, but we need to feed an increasing world population,” Bratten said.
Statistics show that the world is consuming wheat by 32 percent over the past decade while wheat production has increased only 28 percent and harvested wheat acres have decreased 8 percent, she said.
“That is not a sustainable situation,” she added. “If we continue growing wheat on less and less acres, wheat might become a niche product.”
There is increasing competition for acres, and the U.S. Wheat Associates does not want to see wheat fall behind in technologies. Every year, with biotech corn and soybeans, the Corn Belt drops down 10 miles, she said.
There are 23 biotech crops in the world and 124 traits in biotechnology in production around the world, she said. A crop such as corn has “super stack” technology with up to eight traits in one corn variety, she added. At the same time, 23 countries now accept biotech crops.
Many countries focus on biotech wheat
“The U.S. is not the only country focusing on biotech wheat,” Bratten said, pointing out that the U.S., Canada and Australia have agreed to work together on commercialization of biotech wheat.
“That doesn't mean one or the other country couldn't release a biotech wheat earlier than another country,” she said.
But a producer in the audience pointed out the Canadian Wheat Board had not signed on to the agreement, only the Canadian wheat growers.
Bratten agreed, but said the CWB was not opposed to biotech wheat, only to its commercialization at this point in time.
Exports do remain a concern of the U.S. Wheat Associates, she said, adding that 85 percent of North Dakota and Montana wheat goes to exports and many consumers do not want it.
Bratten said that could be mitigated by having a certain residue level accepted by the world markets.
Bringing consumers to the table
Labeling a product as genetically-modified might be another reason consumers would reject biotech wheat, and that should be avoided, she said.
“We also need to let consumers know we will always have both biotech and conventional wheat available,” she said.
There are benefits with biotech wheat for both consumers and producers, she noted.
Consumers would have increased wheat in the world, more food safety and a better quality wheat, she said. Producers would have less inputs as well as fewer pests and diseases and fewer problems with yields when there was drought in the forecast.
U.S. Wheat Associates is beginning now to work with wheat importing countries and markets on the acceptance of biotech wheat. They have a Web site with a password-protected site that lists all the major wheat countries and their standing regarding a risk assessment for biotechnology acceptance.
Some of the countries they work with include Nigeria, currently the leading importer of U.S. wheat, Japan, the European Union, South Korea and Mexico.
“Japan will be a tremendous concern. They have very strict food safety laws,” Bratten said. The USW is currently conducting a four-country pilot on the risk situation with Japan, EU, Nigeria and South Korea, she added.
One of the things they are aware of after talking with the sugarbeet growers is they need to get regulatory approval from the country first.
“Risk is inherent in this whole process,” she said.
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